[GPSNavX]

With the exciting or shocking news that Apple is moving to Intel there is some good news and some bad. The good news is GPSNavX will be offered in new "Universal Binary" format that will allow it to run on both Power PC Macs and Intel Mac's. GPSNavX is developed in platform indepenpent ObjC/Cocoa (unlike most of the other GPS apps that are ported from Classic and use the old Carbon API's). The bad news is that the drivers for USB GPS and the Keyspan USB to serial adapter will have to be ported by their respective companies (FTDI, Prolific and Keyspan) to the new Intel platform.

Time will tell if this is a good move for Apple. I think they are now pitting themselves against the low cost Wintel clone makers. It's just a matter of time before someone has OS X running on a Dell. So then the question becomes why pay extra for Apple hardware? Maybe that is the goal is to offer an alternative to Windows and Linux.

[phowson]

Time will tell if this is a good move for Apple. I think they are now pitting themselves against the low cost Wintel clone makers. It's just a matter of time before someone has OS X running on a Dell. So then the question becomes why pay extra for Apple hardware? Maybe that is the goal is to offer an alternative to Windows and Linux.

I don't know about that. Most people are assuming that a move to Intel processors means that Apple is going to move to the standard (a term I use loosely) wintel motherboards which is not what I heard. Let's not forget that the same PPC chips that we have been using in our Macs are used for all sorts of other applications: everything from powering the systems in a lot of automobiles (PPC 601 was and may still be standard in most Ford vehicles) and the Mars Rovers (Ruggedized 603s if I remeber correctly) and IBM uses them in many servers which soes not mean that those servers can run OS X.

The real question here has little to do with the actual processors and more to do with the motherboard. The really interesting thing to see will be whether or not OS X actually runs faster than Windows on an equivalent processor. The comparisons will seem a little less apples to oranges and a little more Granny Smith to Golden Delicious now. In any case, for the vast majority of mac users I would imagine that the reaction will be "As long as it still runs as well as my old Mac ..."

[ReeferJon]

What could really "upset the Apple cart" ( the fruit analogies are coming thick and fast!) for OS X software developers with the new Intel platform is the issue of users opting to run Windows vertical market software on their Macs...

You may or may not be aware of the DarWine project.. Wine is an Opensource Linux application that allows Windows executables to be run on Linux x86 without Windows. Darwine have been trying to port this to the Mac.

The big issues with running Windows applications seemlessly within OS X has been the processor emulation of the x86 on PowerPC (which slows things down terribly). On an x86-based Mac, this ceases to be a problem. Potentially, your Intel-based Mac could quite happily run, god forbid, MaxSea or RayTech Navigator transparently under OSX Tiger.

Now I know that Darwine is still in development, but the Intel move will make running Windows executables at near real speed a reality....

... how does that affect Mac developers? :? :? :?

[auren]

I'm probably repeating something you already know, but just in case:

Steve Jobs' Keynote address is being broadcast live via Quicktime on January 10th at 9AM Pacific (GMT +8).

Rumours are flying fast and furious that a new Intel based Mac is going to be showcased. It will be fascinating to see the impact this will have for all sorts of software and hardware issues.

I am SO tired of Virtual PC.

Cheers,

Alan Uren

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

[GPSNavX]

They are Beta, but this is good news for those who use the Keyspan to USB serial adapter to connect a GPS to their Mac.

http://keyspan.com/downloads/macosx/USBS...rv21b5.zip

I will have Universal format versions (native on PowerPC and Core Duo) of GPSUtility, GPSNavX, MacENC and MacWX available shortly.

[GPSNavX]

Both GPSNavX and MacENC marine navigation applications in the new "Universal" format for OS X will be released on Monday January 23rd. This new version will run natively on OS X 10.3.9 and 10.4.4 for PowerPC G3, G4 and G5 processors and OS X 10.4.4 for Intel Core Duo processors.

GPSNavX and MacENC on the new Intel Core Duo 2.0 GHz Mac, show about a 3X speed increase over a 1.0 GHz G4 Mac.

More details about the new "Universal" applications..

http://www.apple.com/universal/

We are able to offer this new format so quickly because our applications have been developed using the latest Apple technologies (Cocoa and Quartz) that are processor independent.

Hopefully other Mac developers will not hesitate to support this exciting new format.

[GPSNavX]

FTDIChip has released a Universal driver for their USB to serial
adapter chipset. This chipset is found in some USB GPS like the
Rayming TN-200 (Not USGlobalSat GPS) and Shipmodul NMEA multiplexors.

I have tested the driver on the following configurations.

OS X 10.3.9 on PowerPC G4 - Does not work
OS X 10.4.4 on PowerPC G4 - Works
OS X 10.4.4 on Intel Core Duo - Works

The driver can be downloaded here..

http://www.gpsnavx.com/downloads/FTDIUSB...Driver.dmg