Multitasking while processing

[merrywalker]

I'm new to video and new to Macs, having just gotten my PowerBook a couple of months ago. (And I love it!) So I'm still learning what a Mac is capable of.

All my experience with Windows taught me that whatever Billy's people claim, it doesn't really multitask, and that when downloading or doing any kind of processing, it's best to walk away and not try to do anything else until it's done. So far, my experience with OSX indicates that it can truly multitask in ways that Windows can't.

So I'm wondering... can I be doing other tasks on my PowerBook while DVD2OneX is processing a DVD file without causing errors? Or while Toast is burning a DVD? Or is it best to walk away and let it run?

My thanks to all who participate here. This forum has been a great resource for this newbie!

Merry

[mhar4]

Man, I have about ten different processes running simultaneously all the time on my PowerBook. Ripping, encoding, editing, running my OCR software, word processing, mail, safari. You can slow it down, but it never complains too much.

The only caution I would make, is that while actually burning a DVD I tend to keep it down to web/mail/appleworks. Having said that, though, I have only ever had a problem with an iBook and an external firewire burner and a batch of poor quality disks.

[galactica]

Right now i have..........
1. dvd2one processing a movie
2. Mac The Ripper ripping a movie
3. iTunes playing my album of music
4. iChat AV conversation with my brother
5. Download of several updates in safari
6. not to mention all the other things going on with just my apps open [safari, mail, finder etc.]

gotta love a mac

by the way welcome...

[live4ever]

Exactling what they said! Once you start multi-tasking you can turn into maniac. I've done what they do and no problems, also I have no problems burning a DVD/CD while doing ANYTHING else, but I use Toast for everything (never used the Finder or iTunes yet).

Also if one of the programs stuffs up (usually Word/Entourage/Messenger fpr me) you can just force quit it while everthing else keeps chuggin'.

[merrywalker]

I get it! In other words, Mac OSX works the way I always thought Windows should... and doesn't. And I obviously haven't even begun to explore my PowerBook's capabilities.

Thanks for the feedback. And the welcome! I've been having pretty fair success with my backup DVDs, thanks to the information I found here. And the few problems I've run into I've been able to find answers to by searching the forum or in the general tutorials and articles this site offers.

I'm a definite convert to Macs at this point. I'm still on Windows at work, and still have a desktop PC at home, but these days working on Windows feels like dealing with OSX's sulky and ill-mannered little brother. *rolls eyes*

I'm still trying to figure out a lot of things about working with audio and video files, but reading the threads and information here is helping a lot. And it's nice to know I can get an answer here if I run into something I can't find or figure out on my own.

Thanks again for all the help!

Merry

[galactica]

anytime .

Welcome to the world of mac's. Feel free to post anything here [well for video that is] Im asking baldrick to open up a Mac Off The Topic forum... we will see what he says

[merrywalker]

That would be awesome! I haven't had much trouble figuring out basic operations so far. (If anything, I find I tend to look for more complicated way to do things than necessary, thanks to my Windows experience.) But I've been kind of hoping I could find a general Mac forum like this one as I start getting into more advanced stuff. I'm sure I'd make use of an off-topic forum.

[galactica]

well there is always the apple discussions found at http://discussions.info.apple.com/

but hopefully we can have a more informal one here

[miksu]

Have been using mlMac (multinet p2p software) and ArchiCad 8.1 (rendering...) while ripping with MTR. Everything works perfectly on OSX 10.3. Using good old (4 years) 450Mhz "Sawtooth". Has also tried encoding and burning in iDVD, while rendering in Archicad. Everything works nicely, no coasters, no hanging etc

And sad but true, Windows multitasking is really a joke. Funny thing is that Windows 2000 has actually better multitasking than XP, which is newer. It's terrible even on newest Athlons and P4's with lot of memory.

OSX just happens to have real unix multitasking with good threading and scheduler, something Windows hasn't

[merrywalker]

Wow... sounds like OSX can live up to my wildest expectations.

I run Win2K on my desktop, but part of what finally pushed me into Macs was hearing that MS is going to phase out the 2K platform and make XP their main product line. And since I decided long since that I won't run XP on any computer I own, that made it time to make the switch.

Of course, now that I'm finding out that Macs are even better than I thought, I'm wishing I'd done it sooner!