Hi Tim,

I made the switch to Mac in 2011 - blogged about the experience here in case you're interested http://ibmsystemsmag.com/blogs/idevelop/archive/susans-adventures-in-mac-land/ <http://ibmsystemsmag.com/blogs/idevelop/archive/susans-adventures-in-mac-land/>

Love it - can't imagine going back to Windows. Of course for a few years, I had to do Windows for RDi, but no more. I joined my other fellow Mac and RDi users in a happy dance when RDi on Mac happened in 2016!

Jon & I wrote our Guide to RDi on Mac back then. You can find it here http://ibmsystemsmag.com/ibmi/developer/rpg/rdi-on-mac/ <http://ibmsystemsmag.com/ibmi/developer/rpg/rdi-on-mac/>

There are some differences and a couple of gotchas. I miss the "big" missing features surprisingly less than I thought I would - most notably the lack of a full-blown syntax-checker. I say "full-blown" syntax checker because it's not exactly like there is no syntax checking at all. For example, because it does understand the syntax enough to color-ize it, I find it pretty obvious when the colors don't look right - and then I can still use Content Assist or F1 help me figure out where I went wrong. Note to any IBM RDi developers out there - I would still like to have a full syntax checker on my Mac, pretty please! But I certainly don't miss it enough to be tempted - even for a nanosecond - back to Windows.

I have to confess that I have not (yet, anyway) updated my Favorite Keyboard Shortcuts card to include the Mac shortcuts. But I did work with the folks at the IBM lab to update theirs. You can find it here: https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSAE4W_9.5.1/com.ibm.etools.iseries.rse.doc/topics/keyboard_shortcuts_platforms.html <https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSAE4W_9.5.1/com.ibm.etools.iseries.rse.doc/topics/keyboard_shortcuts_platforms.html>

Go ahead - buy that MacBook Pro. I consider MacOS to be the IBM i of the workstation world - things are better integrated and work the way they should. You'll have a few frustrations here and there making the switch - I did - but I became a lifelong fan pretty quickly. Can you tell?

Susan Gantner

Partner400 & System i Developer


On Feb 2, 2018, at 2:33 PM, Tim Fathers <x700-ix2j@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

..thank you all for the replies. On the odd occasion I've had to use a Mac I've ended up wanting to throw it out of the window, but I'm getting increasingly frustrated with Windows and because much of what I end up doing these days is in someway Node/JavaScript/Java related, most of which tend to be more naturally aligned to a *nix type shell, I thought I'd either switch to a Linux flavour or try a Mac. I think I've been persuaded....!

Tim

Get Outlook for Android<https://aka.ms/ghei36>



From: Jon Paris
Sent: Friday 2 February, 17:37
Subject: Re: [WDSCI-L] RDi and Mac Book Pro
To: Wdsci-L


Others have commented on the differences but I thought I'd toss in my 10 cents worth anyway. First of all the Delete/Insert key stuff is common to all Mac apps - it is just "different" and you soon get used to it. When I started out I re-mapped the keyboard a bit to give myself a delete key - haven't bothered for years. Most of the time when I want to delete a character it is because I mis-typed - so backspace makes sense. When I need to delete in the middle of text you just get used to positioning after the character you want to delete. That said - you can get MS delete key behaviour by holding the fn key down at the same time as Delete. Obviously you could re-map to switch the two options but why bother. Function keys work perfectly BUT in oder for this to behave as expected you must have the Keyboard preference for "Use F1, F2 ... as standard function keys" option selected in System Preference. System Preferences are your friend and so much easier to use than in Windows. T
hey actually look as if they were designed instead of just happening! Insert key in RDi - I find the easiest way is to double-click the word "Replace" in the window bar - that toggles the Insert/Replace mode. Been doing it this way ever since I discovered the option. I code exclusively in free-form so replace mode is rarely helpful for me anyway. Access Client Solutions works beautifully. IBM have not done a good job of making it a "Mac App" (for that matter the same applies to some extent to RDi) in other words you have to find the launch app and either copy it to the root applications folder, or (as I do) simply pin it in the Dock. If you haven't already got it consider getting a copy of David Pogue's Switching to the Mac. https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.ca%2FSwitching-Mac-Missing-Manual-Capitan%2Fdp%2F1491917970%2Fref%3Dsr_1_1&data=02%7C01%7C%7C83ddcab578c64a86cc7808d56a5b5094%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636531
862775686489&sdata=hc3U5epkOaAg3sDfmCfNtSw0YjEXqJZfNbT%2Bs3J4lT8%3D&reserved=0 The best advice I can give you (other than DO IT!) is to take the approach that perhaps it is the MS way of doing things that is dumb (Press the Start button to stop Windows for example) and to think to yourself "If I was designing a User Interface how would I have done it" - most of the time you'll find that is what Apple did. I was amazed at how much simpler it was to do stuff from changing settings to applying patches to installing and uninstalling apps. It only took me about 4 weeks before I knew that I would never go back to Windows and Win 10 has further convinced me. I now use _one_ WIndows app - my accounting software Quick Books - and the only reason for that is that Intuit are a bunch of .... who virtually force you to buy a new copy every time you want to upgrade your Mac OS. I run Parallels on my Mac which lets me run Windows within my Mac, share files between the two OS etc. Normally
available at around $50 plus whatever you need to pay for a Windows license. I intend to lose the Windows stuff as soon as I can. There is at least one free Win environment for Mac but I've never used it. That's it but feel free to email me if you have any questions - I've helped persuade a number of people to "see the light" and switch to Mac and none of them would ever go back. Jon Paris https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=www.partner400.com&data=02%7C01%7C%7C83ddcab578c64a86cc7808d56a5b5094%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636531862775686489&sdata=jp0LlTf03EkyF8jquXaWlIWDZrq1t9PwIE3WuvwyVTc%3D&reserved=0 https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=www.SystemiDeveloper.com&data=02%7C01%7C%7C83ddcab578c64a86cc7808d56a5b5094%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636531862775686489&sdata=5Rerrzs%2B5tLUIyVtmT7NZSyDy%2B5peDN9wPxXanjlNJs%3D&reserved=0 > On Feb 2, 2018, at 4:19 AM, Tim Fathers wrote: > > Hi all, I'm considering finally c
aving in and buying Mac Book Pro but the lack of some important keys from the keyboard is one of the things putting me off. For example, there doesn't appear to be a delete key, insert key or any of the function keys, does anyone here have any experience of using RDi and the green screen without these keys? Can I map the touch bar to the usual F-keys? My Surface Pro lacks the insert key and it makes editing in RDi almost impossible I find. > > > Also, how well does RDi and indeed the IBM i essentials (emulators, Access Client Solutions etc. etc.) work on the Mac? Any gotchas I need to know about? > > > Cheers, > > > Tim. > -- > This is the Rational Developer for IBM i / Websphere Development Studio Client for System i & iSeries (WDSCI-L) mailing list > To post a message email: WDSCI-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options, > visit: https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flists.midrange.com%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Fwdsci-l&da
ta=02%7C01%7C%7C83ddcab578c64a86cc7808d56a5b5094%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636531862775686489&sdata=mXtaVVg6TdjMKdqKwlq96XRJzwu0duIt7OCHmzwV95o%3D&reserved=0 > or email: WDSCI-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx > Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives > at https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.midrange.com%2Fwdsci-l&data=02%7C01%7C%7C83ddcab578c64a86cc7808d56a5b5094%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636531862775686489&sdata=bZjAuU1CIudU5QRdGWImUK0pFCT7M3usSFzR0kYEuII%3D&reserved=0. -- This is the Rational Developer for IBM i / Websphere Development Studio Client for System i & iSeries (WDSCI-L) mailing list To post a message email: WDSCI-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options, visit: https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flists.midrange.com%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Fwdsci-l&data=02%7C01%7C%7C83ddcab578c64a86cc7808d56a5b5094%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaa
aaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636531862775686489&sdata=mXtaVVg6TdjMKdqKwlq96XRJzwu0duIt7OCHmzwV95o%3D&reserved=0 or email: WDSCI-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives at https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.midrange.com%2Fwdsci-l&data=02%7C01%7C%7C83ddcab578c64a86cc7808d56a5b5094%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636531862775686489&sdata=bZjAuU1CIudU5QRdGWImUK0pFCT7M3usSFzR0kYEuII%3D&reserved=0.

--
This is the Rational Developer for IBM i / Websphere Development Studio Client for System i & iSeries (WDSCI-L) mailing list
To post a message email: WDSCI-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: https://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/wdsci-l
or email: WDSCI-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
at https://archive.midrange.com/wdsci-l.


As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

This thread ...

Follow-Ups:
Replies:

Follow On AppleNews
Return to Archive home page | Return to MIDRANGE.COM home page

This mailing list archive is Copyright 1997-2024 by midrange.com and David Gibbs as a compilation work. Use of the archive is restricted to research of a business or technical nature. Any other uses are prohibited. Full details are available on our policy page. If you have questions about this, please contact [javascript protected email address].

Operating expenses for this site are earned using the Amazon Associate program and Google Adsense.