[Ham-Mac] map source on a mac

[Jack]

I know this sounds simple, but perhaps a
letter-writing campaign to Garmin would remind them
that we would LOVE to buy one of their products, but
it needs to be Mac compatible.  

Frankly, a long time ago I set up Virtual PC so I
could allow a little bit of the Dark Side to reside on
my Mac.  No, the performance isn't the same, but for
most ham apps, that's just fine.  

I'd like to see some contesting software, such as
Writelog, ported over to Mac and Linux.  Perhaps also
seeing more choices with regard to multi-mode
soundcard software.  But hey, I'm just wishing.

One other thing that would be great to see in ham-dom
is dropping the use of the serial port, which we Mac
users simply don't have.  Yeah, there are those
Keyspan Serial->USB converters.  But again, it's slow
and it's yet another thing to carry around.  I'm sure
I'm preaching to the choir now.  

Mainly, I just want to say when we want something from
the makers of gear, we need to be sure they know we
are a viable market.  We'll catch more flies with
honey than with vinegar.  :)  

WOuld there be any way we could get a head-count of
Mac Hams?  A close approximation would do.  I also
will predict, and I may later be eating my radiogram
pad for saying this, but I think by the time Holiday
season hits, there will be another Mac craze in the
general market place, with the new Intel-based Mac
being all the rage already.  I suspect companies like
Garmin and others will not ignore this and shape their
products as such.  Perhaps it just takes a tiny bit of
communication with their company to make them aware of
the hams who love their goods; and want them to be Mac
compatible.

By the way, I also love my Rebel XT and have never had
to hook it up to my Windoze machine.  But it works
fine on my Macs and Linux machines.

73 de K6JEB,
Jack

PS - I would really like to see more Open Source
activity in ham radio.  I know we often just do it
ourselves and want a way to get paid back.  But there
are other ways to get back what you put into something
besides money.  But hey, if I could program my way out
of  a wet paper bag, and could make a living creating
ham related software, I guess I'd be doing exactly
that.  :)