[sdiy] Quieting Macs (was: Should I repair my Fostex...)

[David Rogoff]

R. D. Davis writes:
 > Quothe Ingo Debus, from writings of Sun, Dec 26, 2004 at 06:30:02PM +0100:
 > > from the computer. The Fostex R8 is so quiet that it can be run in the 
 > > same room where the microphone is - I wish this was true for the Mac...
 > 
 > Simple solution: Consider that MacOS X is just bastardized
 > implementation of FreeBSD with an expensive graphical interface added.
 > I say that because Apple charges a lot extra for at least one vital
 > so-called "feature" (that they removed from FreeBSD!), namely one
 > being able to use it as a server, that are a standard part of most
 > modern UNICES, e.g., FreeBSD, Linux, Solaris.
 > 
 > So... just put the mac outside of the studio and connect a graphical
 > terminal (X Term with no fan...  not a PC configured as an X Term) to
 > it via ethernet... well, that would work with FreeBSD.  Not being an
 > expert in OS X, perhaps I've overlooked something.  Any thoughts?

This won't work.  Although OSX is based on Unix and you can run an X
server (or X clients on an X Term, like you suggest), none of the
native Mac software uses X.  You could use something like VNC to do
the same thing, running the VNC client on a silent, not-so-fast,
laptop.  Or you can just run a long video cable to the computer on the
other side of a wall and use a wireless mouse/keyboard.  I do this
with the PC I use to play music with my stereo.

 David