>I do understand that Apple is abandoning serial for the faster >USB protocol in all their new computers. But there's no denying >that Apple has a huge customer base of G3 owners using the >machines for audio production. If they have any interest in these >customers moving to OSX then they should think about building >the driver. I don't know much about the programming involved >with building core-midi drivers and such, but I can't imagine that >the task is so overwhelming. > >-Dan They may (i wouldn't know) have a large base of G3 owners right now, but that won't last too long. I think they are thinking more of the big picture (or maybe future) were serial will pretty much be gone and the OS won't be bogged down with legacy code. It's an inconvenience for some, but for the sake of the future majority. It kind of reminds me of when they stopped putting floppy drives in the computers. Colin Miller (stealth port user)

Hi there, Colin Miller wrote: > They may (i wouldn't know) have a large base of G3 owners right now, but > that won't last too long. I think they are thinking more of the big picture > (or maybe future) were serial will pretty much be gone and the OS won't be > bogged down with legacy code. It's an inconvenience for some, but for the > sake of the future majority. It kind of reminds me of when they stopped > putting floppy drives in the computers. Something to bear in mind in all of this is the open-source community. Apple is not abandoning (to my understanding) the possibility of serial for midi. They are simply saying that they are releasing the code to the community so that those who have the energy and will to concentrate on its development (which they can't) may do so. Same with Floppy drives - there is an open source project (haven't checked for a long time as to where they're up to) that's porting the BSD floppy stuff to Mac OS X. Last time I checked it was working but needed improvement. The moral of the story is that just because Apple is no longer officially handling the source code does not mean that the end is nigh. In fact - before they were planning on releasing the code for the Serial Midi driver they even mentioned that it could be possible for them to possibly incorporate into the main source what 3rd parties produce. My guess is that it will take some time for 3rd parties to get onto it. But eventually something should happen...just don't expect it tomorrow. with regards, -- Lachlan Deck ldeck@...