Think the only way to really address this is to have target browsers (and the machines to run them on) available for devlelopment/testing. Safari has some real issues.

I always kept an old Mac around (G3 Powerbook) just for this purpose. Didn't use it for much else. (I also have an old intel machine running FreeBSD so I can run unix FF & NS.)


The Mac blew up a couple of months ago (the PPC Powerbooks were prone to that), & I didn't want to replace it until the intel Macs came out. Just operating on faith that the previous efforts wouldn't be broken by new efforts.

The emulator looks like an interesting approach, but it looks like some folks are having a lot of difficulty/spending a lot of time to get it set up. I don't have time to burn, so I'd vote for the hardware.

There are many options.

Get a New Intel Mac
The new Intel Macs are out and they look great. Also, with Parallels, you can run Windows simultaneously as a guest OS inside OS X. This is not an emulator, but a real virtual machine (if that isn't an oxymoron) running on the hardware.

(This is my plan. I'll use a MacBook 13" for backup/short leash travel option - running OS X, WXP, and an occasional FreeBSD or Linux VM.)


A cheaper version would be to get a Mac Mini - they're only around $600 - you just need a monitor and keyboard. Probably have to get a Mac keyboard, but you should be able to hook up just about any RGB monitor to it, maybe with an adapter or an Omnicube setup.


Get a New PPC Mac
They're drop-kicking these out the door at very low prices. I've seen 12" PPC Powerbooks going for less than $1000.

Get a Used Mac
E-Bay is your friend, here. With everyone upgrading to the Intel Macs, a lot of dumped hardware is showing up for not a lot of bucks.


rickb