Re: Shall I switch to a Powerbook?

From: Mike Murphree (w4lna_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 03/23/05 

Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 17:58:32 -0600

In article <1111340978.090669.142000@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>,
 larwe@larwe.com wrote:

> Jan Ulrich Hasecke wrote:
>
> Hi Jan,
>
> I am beginning to think about some of the same questions, due to a
> project I'm working on that requires me to use a Mac as a Linux box.
> See http://www.larwe.com/technical/current.html for more details of
> that, if you want. Anyway, some answers based on my limited
> understanding so far:
>
> > So my question is. Are there any issues I have to think of, when I
> > switch to a Powerbook? I never worked with an Apple. I know that MAC
> > OS X has a *nix-engine underneath and that there is Fink etc. I would
>
> Current OS X is built on NetBSD, yes. When I last tested it, X
> integration was very poor, and this is important to me. It was like
> running XFree86 under Cygwin on Windows, only worse :( For this and
> other reasons, I am not even considering an attempt at dual-boot - I am
> erasing MacOS as soon as my Mac mini arrives, and installing Debian
> only.

It does not sound like you are speaking from recent experience. X
windows apps are nicely integrated with Aqua now. Also Mac OS X is
based on a Mach kernel and FreeBSD userland not NetBSD.

>
> There are numerous quirky things you might have to think about when
> installing; the state of PPC Linux is not as polished as the one-step
> friendly graphical installers of x86 Linux and particularly so on
> PowerBooks. Suggest you read carefully
> http://www.debian.org/ports/powerpc/ and in particular look closely at
> the notes specific to whatever model of PowerBook you intend to buy.

Depends on which distro you pick, Yellow Dog Linux installs just a
nicely as Redhat or any other x86 Linux distro. Debian is a pain (and
outdated) regardless of what architecture you install it on.

> I'm considering the purchase of a PowerBook myself. I currently run a
> 2.somethingGHz Athlon XP-M laptop with FC3 (not dual-boot) as my
> primary machine. I am strongly attracted by the lower heat, less fan
> noise and - yes, I admit it - the damn cute form factor of the 12"
> iBook.

I would investigate extensively to verify that your chosen distro
correctly supports power management on a laptop. You do not want to fry
an expensive machine.

Along these lines, Terra Soft Solutions (the Yellow Dog Linux people)
sell pre-configured machines for no more than you would pay Apple for
one and no I don't work for them. Their available hardware
configurations are here: http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com/store/

Mike

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