Today, I decided to give Linux a try on my iBook. I've been wanting Linux on my iBook for a long time, but I've simply never had the time to do it. I ran the occasional PowerPC live CD, but live CD's are far cries from the real, installed thing. A second showstopper was that suspend never really worked-- and I cannot use my iBook without suspend. After trying out a new live CD yesterday, I found out that suspend on lid closure now worked mighty fine on Linux/PPC; hence, it was time to do the real thing. And oh how I was left surprised. Note: This is this week's Sunday Eve Column.
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Member since:2005-07-11
But the bitter reality is there are a lot of disadvantages with running Linux on PowerPC (that will of course change with the new x86-Apples):
There are much less binary packages than for x86 - you have to compile a lot (FreeNX for Ubuntu e.g.).
There are less backports than for x86 (at least with Ubuntu) => more compiling.
Some binary only software like win32codecs, Sun Java (there's a IBM version though), Flashplayer etc. doesn't exist for Linux on PPC. You can't play WMV at all for example.
Documentation is not as excellent as for x86 (because there are less users who write it and correct errors).
Im playing with Kubuntu on a Mac Mini at the moment and it's quite frustrating. No comparison to Kubuntu on my x86 PCs. Even the power management works better there. 
But there's one highlight: Linux feels so much faster than OSX (10.3) on my Mini (1,25 GHz, 1GB RAM), it's just incredible. Especially for Firefox and Java applications the performance boost is huge.
Member since:2006-01-24
Member since:2005-07-10
"I think Macs are actually a pretty good bet for people who want to run Linux."
You might think so, but in reality the Linux PowerPC community is tiny compared to x86, which means less support and less software. Having been there and done that, I would not recommend buying a Mac to anyone wanting to run Linux. If you already have a PowerPC Mac, Linux is a fun, free alternative to OS X with lots of great software, especially for developers, but if you want to get serious about Linux, get an x86.
Member since:2006-01-01
I would not recommend buying a Mac to anyone wanting to run Linux. If you already have a PowerPC Mac, Linux is a fun, free alternative to OS X with lots of great software, especially for developers, but if you want to get serious about Linux, get an x86.
simply not true. if you want to buy a mac go ahead they are as good.
Member since:
2005-07-06
I think Macs are actually a pretty good bet for people who want to run Linux. Since there are only a few well-known configurations, they tend to be well-tested, and things are more likely to work without the surprises you can encounter on random PC configurations.