Re: [SLUG] linux on ibook

[Luke Burton <luke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

You pay a premium for Apple. The premium gets you two things.

One is very, very nice software - apart from the brilliant core OS, you 
get iTunes, iDVD, iPhoto, a great Mail client, decent KHTML dervied 
browser (Safari), GNU developer tools, LDAP based address book, iCal 
calendaring, etc. There's a lot of 'value add'. The community around it 
is also strong, like with Linux.

Two is very sweet hardware. Bluetooth, WiFi, DVD burning (slot loader 
on mine!), elegant design, firewire, USB, good battery life, 
durability, good support. I have monitor spanning / mirroring built in 
on mine too (which "just works" - I didn't need to open a config file 
to make it go).

Now they both work hand in hand - so the maximum bang for your buck is 
derived from using OS X on PPC.

If you are going to bin the software side of it, you will be far better 
off buying Intel/AMD. You will be paying a premium for stuff you don't 
use. Try a Fujitsu Lifebook or Sony VAIO (see my experiences with RH8.0 
on that machine: http://www.hagus.net/sony/r505tfp.html). Plus the 
G3/G4 processors have been outstripped in raw speed by Intel/AMD. If 
you are set on the PPC architecture, wait until the IBM 970, which is 
coming out towards the end of the year.

To get OS X, which is a full UNIX based operating system, "working" on 
my Powerbook I pressed the "on" button. Then I had DVD burning, 
wireless, ethernet, GNU development tools, bluetooth, printing, MS 
Office, modem, OpenGL etc etc. This appeals to me, because Time == 
Money and I simply can't sacrifice Time on getting Linux to the point 
where I can do all that.

To get Linux running on PPC, you will probably be looking at a similar 
experience to my fun times with the Sony VAIO as detailed in the URL 
above. Both Sony and Apple are notoriously proprietary, but make sweet 
kit.

For the knee-jerk flamers out there (if they've read this far) I still 
love and use Linux as a server OS, where I think it will stay for the 
foreseeable future.

Rgz,

Luke.


--
Luke Burton.
(PGP keys: http://www.hagus.net/pgp)

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