Re: [SLUG] advice for new laptop...

[James Linder <jam@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 10/12/2011, at 9:00 AM, slug-request@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

>> . is there truly nothing obvious that is a good replacement for mac users
>> to move back to linux.
> 
> Just a heads-up that installing any distribution of Linux on the current
> Mac hardware is a nightmare. If you are buying a computer to run Linux,
> don't buy a Mac.

I found it to be utterly easy: Boot Favourite CD/DVD
Install as usual

I found some things:
The iMac on snow leopard gives install discs, Lion and laptops do not. Reinstall mac OSX becomes an issue
Macs do heavy lifting to save power, in particular the linux throttle back makes the mac hardware run HOT.
EFI bios needs hard disk and disk utils to change and setup so you really want to dual boot.  (Ive not investigated EFI-grub)
iMac speakers are terrid, OSX fiddles 'till they sound good

So
Apple is utterly evil
In quest of ever more money they make nice hardware
And take great care of their customers
If and when you need, native word et al, native Adobe et al, and native camera utils (only RawTherapee handles .CR2 canon raw format, not ufraw and friends) are good
VBOX runs my many linux systems
finc and macports do a fine job of taming this alien landscape

My mac runs gnome-terminal, gimp, gnuplot, mythtv, ogg audio

That makes the NO a definte-maybe, have fun

James