Re: OSX, is it better than Mandrake Linux?

Mandrake would be a good place to start for a newcomer, or even Knoppix (runs off a CD, you can see what its all about without having to install). Unbuntu is also good at giving you a working system with the minumum of fuss.

I'd be very impressed if you could install "Max OSX" on your PC.. If you want to try the latest Mac OSX, you'll need a Mac suprisingly enough...

Requirements:

• Power Mac G3, G4 or G5 * iMac * eMac * PowerBook G3 or G4 * iBook computer with 128 MB of physical RAM * Built-in USB

I wouldn't consider this trolling if I hadn't read this same message in other Linux OS newsgroups already today. Enjoy your Mac, Mac.

Download a *nix distro, and try it... Then tell us... :-)

The beauty of choice.

If you're giving up on Windows, you probably have an x86 type PC in front of you. Switching to Mac OSX would require a complete revamp of your hardware, since it only runs on PowerPC type computers (and then, legally, only on Apple-branded PowerPC computers).

If you want to try linux for a bit to see what you think, get your hands on a LiveCD distribution, which runs off the CD and requires no installation. Good desktop ones I hear ranted about a lot here are Knoppix

Also, don't rely on Mandrake as your distribution of choice - which distribution you should use all depends what you want to do with it. At the end of the day linux is linux, but some distros will make doing some things much easier for you, and other things much harder.

HTH, ~ Rich

If you're keeping the box you had Windows on, you'll have to run Linux because OS X isn't available for intel hardware. I wish is was!

Gary

To me they have a similar feel when you use KDE on Linux Mandrake. I would recommend Linux Mandrake on the PC. You'll save a lot of money. However if you just have to run Mac software, I recommend the single CPU G5 over any of the other Macs. It's the only one that comes close to being worth the money.

John

Maybe to you. There are lots of differences.

Actually, the dual processor G5 towers, which more expensive, give you much more bang for your buck.

If you're not doing high-end media work or something though, just get a mini. No sense paying four times as much just to launch apps a bit faster.

If Apple had the time and energy, releasing a knoppix-style light version of OS X that would boot from CD on Intel/AMD hardware and let you play around with it a bit to help draw switchers to the eye candy might be interesting. I suspect supporting all the devices might be difficult, but being based upon BSD, that shouldn't be impossible to tackle. They might even be able to get a lot of open source code monkeys to help them do it.

Or, if you don't have any other CPU intensive work to do. Some people use computers to *compute things* instead of animating cartoons or playing games. (I know, I know, that's a shock to the system, but it happens once in a while). :-)

BTW, to get around the mini drive speed, is it possible for the mini to completely ignore (or to remove) the internal 2.5" drive and boot off of an external drive (I know, it ruins the beauty, etc., etc., ad nauseam) instead? If not, what is the fastest 2.5" drive currently available to replace it with?

You can easily boot the Mini off an external Firewire drive if you wish. Heck, you can even boot it off a Firewire RAID volume if you want.

There are some pretty fast 2.5" drives - some with 8 MB (or even 16 MB, IIRC) of cache. IIRC, there's even a 7200 rpm notebook drive, but I may be mistaken about that. I think barefeats.com ran some tests a while back.

You can switch to Mandrake without buying new equipment, unless something is unsupported. If you switch to a Mac, you're definitely shelling out for new equipment. Either way, you'll be in unfamiliar territory.

Now there is a good idea. :-)

I have a 60GB 7200RPM hitachi in a notebook here, and it's reasonably fast (compared to 4800 or 5400 RPM drives), but not exactly a screamer either.

Yes to me and most people who use computer. To me and them the differences are pretty minor.

No. We're talking about a computer for someone who is switching from Windows to another OS. Chances are the user will find the transition easier with a single processor Mac. I would recomend it if they had a 2.5Ghz single processor Mac at the same price as the 1.8 Ghz. $2000 for a computer that you're not doing high end stuff on is a waste. $500+ for a mini that needs major upgrades to be compatible with the average PC is another waste of money.

John

but why run Mandrake? Suse is a far better package, what ever you do DON"T USE REDHAT!

fly> >

BSD hardly has stellar hardware support, and XNU is even worse. If your looking for something with hardware detection/support on the level of Knoppix your barking up the wrong tree. However, they /could/ port the GUI and base libraries to a Linux-based platform and use a standard live-CD model. More trouble than it's worth and would be hell to lock down such that people couldn't make it work on other distributions.

And why does so much of this garbage get cross-posted to rec.woodworking?

Mostly to piss you off and it worked.

Reply to the message but leave this group out when you do and let the others fight it. If you continue the cross-posting, it just makes matters worse.

Yeah, I ran down the list of good reasons to buy a G5 tower a few days ago. Basically, it's high-end media work of various sorts, plus CPU-intensive scientific applications.

There's really not much else that still requires high-end hardware. Except games, but if that's your major interest, stick to Windows.

Sure, Macs have been able to boot from FireWire and USB drives for many years now. I don't think the drive is going to be much of an issue for most users in the mini's target market, though.