Linux on a Mac

[tea217]

I was wondering if is it possible to install linux on a mac machine?? I am a pc user, no idea on mac stuff.

thanks

 

[TonyRic]

Yes, Yellowdog linux and Mandrake and a few others.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Depends on the Mac.

 

[tea217]

thankyou for ur replies.

I am planning to buy iBook G4 12".
I wanna try out a Mac. But I wanna do some programming in C/C++, java, perl, etc.

I want to know if there are freewares of those programs for MAC.
and also, can I dual boot linux in iBook then

THANKs, appreciated.

 

[tea217]

I am really a newbie to Mac

Just wondering, does the Mac OS X have all the utilities, (eps. the developer ones for writing program) that linux have ?

 

[keeleysam]

Originally posted by: tea217
I am really a newbie to Mac

Just wondering, does the Mac OS X have all the utilities, (eps. the developer ones for writing program) that linux have ?

Yes, install Xcode from disk 4, and use Fink.

 

[Nothinman]

I want to know if there are freewares of those programs for MAC.

Pretty much all of the popular Linux development tools are Open Source and have been ported to most OSes. Hell IIRC Apple uses gcc to build all of their OS X stuff. There's some extra closed-source stuff on their developer disc, but it should also include all of the normal OSS stuff.

 

[ghost03]

Originally posted by: keeleysam

Originally posted by: tea217
I am really a newbie to Mac

Just wondering, does the Mac OS X have all the utilities, (eps. the developer ones for writing program) that linux have ?

Yes, install Xcode from disk 4, and use Fink.

bingo!

 

[nweaver]

Most modern distro's offer a powerPC branch. I know off hand (and in order of preference for a Notebook) would be Ubuntu, Debian, Gentoo do.

 

[kamper]

Xcode totally isn't necessary, although I guess you can use it if you like. All the basic tools from linux are there regardless: gcc, perl, better java support, vim...

 

[hopejr]

Like kamper said, you don't need to install Xcode to get all the developer stuff that comes with Linux. It's in OS X anyway. Xcode is just an IDE, and it's a nice one too. If you're happy to use vim, then don't worry about Xcode.

A number of distros work on macs. There's Gentoo, Ubuntu, Mandrake, Yellow Dog, and possibly more. I just stuck with OS X because it pretty much has everything I needed from Linux anyway, and it runs better on macs than linux.

 

[tea217]

thank you everyone.
this is useful information


Last question.
For the Mac iBook G4 12'. it's 1.33ghz

If I bought that notebook, and play a typical download movie from the web. about 640x480 res. 23fps. divx encoded. Will it lag? Anyone using the iBook G4, please tell me. (i am planning to get a laptop)

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: tea217
thank you everyone.
this is useful information


Last question.
For the Mac iBook G4 12'. it's 1.33ghz

If I bought that notebook, and play a typical download movie from the web. about 640x480 res. 23fps. divx encoded. Will it lag? Anyone using the iBook G4, please tell me. (i am planning to get a laptop)

If you can get divx to work, it should be more than fine. I haven't looked in a while (especially since I'm of the opinion that divx is ass), but last time I checked divx didn't work on 10.4.

 

[timswim78]

A listing of the many linux distributions can be found at linuxwatch.org. While you are looking through the different distro's, you will want to look for ones that support the PPC (PowerPC) processor (this is the processor currently used in Mac's.)

 

[kamper]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
I haven't looked in a while (especially since I'm of the opinion that divx is ass), but last time I checked divx didn't work on 10.4.

Not with vlc?

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: kamper

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
I haven't looked in a while (especially since I'm of the opinion that divx is ass), but last time I checked divx didn't work on 10.4.

Not with vlc?

The package on the divx site wouldn't work with 10.4. I don't know any more than that. vlc works for a lot of things, but I don't know if any of them were divx.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: kamper

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
I haven't looked in a while (especially since I'm of the opinion that divx is ass), but last time I checked divx didn't work on 10.4.

Not with vlc?

I've 10.4.3 and I'm able to play DIVX files with VLC; no issues.

I have a PB 12" 1.33.

For the OP, why install Linux on an expensive Mac? Buy a Mac to run MacOS; buy a $450 Compaq laptop from Circuit City to run Linux. (5.2 pounds, 14" widescreen - it's not half bad.)

 

[Nothinman]

For the OP, why install Linux on an expensive Mac? Buy a Mac to run MacOS; buy a $450 Compaq laptop from Circuit City to run Linux. (5.2 pounds, 14" widescreen - it's not half bad.)

Because the hardware is nice and OS X is highly overrated.

 

[kamper]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Because the hardware is nice and OS X is highly overrated.

That depends on your rating system. Some of us don't hate everything but Debian

 

[Nothinman]

That depends on your rating system. Some of us don't hate everything but Debian

Yes, but we hope for those of you to someday become enlightened =)

 

[drag]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

For the OP, why install Linux on an expensive Mac? Buy a Mac to run MacOS; buy a $450 Compaq laptop from Circuit City to run Linux. (5.2 pounds, 14" widescreen - it's not half bad.)

Because the hardware is nice and OS X is highly overrated.

That's exactly why I have my Ibook.

I mean, have you guys actually run a $450 compaq laptop?? It sucks.

But it's not that big of deal as when I bought it. The ibook was, for it's price, a 12" laptop that is lightweight, good quality, and had good battery life. It was, for the price, against those horrible Pentium4-M heavyweight laptops. Nowadays there are nice Intel Sonoma-style Centrino laptops that have much better Linux support and have good prices. (intel video and intel wireless have good open source drivers, avoid broadcom wifi or ATI (post 9200) stuff)

 

[dclive]

Agreed. And that, of course, is why Apple's switching to Centrino-based (well, Yonah for now) laptops. Intel hardware, especially the portable stuff, is worlds better.