need a *nix notebook

[mrweirdo]

Well I guess I need to finaly get myself a notebook mostly for school classes. I'm taking a bunch of unix classes and some comp science stuff where all the computers are some linux distro, mac os x, bsd, etc. Basicly i will mostly be doing class work, studies, browsing the web, playing mp3s, etc with this notebook. So light weight type stuff Looking to spend $1000 or less. I'm would like something with a decent baterly life and something not that bulky if posible. Also need built in wi-fi.

I've come accross the 12" ibook which is right around that price tag and I'm seriously considering getting it. plus OS X is just so much more advanced then gnome or kde on the gui I'm not realy that concerned with the small lcd as I would be because when I'm at home or some other place where there is a spare monitor i can hook up to it for my display. The only thing holding me back is the fact that apple is going to be switching to intel sometime in the future. So I'm not sure if its a good thing to buy now get a known stable revision laptop and risk not being able to upgrade software later. Who knows the intel laptops are likely to have bugs or some other major issues whenever they finally decide to come out with them as Apple is aprently know for having with new revision A products.

 

[The Linuxator]

If you want a "'nix" notebook go get a Thinkpad, now they have the 13th aniversary Thinkpad sale and you can get yourself a descent T,X,G or R series Thinkpad for a nice price. Why a Thinkpad, lets put the quality and support of IBM aside ( eventhough it's the best on the planet), IBM Thinkpads are the most known laptops in the world, they are so easy to get Linux running and configured % 100 without an issue, Why? Well because having a lapttop that is well known such as the Thinkpad
implies that there is for sure documentation out there to help you with your issues here is an example ThinkWiKi, through this site I was able to get all my extra features up and running, like, WiFi, On Screen Display(volume,brightness...etc) IBM special functions, standby...all the stuff that is hard to configure in Linux was a breeze on my Thinkpad, becae I found the resources out there for it.

And why buy an iBook ?! Why restrict yourself to an architecture that is dying if not already dead, and who cares about the Intel iBooks/ Powerbooks, it's still a restricted architecture that runs OS X and that's about it, well you may argue that distros such as Fedora Core for example have ppc versions, well the Linux community doesn't give much attention to the ppc side of the world and the support you get and available packages / apps are very limited. Meanwhile if you get a PC you have the options for Linux / Unix , Windows, OS/2, BeOS, and possibly a cracked OS X so why bother with a Mac I have a Dual boot on my Thinkpad R50e between Fedora Core 4 and Windows XP pro, I take this latptop with me to College, I feel always relaxed because I know if something comes up I am ready and prepared for it having more than one option always comes in very handy.

 

[mrweirdo]

oh cool i didnt know thinkpads still worked on linux. I assumed that they had gone the route of many others that use parts like modem, etc that work with windows only. Now I only wish you didnt have to order them with windows xp :/ who needs to buy a copy of windows or even an os included anyways right when you can get linux easily and install it yourself I will probably install ubuntu if i get one since I allready use that distro on a desktop pc of mine and realy like it. I think the one thing the mac might have going for that is the ATI Mobility Radeon 9550 vs the intel extreme graphics 2. My guess the ati has beter beter gfx.

 

[omissible]

Originally posted by: The Linuxator
And why buy an iBook ?! Why restrict yourself to an architecture that is dying if not already dead, and who cares about the Intel iBooks/ Powerbooks, it's still a restricted architecture that runs OS X and that's about it, well you may argue that distros such as Fedora Core for example have ppc versions, well the Linux community doesn't give much attention to the ppc side of the world and the support you get and available packages / apps are very limited.

Maybe because you don't have to futz with it to get wi-fi, brightness/volume, and power management to work with OS X? Maybe because you don't need WINE to run proprietary apps like Word or Photoshop? Maybe because most OSS doesn't really care whether it's running on Linux or OS X, so long as gcc and x11 are there?

If you're a hacker type, and you like to experiment with different distros and tweak and customize every aspect of your environment, then yeah, OS X is restrictive. If this is going to be your only machine in school, then you'll want a stable, well-supported config that won't leave you up a tree when your project is due. PowerPC is "mature" right now, with lots of apps, and there's an installed base of millions of systems. It's not going anywhere.

 

[hopejr]

I'd get the iBook. Rev A Apples are usually something to only get if you really need it, and the Rev B Intel iBooks probably won't be out until the end of 2006 or mid-way through 2007. Personally, I user OS X for desktop stuff and travel, and leave Linux for my servers without a gui(damn good server OS). My many experiences with Linux and notebooks have left a foul taste in my mouth for that combination (not saying linux is the problem, it's the notebook manufacturers that use Windows only hardware, but then again, the Airport card doesn't work in linux either )

 

[The Linuxator]

Originally posted by: omissible

Originally posted by: The Linuxator
And why buy an iBook ?! Why restrict yourself to an architecture that is dying if not already dead, and who cares about the Intel iBooks/ Powerbooks, it's still a restricted architecture that runs OS X and that's about it, well you may argue that distros such as Fedora Core for example have ppc versions, well the Linux community doesn't give much attention to the ppc side of the world and the support you get and available packages / apps are very limited.

Maybe because you don't have to futz with it to get wi-fi, brightness/volume, and power management to work with OS X? Maybe because you don't need WINE to run proprietary apps like Word or Photoshop? Maybe because most OSS doesn't really care whether it's running on Linux or OS X, so long as gcc and x11 are there?

If you're a hacker type, and you like to experiment with different distros and tweak and customize every aspect of your environment, then yeah, OS X is restrictive. If this is going to be your only machine in school, then you'll want a stable, well-supported config that won't leave you up a tree when your project is due. PowerPC is "mature" right now, with lots of apps, and there's an installed base of millions of systems. It's not going anywhere.

Well you missed the point there, the title is "need a *nix notebook", so what I understood is that he wants a notebook for Linux, since he said he wants it for some advanced Unix/Linux apps, so I wasn't attacking OS X just his choice of architecture to be honest I like OS X, but it's not something that is made to be tinkered with like Linux. So as long as you use OS X for what it 's designed to do then you should have no issues.

So the conclusion is that he wanted to get an iBook becasue it comes with a ATI 9600 Mobility, which is useless in Linux. So I asked him that sure he can run Linux on an iBook, but why the hell close the doors on yourself ? If he gets an iBook he is shrinkiing down his options list , the # of OS s that he will be able to run on an iBook, will be very small, and they will less support than x-86 distros have so why bother.
I love how much options I have available to me All flavors of Linux/Unix/BSD and the new all shiny cacked OS X(when I get my hands on it soon), just think how much options you have whne you use an x-86 laptop, plus the hardware options , for example in a iBook you can't upgrade your harddrive (without messing up everything) , you are basically stuck with what you have. I am not sure if the airport card will work for you too. If you buy a Thinkpad it will come with an Intel-mini PCI 2200BG (one of the options) that will work out of the box in many Linux installtions, for example I installed Knoppix on my thinkpad once for testing pirposes and the WiFi worked from the 1 st bootup !!! There is nothing on my thinkpad that isn't running as it should be in Linux.

 

[omissible]

I don't think I missed the point at all. He said "need a *nix notebook" and OS X on an iBook certainly qualifies. Plenty of people use OS X to run "advanced Unix apps."

He never mentioned anything about tinkering. If he wants to tinker, experiment, and customize, then he probably shouldn't get a mac unless he's really adventurous. But he never said anything about that. If all he cares about is running *nix apps, like he said, then it doesn't matter if he's running OS X or Linux.

It's up to him to decide what secondary characteristics are important to him. Simplicity and reliability, or freedom and versatility? I'm not going to decide for him.

Ever notice how nobody ever has "Make OS X run smoothly on your Apple iBook" link in their sig?

 

[mrweirdo]

Ya I'm looking for something more simiple and reliable and I wont be doing a bunch of tinkering around with things. Got a desktop pc for that . I'm just looking for something that will work and work well without hassles. OS X is perfect for that.

Also I'm not to concerned with being able to change hardware as much as i would be if it was a desktop system because after all laptops arent realy ment to be changed often when it comes to hardware.

So I'm thinking I'm gona go for the ibook unless I can find a pc for a considerable amount less then what an ibook costs with at least 512MB ram(note most pcs come with only 256 standard) and something that will work easily with linux on it(no heavy compiling and tweaking to get everything working).

 

[The Linuxator]

Originally posted by: omissible
I don't think I missed the point at all. He said "need a *nix notebook" and OS X on an iBook certainly qualifies. Plenty of people use OS X to run "advanced Unix apps."

He never mentioned anything about tinkering. If he wants to tinker, experiment, and customize, then he probably shouldn't get a mac unless he's really adventurous. But he never said anything about that. If all he cares about is running *nix apps, like he said, then it doesn't matter if he's running OS X or Linux.

It's up to him to decide what secondary characteristics are important to him. Simplicity and reliability, or freedom and versatility? I'm not going to decide for him.

Ever notice how nobody ever has "Make OS X run smoothly on your Apple iBook" link in their sig?

That was the most unrealistic comparison that I have ever heared, OS X is designed to work on ibook/ Powerbook...etc the choice of hardware is limited, there are no difficulties such as the ones that Linux faces with the plathora of hardware configurations. I'll tell you this if Linux developers decided one day to write a distro especially for my Thinkpad's configuration, and made it a custom Kernel, and everything else is designed for it. Then guess what we will obtain a black mac !!

 

[hopejr]

HAHAHAHAHA, "Make OS X run smoothly on your Apple iBook". Sorry omissible, I have to agree with The Linuxator on that one. It's a funny one just the same.

I'm coming to the end of my 4 year Software Engineering course, and we used Linux in the labs, but many people (including most of the lecturers) had macs to do the stuff on. With the *nix stuff, they don't usually bother to teach ppl how to recompile their kernels or anything like that, so macs were fine. That kind of stuff is done in ppl's spare time

 

[The Linuxator]

Originally posted by: hopejr
HAHAHAHAHA, "Make OS X run smoothly on your Apple iBook". Sorry omissible, I have to agree with The Linuxator on that one. It's a funny one just the same.

I'm coming to the end of my 4 year Software Engineering course, and we used Linux in the labs, but many people (including most of the lecturers) had macs to do the stuff on. With the *nix stuff, they don't usually bother to teach ppl how to recompile their kernels or anything like that, so macs were fine. That kind of stuff is done in ppl's spare time

Hey Linux is for learning it;s not for fun, buit for geeks like me learning is fun :thumbsup:, I am 2 years away from getting my B.S CSE and I forced myself to start learning how a Linux OS works, it's not easy learning things like that after you have spent your entire life-time using Windows.

But I gave myself a crash course in Linux when I first started , I imaged all my 4 PCs running windows, and then I formatted all of them and loaded a different Linux OS on each, right now I am typing from my AMD workstation that only has Fedora Core 4 on it.

But your right learning extra stuff should be done on a peson's spare time if not part of the course work.
But alot of Linux distors are so easy to use, you can use SUSE Linux if you want something that is so easy to use. Fedora Core 4 offers you some nice options if you wan't a continious up to date technology.