Re: Linux on my Mac

[Ben]

Well, the sky won't fall if you install linux. I currently run a
dual-boot machine with ubuntu (#1 Easiest to use Linux distro for 2
years in a row) and Windows XP (I play computer games). Really, if you
run a mac, all you need to know is what type of computer you're running
-- there has to be a way to access the BIOS, so you can run a multi-boot
system. However, if you really feel it's impossible to change, it is
true that Mac OS X is a lot like linux.

~Ben
On Thu, 2006-12-28 at 15:04 +0100, Manuel wrote:
> Am 28/12/2006 um 10:02 schrieb Anthony W. Youngman:
> 
> >> I've been working with Macs since the silver days of system 7,  
> >> when Jobs was out and Linux was a baby. Since I forgot how a  
> >> semiconductor works, I can't understand computers. Now in those  
> >> days someone would come and write: "optimize your computer doing  
> >> this" and then you did it and nothing more worked. This made me  
> >> sceptical.
> >
> > I was around in the days of CP/M, although I never used it ... :-)
> 
> And I wonder what kind of animal was a CP/M
> 
> >> I fear that if I install, no, try to install Linux in my Mac, an  
> >> asteroid will fall on earth.
> >
> > Just put it on a second hard disk. If you've got a Power Mac,  
> > you'll probably need to download Yellow Dog Linux, rather than get  
> > it off a cover disk. Debian and Gentoo would also be fine, but  
> > Gentoo is NOT a good choice for somebody who doesn't have linux  
> > experience.
> 
> You are kidding me, right? Buy a second hard disk just to have an  
> asteroid fall on earth? And Power Macs are over, Jobs went Intel a  
> while ago. But you do have an interesting point: perhaps some day  
> I'll turn a penguin loose over my old 68k and PPC and see if I can't  
> still use them, though I don't know about those serial ports and  
> suchlike they changed to force us to upgrade.
> 
> >> Besides which, though Linuxers seem to be nice people, I don't  
> >> quite see what I would do with it, or do better than now. I'm glad  
> >> that in the 80' a rocket scientist (yes, that is what he was) told  
> >> me to buy myself an Apple if I could afford it. Since just then  
> >> the Macs  started to get cheaper and it was my first computer...
> >>
> > Sounds like he had his head screwed on right :-)
> 
> At least he got that right, yeah.
> 
> >> Oh, the smiling guy you see in the newsstands! Is he called Tux  
> >> because of a tuxedo? (funny word, "tuxedo")
> >>
> > I don't think it comes from there, but I don't know. He was created  
> > by a guy called Larry Ewing (iirc), and the copyright says "feel  
> > free to use him to promote linux", which is why he gets everywhere :-)
> 
> Apple uses an apple, somehow turned blue now (the rainbow colours are  
> now in that turning wheel you get instead of a crash under OS X) and  
> Windows uses an ugly window. That's logical. Linux got a penguin? At  
> least he's smiling.
> 
> >>> Just don't expect it to be like Windows
> >>
> >> I wouldn't dream of it - don't like nightmares.
> >>
> >>
> >>> (it's MUCH more reliable
> >>
> >> Yeah, well, that's no great feat. How does it compare wth OS X?
> >>
> > I gather OS X is a fairly hard act to beat. Windows, of course, is  
> > not a fair fight :-) But I think linux does have the edge over OS X  
> > - it has the edge over most things :-)
> 
> But where is the edge in this case, I mean from the point of view of  
> somebody like me, computer-stupid as opposed to -illiterate. What  
> would *I* get out of it?
> 
> > Linux and OS X are both Unices, so I think you'll find them  
> > similar. Yellow Dog in particular will probably feel Mac-like.
> 
> If there is a blue apple, why not a yellow dog.
> 
> Manue