Try before you buy
|
| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| Steven_Rosenber May 10, 2012 3:06 PM EDT |
Tell the Mac owner to start dragging down ISOs, putting them on USB sticks and installing them. He can figure out what works best out of the box for his Mac that way. With any new hardware, I recommend throwing everything you can at it in the beginning -- it's the only way to figure this out. |
| dinotrac May 10, 2012 4:38 PM EDT |
Yeah, I don't have a problem with that (though I always recommend Mint). The thing that got me was that I didn't know what to tell him in terms of "why". What are some cool "linux-y" things for him to do with a Linux box? As I said, I've been using pretty much nothing but Linux for years, and computing is pretty much synonymous with Linux to me. |
| lykwydchykyn May 10, 2012 4:50 PM EDT |
I can't really think of a "check out this killer app that blows everything else away and is only on Linux" sort of thing out there. That's not really the sort of thing that makes Linux great. If I could define one killer feature, it's the modularity and choice. Having a choice of desktop environments and being able to fine-tune appearance, window management behavior, screen layout, etc, is something you don't get on a Mac. |
| Steven_Rosenber May 10, 2012 6:01 PM EDT |
Lots of people are already using free-software applications on Windows and Mac desktops: LibreOffice, Firefox, GIMP and Inkscape, Thunderbird, etc. It's a small leap from running these on a proprietary system to running them on a Linux system. The guy's comfortable in the console, so it's Apples and apples to some extent. For me, the "killer app" for Linux is a huge package repository and the tools to manage it. |
| Steven_Rosenber May 10, 2012 6:06 PM EDT |
As an aside, you'd think there would be a distribution specifically created for Mac hardware ... |
| dinotrac May 10, 2012 6:20 PM EDT |
In the old days, there was yellow dog. Now that they're intel, maybe nobody feels the need. |
| BernardSwiss May 10, 2012 6:53 PM EDT |
My suggestion -- Ask him : What does he think is "cool, Apple-y stuff" that he can do on a Mac? Maybe he means glitzy stuff like the Compiz cube with Atlantis inside. Or maybe slightly more practical stuff like "shading" windows, fiddling around with button placements and functions. Maybe persistent live-USBs would float his boat. I'm sure there's a ton of really practical stuff that would appeal to a developer -- free tools, IDEs, what-not, available for the effort of downloading, as easily installed as anything for Mac... |
| caitlyn May 10, 2012 7:28 PM EDT |
@dino: A number of mainstream distros also support PPC architecture. Debian immediately comes to mind. Tell me this: how old are the G4 and G3 Macs now? Can they still run a modern Linux distro? What were the last generation specs like? |
| vainrveenr May 10, 2012 7:33 PM EDT |
Quoting:As an aside, you'd think there would be a distribution specifically created for Mac hardware ... The penguinppc.org 'Distributions' page found at http://penguinppc.org/about-2/distributions/ lists a number of Linux distros for different Mac hardware; both.for 32-bit and 64-bit PowerPC architectures. Within penguinppc.org's 'Distribution' page, Debian GNU/Linux in particular seems to support the most hardware architectures of those listed. Debian lists its various ports for Mac-specific architectures (as well as other related arch's) at its 'List of official ports' section found at http://www.debian.org/ports/index#portlist-released |
| Steven_Rosenber May 10, 2012 8:28 PM EDT |
For PowerPC, I recommend Debian. Always worked great for me. |
| dinotrac May 10, 2012 8:28 PM EDT |
We're talking intel Macbook here. He's got Lion on it -- which is the latest version of OS X. It just doesn't have the power to pull it off. |
| jdixon May 10, 2012 9:29 PM EDT |
> It just doesn't have the power to pull it off. Check and make sure it's not just running out of memory. If it is, fixing the problem may be comparatively cheap and easy. |
| Fettoosh May 11, 2012 8:55 AM EDT |
@Dino, Normally, I would suggest a Linux Distro with KDE, but speed is what he is after not features. So why don't you recommend a good distro with LXDE. I hear Bodhi is pretty good also. On second thought, why don't you try latest KDE yourself and see if it would be something he might be interested in! You will have many things to brag about, Like multiple DE environment for the hardware at the time (Desktop, Netbook, Tablet, & hand held devices,etc). Another is Plasma Active where he can manage and handle his activities/project easier, more efficiently, and with consistency. As a developer, there are many features I am sure he would like. May be he will buy a better computer with more resources just for that. |
| BernardSwiss May 11, 2012 9:36 PM EDT |
Actually, does anybody know how the OSXs compare to the standard Linux distros/desktop combos, in terms of how "heavy" they are on the hardware resources? |
| skelband May 11, 2012 10:12 PM EDT |
I used OSX on my Macbook Pro for a while since someone asked me to stick with it to see what I thought.
I don't find the GUI of OSX particularly pleasant to use. So I inevitably scribbed it and replaced it with Ubuntu. I have to say that there is not much between them in terms of performance. They are both pretty snappy. |
Posting in this forum is limited to members of the group: [ForumMods, SITEADMINS, MEMBERS.]
Becoming a member of LXer is easy and free. Join Us!