Apple unveils tightened Mountain Lion requirements

Debian ran great on my 2000-era PowerPC Mac G4. It was an old workstation for a graphic designer, and I had a huge CRT monitor, which made the GNOME 2 desktop look great. No Flash, though.

Nowadays Macs run Intel processors, so it must be a lot easier.

Nah, a Gentoo update still takes forever and a day.

So, it's almost time to start looking for a really good deal on a used Mac, then?

Yep, Bernard, if you don't mind running Linux on it. Steven: there are still Linux distros that support and run well on G4 Macs :)

{sputter} ... if I don't mind running Linux on it !?

I assumed that could be taken for granted. ;-)

I can't imagine why a Linux user would want to buy hardware (even nice hardware) just to run an obsoleted proprietary OS on it.

Of course, there might be some difference of opinion about whether it would be worth it, or at what price point it would be worth it. I don't know much about Apple hardware.

Quoting:{sputter} ... if I don't mind running Linux on it !?

I assumed that could be taken for granted. ;-)

For you, yes, I'd assume you'd want Linux. For most members of the cult of Mac, definitely not.

We were donated a 2006 IMac with a 24 inch screen, dual core at 2.4 gigs. It is an absolutely beautiful machine. Only trouble is it has a burned out video module in it. I am lucky enough to have a great volunteer who can replace stuff like this. Most people would just consider it a MB issue and toss it. Unfortunately, that Nvidia module costs 170.00 bucks.

It still sits at his house awaiting repair....So the hardware might be great but like all things Apple it seems, you pay for the privilege of keeping it working. Kind of like owning a classic Harley....when you spend more time with a wrench in your hand than a throttle, it's time to reconsider your fandom. (fanism?)

> Kind of like owning a classic Harley...

From what I've heard, that's not limited to just classic Harley's. :(

I was always a Honda person myself, back in the day.

I was always a Honda person myself, back in the day.

So was I. I owned twin 1984 Honda 650 Nighthawks. Sleek, small enough to handle, big enough to go the distance and fast enough to make you suck up seat uhpolstery. They were relatively cheap to maintain even under "classic" status. I've owned one Harley in my life. It was a "classic" 1960 panhead and I think I exceeded the market value in parts purchases 19 months into ownership. Funny thing is, when I sold it, I not only recouped my purchase price...but almost two-thirds of the outlay in parts costs. Harley owners will pay through the nose for the privilege of having a running bike....and the parallels between Mac Users and them seem on par.

> I owned twin 1984 Honda 650 Nighthawks.

I owned what I believe was their predecessor, the Honda CB400T Hawk. Until I took the forks out and bounced off the hood of an oncoming vehicle at an intersection one day, :( It's top end was only about 80mph, but it made it fun getting there, and you could almost lay it on it's side and bring it back up. It was a great bike.

http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/CB400T.htm for those interested. The listed 110mph is definitely exaggerated.

Of course this comes as no surprise: I remember about five or six years ago the upgraded predatory cat du jour OS would not run on a Bondi iMac I had, and it annoyed me greatly. So caitlyn's suggestion of installing Linux on a Mac is a good one (pity only a few distros -- Debian and Fedora come immediately to mind, and Fedora just rejoined the party -- have a PowerPC version for those reeeealy old Macs that run Linux just fine).

I had a sweet G5 that was pretty darn pricey in its day. Something on the MB went bad, and it wouldn't boot. Not worth saving/repairing, so I e-wasted it.

1987 Honda Civic CRX that had 82K miles on it when I got it. I put 200K miles more on it before it finally rusted out from road salt. And the only major (non-maintenance) repair it ever needed was a fuel pump relay. Driving cross-country, with half my worldly possessions in it, I got 46 miles per gallon.

I still miss it, two years later.

Not worth saving/repairing, so I e-wasted it.

Same thing with the IMac I talked about above but luckily we have a Mac/Apple hardware engineer in the house that volunteers to fix all things Mac and he's worked miracles. Trouble is, the cost of the part itself is almost past the benefit of putting the computer back into service. The 24 inch screen itself is immaculate. I had a chance to see it prior to said part pooping on itself. If it wasn't such a gorgeous machine, I wouldn't bother....it's just a shame the integrated parts for this repair are so expensive. If I had to pay labor on top of the parts cost, it would have already been e-wasted.

"So... MacOS is big and bloated. If your Mac is more than a few years old you are unsupported and S.O.L. Why am I not surprised? It sounds just like Windows in that respect.

Got an old Mac? You now have a good reason to try Linux :)"

apple has been this for years - still have a tangerine imac that hasn't been able to run osx for years but still works and still runs linux nicely with kids games etc.

it is ashamed because apple seemed to make pretty decent hardware and I loved the powerpc chips was disappointed when they went to intel. but what do I know..

Power processors may be good hardware, but remember Linus' comment about their memory management: "This can be used to scare small children."

So maybe I shouldn't bother; I actually got I pretty good price on a fairly recent used ThinkPad. But I would still love to have something really light and portable, with a long-lasting battery and a good non-reflective screen.

Archlinux also has a ppc variant, although updates for that on a g4 may take a while if you need to build any packages.

Quoting:Another choice for IT staff wishing to put iMacs to good use is to ether install Linux together with OS X in dual-boot mode...

The point was that the staff were supposed to learn more about OS X to support our Mac users, but the older iMacs won't run Lion or Mountain Lion. That being said, I will be installing Linux with a Lion theme on my iMac.

I figure that Apple gives its users a five-year life on its hardware before the software stops being updated. Does that sound about right?