Linux Fans Embrace Apple MacBooks

I never would have guessed that those MacBooks were that good. Expensive as a heart transplant but are they worth it?

> Expensive as a heart transplant but are they worth it?

If you can afford them, probably. If not, just get yourself an EEE or a Cloudbook (assuming they ever come out).

One of my friends got himself a MacBook to Linux up as his latest laptop and seems to really like it. But yeah...a bit pricey for my taste..

/me looks at the ZaReason UltraLapSR he's gonna buy soon

techiem2 >>/me looks at the ZaReason UltraLapSR he's gonna buy soon

Roger that, I will have to put that into my bookmarks.

Yeah, I've decided I want something a bit more powerful yet smaller than my current 15" work laptop. That one is perfect. Discrete video card option, plenty of power (good cpu options to choose from), preinstalled linux (I'll keep the preinstall but do a gentoo install alongside it of course). mmmm And a whole lot cheaper than a MacBook. :)

> at the ZaReason UltraLapSR

I wish ZaReason would carry AMD processor machines. I can put up with Intel in a laptop (but their laptops, except for the CloudBook which is out of stock, are all too expensive), but not in a desktop machine. :(

I'd really love to support a Linux vendor when I buy my next machine,instead of building my own.

Yeah, I saw some macbook pros at SCALE and I usually see quite a few at LWE.

I got my macbook pro a little over a year ago and like the hardware. I've only run OSX on it so far, since I only use it for a couple of mac apps, and for computing in bed. But I'm starting to think about setting it up as dual boot with linux, so I don't have to choose between the macbook with its cool hardware, or my clunky toshiba tecra, when I go on the road.

I'll just make the macbook dual boot and we're good to go. From what I've seen, ubuntu runs pretty well on the macbook pro - anybody here got any experience with it?

Not personally, but here's my friend's page on using Ubuntu on his macbook (not a pro though).

http://4096k.net/cgi-bin/twiki/bin/view/Main/MacBookAndUbunt...

Thanks techiem2, bookmarked

No prob.

I got Ubuntu running on a black macbook a few months ago, bluetooth and all, just fine. Never got dual displays working, though. It was an employer's machine. For my own money I'd get a ThinkPad x61 for ultra portability and an additional cheap 15.4" widescreen machine like this Compaq I paid $450 for (yes, $180 in rebate checks did arrive...thankfully I wasn't pinched for the cash for the two months I wated for them). The x61 is better for travelling and the 15.4" is better for local collaborative meetings and a second desktop replacement. 2 for 1 is better than an Apple logo. Besides, the edge of a MacBook is like a razor trying to slit your wrists. My big monkey paws didn't get along with it.

Most people think widescreens are better because they're all over the market when the truth is the reason they're all over the place is because they're cheaper to manufacture than the traditional design.

The ZaReason booth at SCALE had an Everex Cloudbook on display, and it looks great. The best part: gOS on the Cloudbook has GNOME. It's still green, still has the Web 2.0 apps in the toolbar, but I think it'll run way better with all the GNOME tools.

And ... I too saw an awful lot of Apple laptops at SCALE. If you're an attendee, it's one thing -- use whatever you've got, but IMHO, if you're sitting there in a booth on the show floor representing an open-source project, using a Mac doesn't really help your credibility. Not that I don't have a Mac, too, among the half-dozen machines I hack away at, but I wouldn't be sitting at my SCALE booth running a freakin' Mac.

> IMHO, if you're sitting there in a booth on the show floor representing an open-source project, using a Mac doesn't really help your credibility.

I can understand an exhibitor using OSX, since it's at least unixy, "in the family" so to speak, though it would be more relevant for them to use linux. But I have a much better feeling about seeing folks staffing the booths using OSX than if they were using ms w2k or expee.

When I see someone manning a booth at a linux show working in w2k/expee I can't help thinking they're out of place there.

Yeah, I did an all day tutorial on embedded linux at the ESC in San Jose last April and the instructor did the full presentation on a Mac. I wasn't offended in the least. He knew his sh......well, let's just say shell.

Just remembered that back in the days when Macs used that other processor Mr. L. Torvalds ran one with YellowDog Linux. But now he uses a dead badger.