Re: [tlug] Linux-compatible Mac laptop?

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull@example.com>]

Joseph Essertier writes:

 > I also had trouble installing Ununtu a few years ago on my G4
 > PowerBook, and that experience was in my mind.

I doubt this is a worry any more.  Installs are one of the things that
improves rapidly[1] in the free software world, and in fact I think
(having finally decided to abandon XEmacs support for the other three
"Panther" users left in the world, and installing "Tiger" on my
ancient PowerBook G4) that Debian beats Mac OS X for ease of setup (at
least for power users).

 > > Why use Linux when you can use the far superior Mac stuff for that?
 > 
 > This question got me thinking.  For video and photo editing, Mac
 > software may be best indeed for someone like me.  I've used the Gimp
 > software a bit, and come to like it, but I have not seen any of the
 > Mac equivalents in the last 3 years.

If you've got software you like, stick with it unless you have a good
reason to change.  I'm as arrogant as the next guy, but "Steve sez" is
not a good enough reason. ;-)

 > I didn't know about either of those projects.  After reading your
 > message, I read a little about them at their web sites.  They look
 > promising, buthonestly,  I wonder if I'd be able to actually set up
 > and use the Linux applications I've come to like.  I'll read more
 > though.  They may well be the perfect solution for me.

What set up? :-)  One thing about targeting the Mac is "Mac joshiki":
everybody thinks the Mac Way is the only natural way.  Because of
this there's generally less need to make gratuitous choices on the Mac
than on Linux.

The only things you where you might encounter trouble are the Cranky
Unix Printing System, which sucks just as bad when it doesn't work
instantly on the Mac as it sucks when it doesn't work on Linux, and
X11 (why aren't you surprised?)  CUPS has been a constant source of
annoyance, possibly because of the CADT syndrome

 > Very true.  And expensive, if you don't have fellow Mac users
 > around, from whom you can "borrow" proprietary software.  Without
 > such friends around, to enjoy the latest basic software, like photo
 > and video-editing, and MS Word legally, you've got to fork out
 > $1,000 a year.  That's how it was a few years ago at least.

I haven't upgraded Office in 4 years (the iBook I bought last year
doesn't even have it installed).  I'm a text-oriented kind of guy, but
the bundled multimedia apps (iPhoto, iMovie, Garage Band, ...) seem to
be pretty usable, at least for my light usage.


Footnotes: 
[1]  I'd write "incredibly rapidly", but after watching it for over
ten years, I'm a believer. :-)