|
 Sale! One Week Only! iMac Flat Panel 512mb DIMMs for $115!
|
Why Linux Instead of OS X?- Jason Walsh
2002.05.09
Anyone with an interest in computing -- especially in Unix based
OSes -- cannot have failed to notice the hype surrounding the release
of Mac OS X. OS X is a whole new ball game in Macintosh
computing. For many years Apple have been trying to find a suitable
replacement for their sophisticated (but rapidly dated) Mac OS. After
a flirtation with Jean Louis Gassé's BeOS, the return of Apple
cofounder Steve Jobs precipitated a focus shift to NeXT
technologies. NeXT was the company formed by Jobs after being unceremoniously
booted out of Apple by then-CEO and former PepsiCo man, John Sculley.
NeXT manufactured the famous 680x0-based  black
hardware that offered performance beyond anything available on the
Macs and PCs of the time, but NeXT never really found a commercial
base for the machines and instead opened up their famous NeXTstep OS.
It is this OS which is the basis of Mac OS X. Reworked and ported to the PowerPC platform, NeXTstep has become
Darwin, the open source kernel of Mac OS X. Including key Unix
technologies such as Mach and having full POSIX compatibility,
Darwin/OS X does for Unix what NeXT tried to do in the early
1990s. It combines extreme power with ease of use. There is a problem, however. The entry price is steep. You must
have at least a G3 processor, and 128 MB of RAM is required to do any
serious work. If your Mac is pre-G3, your options for using Mac OS X
are limited to expensive processor upgrade cards, and even then Apple
will not guarantee support (see XPostFacto
for info on installing OS X on unsupported hardware). This is where Linux comes in. There are versions of Linux for nearly every Mac made in the last
ten years -- even 680x0 based machines. Over the next few years,
software for the classic Mac OS will dry up as users, even in the
publishing industry famed for its inertia, switch to OS X. Where does that leave your once prized Mac? Many people are now booting up Linux as a second system on their
Macs. Old Power Macs such as the 7200
make fine firewalls and small office servers, and if configured
properly they can make great desktop machines. iMacs
make great small and inexpensive Linux desktops, and if aesthetics
are not a concern, you can add a second IDE hard drive quite easily,
though it will hang out of the back of the machine. The G4
PowerBook is probably the best Linux capable laptop on the
market. The problem, as always, is user level software. Despite the fact
that the Mac absolutely dominates the creative industries and some
areas of science computing, it is a minority platform. Linux on the
Mac (or any PPC system) is a minority within a minority. However,
things may change very soon. Let's look at why. First off, OS X has an open source core in the form of Darwin.
Darwin has even been ported to x86 systems. This has allowed a lot of
standard Unix applications to make their way to OS X and then
PPC/Linux, and vice versa. GUI applications may take a little longer,
but work is already underway. There are several X Window servers
for OS X, including open source projects and Tenon Intersystems
commercial (and excellent) effort. Linux is free, as in "free beer." Yes, despite the hoo-hah about free meaning open, the fact remains
that Linux has many more no-cost useable small application programs,
such as MP3 players, calendars, PIMs, and so on, than any other OS.
This may seem relatively unimportant, but if money is a concern for
you or your organisation -- and let's face it, if you're using a
Power Macintosh 7200 rather than a G4 it probably is -- then a highly
configurable OS that you can alter to suit your machines with a large
selection of simple productivity applications is likely to be of
interest. Linux is ugly compared to the Mac OS. Many Linux users disavow
this and can come up with a hundred and one reasons to say otherwise,
but from the perspective of user interface, Apple consistently got it
right, while others, notably Microsoft, haven't. That said, KDE and
GNOME have come on in
leaps and bounds, and though I still prefer other GUIs (such as those
of the Mac OS, BeOS, and, of course, OS X), these are a pleasure to
use compared to their predecessors. Add to this the fact that with the great Mac-On-Linux application
the Mac OS can actually be run in an X Window, and it's dream
come true time. If you think that this sounds awkward, remember that
BeOS users have been doing it for years with SheepShaver
and that Mac OS X itself uses similar technologies for running
classic Mac applications.  This article was previously published in
Linux
Magazine (UK).
- <Subscribers, this article is available in
a printer-friendly
version.>
Did you find this page
helpful or enjoyable? If so, click here to support Low End
Mac.
Discuss
this article on our editorial message
board
Recent PPC Linux articles on LEMOther New Content on LEM- It's the output that
counts, Manuel Mejia, Mac Daniel, 05.09. "When purchasing a
computer, the buyer needs to make an assessment of what the output
will be."
- Mozilla gets browsing just
right, Jeff Adkins, Mac Lab Report, 05.09. Not only is the
latest build of Mozilla nearly perfect, it's fast, too.
- May 9 in LEM history. Ten Tears
an Apple User - Field Testing the Carpenter's PB 100 Fix
- OS X beyond the PowerPC,
Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 05.08. New hardware platforms provide a
real opportunity for OS X to compete where Windows doesn't
already dominate.
- Mac emulation with Basilisk
II, vMac, Alan Zisman, Mac2Windows, 05.08. More on Basilisk
II, OS X compatibility, and emulating a Mac on a Mac with
vMac.
- Apple previews "Jagular,"
Jeff Adkins, The Lite Side, 05.07. Apple previews "Jagular," the
next major release of Mac OS X hunting assistance
software.
- How to optimize Classic,
Steve Watkins, The Practical Mac, 05.07. How to make Classic mode
more stable and faster loading.
- eMac musings, Charles W.
Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 05.07. CRTs vs. flat panel
displays and the value of the new eMac.
- Getting more out of
iTunes, Evan Kleiman, Mac Daniel, 05.07. First, make sure you
update to iTunes 2, then learn how to use the equalizer....
- Obsolete two year old
computers, Andrew W. Hill, Aquatic Mac, 05.06. Why bureaucrats
find it easier to replace computers than keep them up to
date.
- Last week in review, Eric
Schwarz, The Power of Mac, 05.06. The eMac, TiBook updated, deals
on iPod and DVI-to-ADC adapter, the H-Paq merger, and other
topics.
|
LowEndMac Reader Specials
|
|
MacMall: Visit MacMall for deals on the latest PowerMac G4. Dual 1GHZ NOW!
|
|
Read Low End Mac
ad-free
| 
LEM Mobile
Edition
LEM for
WebTV Read LEM
ad-free
Mac of the Day
iBook 2001
List of the Day
SuperMacs
Deal of the Day
Back
to the Future
Channels
Power Macs
iMac Channel
iBook/PowerBook
MacInSchool
Computer Profiles
iMac
Power Mac
PowerBook/iBook
Performas
Mac Clones
Older Macs
Lisa • NeXT Editorial Archive
Mac Daniel's Advice
Email Lists
LEMchat (uses
AIM)
Message
Boards
Online Tech Journal
Consumer
advice, reviews
guides, deals
Software
Apple History
Best of the Web
Best of the Mac Web surveys
Miscellaneous Links
Best Used Mac Buys
Used Mac Dealers
Video Cards
Mac OS X
Mac Linux
Macspeak
RAM Upgrades
About Low End Mac
Site Contacts  Affiliates
eBay
123Inkjets.com
Buy.com
Crucial
Memory
Handspring
Iomega
MacMall
Mac
Zone
The
Sharper Image Advertise
on LEM :
Our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For detailed price
quotes and advertising information, please contact Greg
Snyder at BackBeat Media
(512-441-1852).
PPC
Linux ©2002 by Jason
Walsh.
The entire Low
End Mac site copyright ©1997-2002 by
Cobweb
Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted.
Copyright of individual articles resides with the author. All rights
reserved.
Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not
work for all. Computers are like that. Please report errors to
the
webmaster.
Letters sent to LEM may be published at our discretion. Email
addresses will not be published unless requested. If you prefer that
your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters
may be edited for length, context, and to match house
style.
LINK
POLICY: This site allows and encourages
links to any public page, as long as the linked page does not appear
within a frame that prevents bookmarking it. Access our news feed at
http://lowendmac.com/rss.txt.
PRIVACY
POLICY: In brief, we don't collect
personal information unless you explicitly provide it.
Low End
Mac is an independent publication and has
not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple
Computer. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, and
PowerBook are registered
trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.
Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.
For more details, see our Terms
of Use.
|
