[fleamailman]

Ok, forgive me if it sounds to you like I have just discovered that pumpkin pie is American, but I have noticed quite a few mac laptops having linux, it seems that some people cannot stand slowness of the system running mac whereas I had always thought that it was mostly windows users who couldn't stand the malware situation that were using linux, feedback welcome

Edited by fleamailman, 16 February 2008 - 02:04 AM.

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There are any number of reasons to dual boot Mac and Linux. First you want more options for Software. Mac provides you with mostly one option to complete a task, if it doesn't meet your needs or function in a way that you like to bad, Apple knows best.

People forget that Apple is no longer a computer company. They have a larger more profitable business in embedded devices. IPods and IPhones are more profitable then computers. ITunes is a huge money maker Films from Pixar make a tidy profit.

Mac is still a good platform but what made it special was it's attention to the creative side of the computer user. It still has the tools but the same or better tools are available on other platforms. There are plenty of good Mac programs and the best cost money. The update cycle for OSX costs money. Will Leopard even run on a G5? Another thought I have is the latest OSX has had almost as many issues as Vista, security flaws and crashing systems have not been uncommon, so why pay for headaches? People who multi-boot are generally not your average computer user. They either want to learn some thing new, need what the other system has to offer, are just tired of paying for flawed software or all the latter.

With the move to Intel Mac's no longer need the PPC ports to run Linux. Add to that OSX is a unix like system this makes Linux attractive in that the learning curve is less than coming from a Windows environment. In the last five years that I have played with Linux it has matured to a point where it is not just for Geeks. The Average User can use Linux without the slightest clue of how to compile a kernel or source package. If CL is intimidating Average Joe will not likely ever have to use it any more then a Windows user uses Command Prompt or a Mac user uses Terminal. So why not dual boot? It's something different. You can use cutting edge software. You can learn new skills. Your computer can do it. Best of all it's cheap, bandwidth you already pay for and a CD-R you have laying around and your a Linux User with access to the most free software on the planet. Pretty dang Cool!

[silverbeard]

There are any number of reasons to dual boot Mac and Linux. First you want more options for Software. Mac provides you with mostly one option to complete a task, if it doesn't meet your needs or function in a way that you like to bad, Apple knows best.

People forget that Apple is no longer a computer company. They have a larger more profitable business in embedded devices. IPods and IPhones are more profitable then computers. ITunes is a huge money maker Films from Pixar make a tidy profit.

Mac is still a good platform but what made it special was it's attention to the creative side of the computer user. It still has the tools but the same or better tools are available on other platforms. There are plenty of good Mac programs and the best cost money. The update cycle for OSX costs money. Will Leopard even run on a G5? Another thought I have is the latest OSX has had almost as many issues as Vista, security flaws and crashing systems have not been uncommon, so why pay for headaches? People who multi-boot are generally not your average computer user. They either want to learn some thing new, need what the other system has to offer, are just tired of paying for flawed software or all the latter.

With the move to Intel Mac's no longer need the PPC ports to run Linux. Add to that OSX is a unix like system this makes Linux attractive in that the learning curve is less than coming from a Windows environment. In the last five years that I have played with Linux it has matured to a point where it is not just for Geeks. The Average User can use Linux without the slightest clue of how to compile a kernel or source package. If CL is intimidating Average Joe will not likely ever have to use it any more then a Windows user uses Command Prompt or a Mac user uses Terminal. So why not dual boot? It's something different. You can use cutting edge software. You can learn new skills. Your computer can do it. Best of all it's cheap, bandwidth you already pay for and a CD-R you have laying around and your a Linux User with access to the most free software on the planet. Pretty dang Cool!

[fleamailman]

great reply, thanks

[Gravity Gripp]

Being a person has dual booted with Linux and Leopard, I can say that the reason I do it, is just for something different and to say that I can do it. Honestly, Linux on any laptop takes alot of customizations to be exactly like OSX or even Windows. The biggest thing for me is trying to control the fans on my macbook. There really isn't a good solution other than having a shell script that modifies a /proc option.

Personally, I really like OSX. I think that a lot of time and effort has went into making the interface very user friendly and intuitive. I will say that a Mac is very expensive, but it's good hardware and a nice OS. But, if it wasn't for my company buying me one, I would not have one due to the price.

so why pay for headaches

You could say the same about Vista, but I just wanted to note that I personally, haven't had any issues with Leopard crashing or anything of the sort. I just make sure that I keep it up-to-date and turn the built-in firewall on first thing.

[fleamailman]

thanks GG, which distro was it?

[Gravity Gripp]

I use Ubuntu, it has very good support for mac's but IMHO it's not there just yet.