A friend of mine phoned to ask if I thought he should install
Ubuntu Linux on his Macs - a
1.33 GHz G4 iBook
currently running OS X 10.4 "Tiger" and a 1.25 GHz Power Mac G4 tower
with OS X 10.3 "Panther" installed.
My friend had read a feature in the local newspaper extolling the
virtues of Ubuntu Linux and thought it sounded interesting.
Ubuntu is a other project dedicated to making Linux user-friendly
enough to be used as a mainstream desktop OS, and it's arguably the
most successful iteration toward that objective to date. Ubuntu
supports Intel/AMD PC hardware as well as Power PC Macs.
Does Ubuntu Linux make any sense for Macintosh users?
In my friend's case, I would say no, and I did.
He's an experienced, but not especially tech-savvy, non-power user,
and the geek aspect of Linux would be of no interest or service to him.
The machines he has are powerful and up-to-date enough to run OS X
very comfortably. He has a suite of Mac software, and I can perceive no
advantage and many potential pitfalls in his switching to Linux.
On the other hand, for users of older Mac hardware, particularly
machines not supported by OS X, Linux is a way to give them a new
lease on life with a modern, secure, and robust operating system that
requires less power and processor overhead on their
less-than-cutting-edge equipment.
Older Mac software can be accommodated using the Mac on Linux emulator - a sort of
"Classic Mode" for Linux on PowerPC Macs.
Linux also has the advantage of being free.
The main advantage, as I see it, of using a Macintosh is that it
runs the Mac OS, which is unmatched and unchallenged in terms of
user-friendliness. Like Linux, OS X gives you the stability and
power of Unix (albeit from different branches of the Unix family tree),
but combined with the best graphic user interface yet devised for
personal computers, ease of software installation, and, with rare
exceptions, true plug and play - "it just works" - with peripherals and
networking support.
...I kept asking myself, "Why would I want to put
up with the aggravations and hassles of using Linux on a computer that
supports the Mac OS?"
I've installed a couple of Linux distros - SuSE and Yellow Dog - on Macs
in the past, partly as an exercise in curiosity. It was an interesting
trip, but I kept asking myself, "Why would I want to put up with the
aggravations and hassles of using Linux on a computer that supports the
Mac OS?"
I couldn't come up with anything convincing.
Consequently, if I had a non-Apple PC, Ubuntu Linux would probably
be my first choice of operating systems, but with a Mac, you already
have the best operating system in world.
However, if you're interested in Ubuntu, it's a complete Linux-based
operating system, freely available with both community and professional
support being developed by a large community.
Gnome is the default desktop user interface for Ubuntu. It can also
be installed with the ubuntu-desktop package, while KDE is the default
desktop for the Kubuntu
variant.
The Ubuntu community is built on the ideas enshrined in the Ubuntu
Philosophy: Software should be available free of charge, software tools
should be usable by people in their local language and despite any
disabilities, and people should have the freedom to customize and alter
their software in whatever way they see fit.
The current Ubuntu release supports PC (Intel x86), 64-bit PC
(AMD64), UltraSPARC T1 (Sun Fire T1000 and T2000), and PowerPC (iBook
and PowerBook, G4 and G5) architectures.
Ubuntu includes more than 16,000 pieces of software, but the core
desktop installation fits on a single CD. Ubuntu covers every standard
desktop application from word processing and spreadsheet applications
to web server software and programming tools.
A standard Ubuntu install contains a selection of applications,
including OpenOffice 2.0 for word processing, spreadsheets, and
presentations, the GIMP for image editing and the Firefox web browser
more. You can Play, rip and mix your CDs with the Rhythmbox Media
Player or play your videos in Totem.
You can download the Ubuntu DesktopCD and test Ubuntu without
changing anything on your computer. If you want to keep Ubuntu
permanently, there is an easy installer right on the DesktopCD.
You may request CDs at https://shipit.ubuntu.com
Maybe you'll like it; maybe not.
Switching from Mac to Linux?
Earlier this year, longtime Mac programmers Tim Bray and Mark
Pilgrim stirred the waters of the Mac community by announcing that they
were switching from Mac OS X to Ubuntu. However, Bray recently
expressed some sober second thought in a blog posting, For
Now I'm a Macboy Again, in which he observes:
"On balance, the Mac experience is better. But Ubuntu
is not that far behind, and it's catching up. I'm thinking about the
endgame."
He goes on to list a variety of areas where the Mac OS is superior.
Further Reading
- Why run Linux on a low-end
Mac?, Larry Stotler, Linux on the Low End, 2006.07.19. Linux
supports older video cards and requires less RAM than Mac OS X, and it
lets you run modern browsers not available under OS 9.
- Preparing your PCI Power Mac for
Linux, Larry Stotler, Linux on the Low End, 07.26. How powerful a
CPU do you need? How much memory? Do you need a faster drive
controller? Are some video cards better than others?
- The ins and outs of booting Linux
on the Mac, Larry Stotler, Linux on the Low End, 07.31. "Old World"
Macs can't boot directly into Linux. They need to boot the Classic Mac
OS first, then pass control over to Linux.
- Preparing your Mac's hard drive for
Linux, Larry Stotler, Linux on the Low End, 08.09. Before you
install Linux, you have to partition your hard drive. A look at three
different hard drive strategies for Mac Linux.
- Installing Linux on a PCI Power
Mac, Part 1, Larry Stotler, Linux on the Low End, 09.05. Preparing
your PCI Power Mac (or clone) for Linux and getting openSUSE Linux
installed.
