jeffporter Posted April 28, 2006 Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 everyone's talking about running windows on Macs, but I want to know if anyone's tried using parallels to run a linux distro, more specifically, mandriva. [moved from Software by spinynorman] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted April 28, 2006 Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 My Mac G4 is running with Mandriva 2005. Stable, no problems so far. Installation is almost as easy as the normal PC installation. You only have to keep some minor things in mind like the partitioning and bootloader config section and the mouse-button emulation, but apart from that, it's painless. For the bootloader and partitioning, take e.g. a look at the installation instructions on the Mandriva site and don't hesitate to click on "help" during the installation for additional information on partitioning. If you run into problems feel free to ask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted April 28, 2006 Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 if you're talking about the new intel macs, you have to mess around with EFI for booting, which can be done with ELILO (i think that's the name) but no one is fulling supporting that at this point, IIRC. i'm sure it's in development, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted April 28, 2006 Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 Yes, they are working on linux for the intel-mac already from what I read here and there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffporter Posted April 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 what kind of work are you guys doing in mandriva on your mac? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted April 28, 2006 Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 The usual desktop stuff... OpenOffice, Scribus, Music, Video, Gimp, Inkscape,... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted April 28, 2006 Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 i don't have a mac...anymore. i wish i did. and hopefully, i'll have a macbook pro before the end of the summer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted April 28, 2006 Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 To be honest: I prefer PCs to Macs. Mac hardware is more expensive, you have compatibility problems with "not mac-certified" stuff that is sold as "mac compatible", too and there is less software for macs (including Linux distros). Imho, there is much hype abuot Macs without any sound reason. People get lured to Macs bacuase of their design and the dekstop-look, but apart from the nice design, they don't offer a lot more than normal PCs. I find my Macs more "shitty" for every day usage than my PCs. But that's my opinion, of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted April 28, 2006 Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 I had an iBook with OSX for about a three-month period, and to be honest i prefer it to windows and didn't run into any hardware issues - and with the macbook pro's, pretty much everything you need is part of the laptop (wireless, wired, even a camera) so I wouldn't have much to add on. the only problem i foresee is, as i understand it, wireless can be a bit flakey with some access points. not sure if they got the bugs out of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffporter Posted April 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 Arctic- I totally agree, for the most part. Mac do seem to the the "trendy" computer, not necessarily the more functional for the every day user. They are very good for artists and musicians, but simply using a PC work for most people. I think Macs are more "fun" though, cause not every one has them, so there is some kind of intrigue in that I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulSe Posted May 2, 2006 Report Share Posted May 2, 2006 Macs are not more expensive, that is a miss conecption that needs to end. We (macinista.com) are busy benchmarking the MacBook Pro - the nearest PC laptop for performance is $500 more expensive. The Mac Mini is slightly more expensive than an average PC desktop, but it includes: - Intel Core Duo - WiFi - Bluetooth And a range of other things that do not come standard with a entry level PC for a few dollars less. OS X is the best Unix I have used (ducks) and the Mac hardware isn't all looks, it is clearly superior from a technology perspective. But to get back on topic: I have used Parallels to load Linux on a MacBook Pro. It is very straight forward and simple, although I haven't messed around with the installation much (just basically installed it and made sure it worked). My problem with Parallels is that it isn't free. But once EFI becomes more prevalent (Mac ahead of the rest, again) then you won't need much to boot Linux - it'll be just like loading it on a PC I suspect, barring the airport card which has no Linux driver (although you could perhaps use ndiswrapper to use the Windows driver from Bootcamp). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iphitus Posted May 2, 2006 Report Share Posted May 2, 2006 Linux has full support for EFI booting, its just a matter of distros getting around to implementing it as an option. As for the airport cards on the macbook pro's, afaik they're broadcom based, for which a driver was merged to the vanilla kernel and will be available in 2.6.17. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qchem Posted May 5, 2006 Report Share Posted May 5, 2006 People get lured to Macs bacuase of their design and the dekstop-look, but apart from the nice design, they don't offer a lot more than normal PCs. I find my Macs more "shitty" for every day usage than my PCs. But that's my opinion, of course. Obviously that's very subjective, and so is my own opinion :P I feel I'm more productive in OS X than any other OS I've tried, perhaps it's just the combinations of work that I do? Maybe becuase I can easily have a fully functional terminal and illustrator at the same time. Maybe it's expose. Maybe it's because all my music is already on there. Maybe my brain is just wired up all wrong. I do know this though, I see no need to install Linux on my iMac at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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