I think I want to try Linux.
 

Okay, I know this is a Mac website, but you guys give me advice on everything and I trust your judgement.

In the beginning of the summer I was going to by an iMac G5. Now I am not. Don't ask why. This was going to be my primary system, making my iBook G4 my secondary.

For a while now, I have been wanting to try Linux on for size. My cousin is giving my his old HP, so I already have a system.

I was wondering what you think about this. I will never ever give up Mac OS X. It is the best I have ever used. And it wouldn't be like I am defecting to the dark side, or whatever you want to say, because Linux is Unix. I am going to use this system for everyday stuff, i.e. Internet, AIM, music, and some other stuff.

Also, what version of Linux should I get? I was thinking Knoppix. I've heard its good for people who don't have alot of experience and want to try it. If I like it, maybe I'll try another version. I have also heard good things about SuSE 9.3 Professional.

So what do you guys think? I'd actually be doing the old PC a favor because I think it is just sitting in a box with Windows ME on it.

I'd like to hear your opinions in this matter.

Thanks alot

Jim

I've had a nice time with Ubuntu Linux.

Easy setup on both Mac and x86 hardware, decent number of available packages, et cetera et cetera.

Did you have them send it to you for free? If you did, then can you tell me how long it took for it to arrive? I ordered 1 x86 CD and one PowerPC CD.

Linux is a great OS for a hobby machine. You can turn it into a part time desktop, part time server. Learn some basic Linux admin skills, and keep up with what the KDE and Gnome folks are doing. I'll second the vote for Ubuntu.

What about Linspire, KDE, Gnome, Knoppix, and SuSE?

Linspire is garbage. KDE and Gnome aren't distributions, they're window managers.

Knoppix is a live CD distribution, more for test driving Linux before installing.

I've never used SuSE so I can't comment on it; a number of people are fans.

I've gone through a plethora of Linux distributions over the years and finally settled on Debian. Ubuntu and Fedora are good starter distributions. You have to try everything and decide what you like best.

It did take a bit of time -- a few weeks if I recall correctly. Though to be honest I ordered the CDs, then forgot that I had ordered them. So one day I got a nice surprise in the mail.

I hate to be annoying about this, but can you tell me what you mean by "Linspire is garbage"?

What about kubuntu? I am downloading the live CD of kubuntu for my Mac. How do I use it?

Thanks.

Jim.

I now have ubuntu and kubuntu both iso images on DVDs. They are Live CDs so I don't have to wipe everything. How do I use them?

Okay.

I just tried Linux on (kubuntu) for the first time and it is AWESOME. I don't know how Windows people can claim dominance of this. I did encounter one problem, though.

I don't know my password. It never asked my to set one and when I tried to make one, I didn't know what to put in. Can someone help me? Other than that, I'm hooked. I can't wait to get my Linux PC set up!

Thanks.

Jim.

try a blank password.

I run Ubuntu on my old iBook, and my powerbook dual boots ubuntu and 10.4.2 :)

Is there anyway for me to run Windows apps on Linux?

Thanks.

Jim

Does it need to be on a separate partition? Are there instructions on how to do an installation?

I've given Yellow Dog Linux a try a few times and it was fun to mess aroung with it. Maybe I'll give Ubuntu a try.

On a live CD, nothing is written to the hard drive. So it can't set up a user, because any place that the information would be normally stored is not available. It won't write to the HD, can't write to the CD...

On a real installation of Ubuntu it will ask you to set up an account, though, so the live CD is a little different than normal. Just in case you were worried that you'd have the same problem when you install Ubuntu.
Depends on the app. Some programs can be run using programs like wine, some don't work so well. You'd have to test it out or look at the Wine Application Database to be sure.

I've given Ubuntu (live CD) a spin and it's every bit as nice as Yellow Dog. Interesting, too, how it works off that CD.

But, friends . . . this stuff just doesn't hold a candle to OS X or Windows. Besides being free and cool in a geeky kind of way, I just don't see this catching on for home users. The software reminds of of the kind of stuff we were using in Windows 3.1 years ago, only it's even more "plain-Jane-basic."

Am I missing something, here?

Linux, whatever version will never be a "home" desktop system, since most people who use home desktops only care about a few things like being able to get to the internet and mail and instant messenging and games and stuff. Linux apeals to people who want to or already have dumped Windows.

I like it because its the same, but different. Its the simple things that really catch my eye. I felt right at home with Kubuntu when I figured out I was able to put a menu bar of the current open application at the top. It even says next to the button to select that feature "Mac-OS style"

I think I'll mainly use Kubuntu simply because I like the interface better. Ubuntu looks kind of sad with all its dark colors. Kubuntu looks happy and lite-hearted with all the blue and silver.

I must be losing it. I'm calling Operating systems lite-hearted. ;)

Since Ubuntu is free, is it illegal to simply download an image of it off the net?

Or is that legal?

I'd like to try it out, but i don't really want to wait a while for the CD to come.

It's legal.

Edit: Get it here.

Thanks but i've already got two torrents going (live cd and full install...just in case i like it i'll have the full install ;))

BTW: there's lots of info on the web about dual booting MacOS X and Ubuntu...all seems pretty straight forward.

Eh, just spent about a half hour on Ubuntu. Granted it's running off a CD, it seemed quite sluggish. Also reminded me a lot of Windows.

Ubuntu
 

I run Ubuntu (Gnome) as my primary OS and it's nothing like Windows. Much more like OS X, in fact. I also like Vidalinux which is Gentoo based, but the user forums for Ubuntu are so much more active and helpful for users new to Linux.

I would say this: the little Mini sitting in front of me is getting more and more of time and attention! Neat computer, neat OS.

Gary

Im glad to hear so many comments on Ubuntu.

I heard about it and tried the Unbuntu live CD on my G3 iBook. Granted, its not up to OSX for the following reasons:
- no expose (cant live without it now!)
- no support for WPA Airport networks

Otherwise, I found it (even on the liveCD) to be very responsive on my 366MHz G3 (320MB RAM) and seeing Firefox etc on it was very welcoming and familiar. As a distribution:
- visually it looks good enough (and burns less CPU cycles than Aqua, probably)
- it handled sleep/wake and other aspects of my iBook well
- its FREE. really, 100%, like free beer. the fact that they even post you the discs if you dont have the bandwidth to download (or you dont have the know-how to burn bootable iso's) is just fantastic.
- they release regular (6-monthly) new versions
- every version is supported via security updates etc for 18 months
- looks pretty easy to install a wide range of software through their system.

IMHO, linux is coming on in leaps and bounds - and running it on apple hardware is a great way to go. BUT, I like OSX so much and know how to use it so well that I would prefer to have a machine running Panther than linux (even as good as Ubuntu looks). Especially when i can have X11 running Gnome / KDE / whatever simultaneously with Aqua. (maybe we will end up doing that on the new mactels with windows? uugh!)

Speaking of Ubuntu, I have two questions that I haven't had the time to properly research. But maybe someone knows off the top of their head.

One, is there a simple way to tell which version of Ubuntu I have? I'm pretty sure I have version 4.something, but I'd like to know for sure before I download an ISO for version 5.something. I can't find my install discs in my house clutter (sssh, I know I could clean up a bit, I'm overworked).

Two, I can't get themes for Firefox or Thunderbird, because it claims that I don't have Firefox v1.0.4 or later. I am pretty sure I have Firefox 1.0.2 installed, as it came with Ubuntu. Is there a simple way to upgrade this? The Linux source of Firefox I downloaded wouldn't run at all -- "unable to run the firefox-installer executable" or some such.

Probably simple questions and if I had a bit more time I'm pretty sure I can find the answer, but...

this sounds like your questions are specific to ubuntu - i would try their forums.

if you are still using firefox 1.0.2, you should really update it to the latest (1.0.6) as it fixes several security holes etc.

Copied and pasted from another forum I posted on.

Why run Linux on a Mac?

• You need a server-level OS but don't want to pay a license for Mac OS X server
• If you have an older Mac that performs poorly in OS X, such as one of the first iMacs
• You think Apple's hardware rocks, but don't necessarily need all the eye candy of OS X. Mac Minis make awesome servers.

I run OS X on my desktop and notebook, but have Debian on an older G3 iMac, which is a half server half kitchen kiosk. Additionally, I prefer editing configuration files by hand for server tasks, rather than dealing with OS X's GUIs.

Thus the "maybe someone knows off the top of their head" bit.
Thanks for playing, but that was the question. Obviously I need to go find out on my own.