Wow.. I got a lot of hate mail about the last episode on the PowerMac G5. I just wanted to take a moment to address some of the misconceptions about the video. Some of it was maybe my fault for not explaining better, the rest, I don't know.
1) Many people thought there was something wrong with the machine due to the fact that the fans were so loud "all of the time." However, this was not the case. The fans were quiet when the machine was idle or not doing CPU intensive activities. Although, even at idle, they were louder than any other computer in my house but that's because I have exceptionally quiet computers. I used to have an iMac G5 and it was the same way. It was decently quiet until I started doing work on it, then the fan would come on and it was really loud. That's actually why I got rid of the machine. But maybe I could have been more specific in the video that the fans were not running full speed "all of the time."
2) Many people criticized me for not getting Linux to work. In fact, a surprising number of people told me I was an idiot because I didn't realize I was supposed to use a PowerPC specific version of Linux. So, they assumed I was running X86 Linux on it. of course, I'm not that dumb. But at the same time, they must be pretty dumb to not realize it would be impossible to get 75% of the way through an install if I was using a disc with the wrong CPU architecture. It would have never even booted, for God's sake. Just for the record, I tried MintPPC, Debian, and Ubuntu. All with similar result . In fact the MintPPC version I tried was specifically compiled for the G5. And it isn't like I'm a stranger to Linux. I have it installed on several of my G4 systems.
3) Many people said the Mac Mini couldn't possibly be faster. First off, the actual wording was "the Mac Mini that was relased a year after this computer was discontinued." This machine was discontinued mid 2006, and the Mac Mini in question was introduced mid 2007, which has a 2.0 Ghz Core-2-Duo. And while geekbench still technically gives the Quad G5 a slight edge, in actual practice the Mac Mini screams by comparison. It can play 1080p video using the same VLC player without even breaking a sweat. It can play youtube in 1080p without breaking a sweat, etc. So it was a valid statement.
4) Apparently there is no such thing as a Ford F250 dually. It would have to be an F350. Ok, so that was the only factual mistake I made in the video. But to be fair, I have a list of 20 people now that I send my pre-release videos to so they can check for mistakes. 1 factual mistake was found in this video, and it was fixed before the final release of the video. Yet, nobody caught the F250 Dually mistake.
This is actually one of the reasons I never really wanted to make this video. I knew that I didn't care for the machine very much and wouldn't have a lot of nice things to say about it. Yet at the same time, I knew there were a lot of people out there that loved it. So I knew it was going to stir some people up if I did a video on it. But people kept asking for it. I tried to be as objective as I could.
Also, one final note. I already gave the machine back to Curtis, so it is no longer in my possession. I was only borrowing it, after all. So I will not be able to do any further tests.
