Linux on my G5?

[Albone]

I was reading for the hundreth time that I can run Linux on my G5. Is there any good reason that I would want to though? I know its free, but I hear its hard to use.

Does anyone have any good reasons why an average mac user might want to have Linux installed on their machine (besides it being free)?

 

[slughead]

Not really.

You can pretty much do everything you want with OS X client, including web hosting and stuff (just learn to alter the settings yourself).

 

[dross]

Here are the reasons the guys in my office came up with:

Because you like to take a two steps backwards for every one forwards.
Because you can
Because it is there
Because you are a non-conformist - oh wait you already own a mac

And my personal favorit:
Because you are alerigic to fruit

 

[Eevee]

Certain scientific programs, i.e. chemical structural determination, are more stable in Linux than in OS X I believe.

But besides that, not really.

 

[thedoc1111]

Actually, Linux (at least the Y-HPC variety available from Terra-Soft Solutions) is more efficient on the G5 than OS X - for databasing etc, custom filesystems like ReiserFS and XFS are hard to beat.

Nevertheless, these are server applications (not desktop) - otherwise I can't see why you would need Linux over OS X.

Mike

 

[cluthz]

The reson for running linux on any computer is to get into the world of free software, software that you can download for free and customize and do what ever you want with it.

There are tons of free software for linux.

But, you can also run almost every "linux" app in x11 in osx!
So if you want to have the best of both world without having to restart your computer every time you want to change install x11 and a windowmanager within. You can run the apps on top of osx or in x11-fullscreen evroniment

Here is it in fullscreen mode:

And in top of macos:

 

[thedoc1111]

The easiest way to get into this (no matter what the *NIX pros think) is Fink -

http://fink.sourceforge.net/

You will need to install X11 from Panther disk 3 and the Xcode Developers Tools as well.

Then run Fink Commander (a native Aqua app) and search for some interesting software to install!

Mike

 

[grapes911]

I was reading for the hundreth time that I can run Linux on my G5. Is there any good reason that I would want to though? I know its free, but I hear its hard to use.

Does anyone have any good reasons why an average mac user might want to have Linux installed on their machine (besides it being free)?

I use linux on both my ibook and powermac. I've been using linux for years now on my pc and its just what i'm used to. I love being able to control everything. (Plus I'm a nerd when it comes to computers).

The average user probably won't want to take the time to learn the ins and outs. They just get a flavor that self-installs and that is it. So unless you want to learn about linux, or have fun tweaking computers, stick with os x.