considering iBook

[lunacy]

i'm going to an anime convention this summer and i want a laptop before i go (can't stand to be away from the internet for very long).

i'm very seriously considering an iBook (one of those sexy white ones, not those clam things), however, it will be the first Apple product of any kind that i've ever owned.

what's the largest hard disk i can cram into one of these things? do i still need to install Mac OS 9? what is a good PPC Linux distro (not OS X)? i'm looking at Debian. and can anyone suggest some third-party hardware vendors, and software and review/information sites?

[hybrid]

As cool as Mac hardware is, if you're looking at Linux spend the money on a x86 notebook. Mac OSX has lots of great features, but the primary development platform for Linux is x86/PC and you'll have far fewer issues. If you're hell-bent on getting a Mac, the iBooks are nice, and I've seen a couple of nice paintjobs on the inside of the polycarbonate lid.


As for hard drives, they use/accept the standard slim 2.5" ide drives that all laptops use- so you can cram in a 30Gig if you have the money. Remember that the iBook has no pcmcia slot, so if you want 802.11b, you're going to need to pick up an Airport card from Apple, which mounts under the keyboard on the iBooks.

Also beware- the bigger iBook screen only has bigger pixels than the smaller iBook, and the max resolution either can do is 1024x768.

Cheers,

hybrid

[mikeintosh]

I agree. If you're interested in running Linux, using Apple's hardware probably isn't the best idea. I would certainly recommend iBook for many things, but Linux isn't one of them - 'specially now that OS X is a UNIX OS.

I'm no anime expert, but it would seem to me that Mac OS and anime would go hand-in-hand. I've been using it for graphic art for years. Never once have - and probably won't ever - consider Linux for that.

[lunacy]

well, the reason i want to run Linux on it is because OS X does a bunch of stuff automatically as i'm told (like mounting and umounting drives). Linux doesn't. i don't like an operating system doing stuff without telling me it's doing it and preferably asking before it does so.

anyway, i'd be watching anime on the laptop, i can't draw worth beans ; )

[mikeintosh]

I'm sure there are others, but here's a good collection of PPC Linux-related links...

http://www.hvcc.edu/~aa310264/maclinux/related/

[AstrumPreliator]

Yah, those are good laptops. I like the Titanium PowerBook myself =).

[apeter]

the only thing that I can say is: get the iBook because it's based on unix! im gonna get one when I graduate

[Jay]

why mac? they are slower and are WAY more expensive.

[bm98master]

macs are more popular for graphic design (and multimedia in general) purposes. Don't get it if it's going to be mainly for games.

[apeter]

it's not gonna be mainly for games, and now the price gap between pc's and mac's isslowly getting smaller.

[xkimo]

just like most everyone that is switching to macs I hated apples until OSX.
the Unix base is highly stable. I've had my titanium for about year now and it has not crashed yet. But the downside is not alot of programs and games are made for it. oh and some internet radio sites do not support macs, other than that Macs are sweet.

[Madblunted]

The only time I have to reboot any Jaguar (osx machine 10.2) its because it has had some software updates.. (possibly kernal updates?) it takes so long compared to os 9 to boot up but you never have to reboot. Also osx has samba so you can file share w/ windows boxes, and of course unix based you can ssh into it.

I would get one if they offered more games w/ them.. but my wife certainly thinks they are 'pretty' so this may be a way to leverage an agreement w/ the wife about getting one... hmm.. now if that extemely large cinema display was cheap..

[caffeine4me]

i saw this on yoshis shirt once and its true-very true...
Mac for Productivity
Linux for Development
Unix for Stability
Windows for Solitare

This May Help you choose your platform I go with mac now it is based off unix so it for productivity and stabiity

[smuth]

why mac? they are slower and are WAY more expensive.


RISC not SiSC is always better, a 700 MHX G3 is about the same as a 1.4 P4 running Windoz. Reduced Instruction Set - the platform was originally dezined for this from the beginning.

I use and own both- Titanium and 14" IBook and IBM Thinkpad - you'll like the IBook - the 14" is a bit bulky but my old eyes prefer the size. I used a clamshell for 3 years doing network troubleshooting and at 350 it handled OS X well. Get the wireless card from Apple, RAM is cheap so do it yourself to 640. You can get a 30-40 Gig now and changing the drive in the IBooks is rough, took me 3 hours in a clamshell so go big in the order. OS X is great, you have total control from the terminal.

[[GF]Burke]

in both distro's of OSX, its very easy to mod the kernal.. just as you would any Unix/Linux kernal

when i did tech support on MAC's, peeps where doing it the second osx was realeased... created problems for me of course.. not knowing what the h3ll they did..lol