Questions about notebooks and Debian
Dear people,
I've been tracking this list lately with some interest since I
got an old Power Mac 9500/180MP to play with one month ago.
Unfortunately, I couldn't install Debian on this machine, due
to some hardware problems (I think) and I don't have this
machine with me again (I took it borrowed from my uncle).
(Details on my quest on trying to get Linux/Debian/anything on
the computer are at <http://www.ime.usp.br/~rbrito/diary/>).
Anyway, I liked the idea of playing with a PPC machine and
since I'd like to purchase a low end notebook (it will depend
on the cost of the machine), I would be considering getting an
iBook.
Unfortunately, I'm a newbie with both notebooks and macs and I
don't know which notebook would be a good purchase for someone
that plans to use mostly Linux/Debian on a portable computer,
with X and KDE running almost 100% of the time. One thing that
is very important for me is
So, I'm seeking some advice on the following:
* how does a PowerPC G3 500MHz compare in terms of a x86
processor? Would it have the same horse-power of a, say,
Duron 600MHz? Pentium 3 700MHz? Celeron 466MHz?
* are the new iBooks good purchases? I've read that the sound
wasn't working some time ago, but has any progress been made
in this area? Does the Firewire port work? Do the USB
connectors work? Are there other problems that I should know
about? Is Apple kind to Open Source Projects?
* if a new iBook is not a good machine to run with Debian,
what other non-expensive notebooks in the x86 family would
be good purchases? Any recommendations?
I'd like to purchase something that would be as well supported
as possible by Linux and I'd prefer to do business with Open
Source friendly companies.
Thank you very much for any recommendations, Roger...
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Rogério Brito - rbrito@ime.usp.br - http://www.ime.usp.br/~rbrito/
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