Re: Debian on a new iBook G4 14" ?
On Wed, Nov 02, 2005 at 01:40:22AM +0100, Felix C. Stegerman wrote:
> Hi,
>
> My x86 laptop recently broke, and now I'm looking for a suitable
> replacement.
>
> I've been running Debian on my mac mini for over three months now,
> and I'm very happy. Especially because of the peace & quiet ;-)
> (and yes, macs just look good too, just like my iPod)
>
> So I'm considering buying an iBook on which to run Debian or Ubuntu.
> I already know how to use Debian on PPC (well, on a mac mini anyway).
>
> I was just wondering whether anyone on this list has any experiences
> with Debian on an iBook, and whether there are any important caveats.
> I already know that Airport Extreme won't work (anytime soon).
Felix,
I am using debian on an 2004 Powerbook, but the things mentioned below
apply to ibooks as well.
The debian maintaners, kernel programmers and others devote a lot time
and effort to get things working decently. However, this community is
much smaller than the x86 developer base, some of the things just
haven't reached critical mass and now (with Apple switching to Intel)
I don't think they ever will. x86 linux users can frequently grab
windows dlls and codecs to get things working, and have access to
closed source software with precompiled binaries. Very few of these
bother to maintain linux-ppc binaries. So
1) some binary-only java environment's won't work,
2) you won't be able to play quicktime movies (except via mol), other
binary only codecs might be missing
3) programs like skype (which have no linux-ppc binary) won't work.
4) some hardware won't work (eg Airport Extreme, though that's not
much of a loss, it has poor reception anyway), at least you have to
wait until kernel developers figure out the latest Apple design
quirks.
I suggest that you consider an x86 laptop if you can't live with the
limitations above.
Tamas
--
Bayesian statistics is difficult in the sense that thinking is difficult.
--Donald A. Berry, American Statistician 51:242 (1997)
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