Re: Debian on a new iBook G4 14" ?
On 2005-11-04 15:01:48, Sven Luther wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 04, 2005 at 08:49:29AM -0500, Tamas K Papp wrote:
> > 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,
>
> The free javas have been making good progress, and you can always use the IBM
> jdk.
I'm happily using IBM's Java 1.5 SDK beta, and I really hope the free
javas will catch up soon. I prefer to use free software exclusively.
(and yes, I mean free as in speech)
> > 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.
>
> Will it work under mol, i think so. Also, there are other tools available,
> like gnomemeeting, which as i understand do or will soon speak the skype
> protocol.
I can use MOL if I want to, but I'm not much of a multimedia fan
anyway. As long as I can play my mp3 files and watch DVD's (which both
work just fine on my Mac Mini). I'm happy ;-)
> > 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.
>
> Well, hardware is usually better supported than the x86 equivalent and the you
> don't have the acpi/pm hell you get there. airport extreme is under way of
> being supported, through reverse engineering, and the other sore point, 3d
> graphic accel is also solved in Xorg 6.9/7.0 and linux 2.6.14 kernels.
Airport Extreme is not a problem (and I can always buy a usb wireless
adapter), since I rarely used WiFi on my x86 laptop anyway.
And DRI would be nice, but I don't really need it (I think).
Also, my intention was to find out if there were any caveats as to
using an iBook, not PPC Linux in general. As I said, I'm already
quite happy w/ my Mac Mini.
Felix
P.S. Please don't TO or CC me. I'm on-list. ;-)
--
Felix C. Stegerman <flx@hccnet.nl>
"Any sufficiently advanced bug is indistinguishable from a feature."
-- R. Kulawiec
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