Re: debian on a mac?

[Shyamal Prasad <shyamal.prasad@sbcglobal.net>]

    "Monique" == Monique Y Herman <spam@bounceswoosh.org> writes:

    Monique> I do love how rapidly debian releases security updates to
    Monique> their packages -- this is one area where I suspect that
    Monique> Apple isn't as industrious as debian?  Don't know about
    Monique> the fink maintainers ...

Hi Monique,

I don't use fink enough to make an accurate statement, but my guess is
that it works like Debian's testing/unstable distributions as far as
security goes.

    Monique> Also, I hate to be a cheapskate, but my understanding is
    Monique> that using OS X involves paying for a mondo patch every
    Monique> year or so.  Apparently the features in the patch are
    Monique> generally worth every penny, but it's still money that
    Monique> could be going elsewhere.

The OS X patches (security etc.) don't cost money. There is a GUI tool
that does the equivalent of a 'apt-get update' and 'apt-get
upgrade'. Never had to pay any money until now. Going to 10.3 is a
different matter, and I have idea when I'll be *forced* to do so.

    Monique> Then of course there's the not-open-ness of the Apple
    Monique> software ... I can't claim to be a true open-source snob;
    Monique> I definitely use closed-source apps when necessary.  But
    Monique> it is definitely a factor, as I'd like to move away from
    Monique> closed-source stuff (when it's not too painful, anyway).

Your reasoning is exactly why my own machine runs Debian. I really
don't like Apple's licensing. The only difference between them and
Microsoft is that Apple doesn't own the world.

    >> I'd suggest you try OS X if you buy a Mac before you give up
    >> and go to Debian or some other Linux distribution. OS X is a
    >> Unix (it even comes with emacs, vi and ed out of the box), but
    >> just a little wierd.
    >> 

    Monique> If I can find vim for it, that may be a possibility.

http://fink.sourceforge.net/pdb/package.php/vim

or, to make it more interesting, on the Power Book I see (with fink)

% apt-cache search vim
kvim - KDE - interface to the vim editor
vim - Improved version of the editor "vi"
vim-nox - Improved version of the editor "vi"

I'm going to stay off this thread from here on - this is really off
topic for debian-user discussion since fink is not Debian in any way.

Cheers!
Shyamal