On Sat, 31 Jan 2004 08:02:09 +1100
Gottfried Szing <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> > The iBook might have been me. It runs Linux 99.9% of the time because
> > I find OSX a PITA.
> 
> osx is really nice and has many nice features. 

Looks very nice :-).

> ok, it is not linux und 
> and not another bsd. and thats the reason. i miss to work on a system 
> with full unix support. yeah, i know. "osx is based on blabla and it is 
> a bsdbased and ...".

Over 80% of my useage of the iBook is development in C, C++ and python
as well as documentation in Latex so the "nice features" of OSX aren't
really for me :-).

> but it is not the same. i mean i have to use fink *yieks* to get the 
> full power of the system. 

What I found when I was trying to use fink that many of the IMO important 
packages, that I needed, were broken or poorly configured/maintained in
comparision to the Debian versions of the same packages.

> the tools delivered by apple are not the good 
> and much tools are missing.

Agree completely. The standard /bin/sh shell shipped by Apple is broken beyond
belief. This is important for GNU tools like autoconf/automake and libtool
which all require /bin/sh. I have similar complaints about awk and sed.

Finally, I find that Linux runs significantly faster on my iBook than OSX
(native, not Mac-On-Linux). Part of the problem seems to be the OSX filesystem 
which seems to be a very poor performer in comparison to ext3.

That said, the quality of the Apple hardware is exceptional, it runs Debian
like a dream, it seems far more rugged than most x86 laptops and it gives
me a big endian CPU for testing that my endian sensitive software.

> yes and no. i guess, i am currently in the situation that most windows 
> users are. i want to see if everything of the hardware is working. i 
> know that the powerpook is supported well, but can i connect my canon 
> ixus to the system and does it work? can i connect the mem-card-reader 
> and can i use it? is the performance acceptable (i think yes)? and how 
> about the monitor, wifi card, usb, ....?

The older iBooks like mine have excellent support. The only thing I have
not managed to get working is the external monitor connection. I also 
have never tried the FireWire or modem ports because I haven't needed
them yet. However, USB and wifi and everything else works like a charm.

The story is a little different with the newer iBooks and PowerMacs.
I have a friend with a 17" that he can't get X running on. I also 
believe that the Airport Extreme cards on these newer macs are not yet
supported.

Erik
-- 
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
  Erik de Castro Lopo  [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Yes it's valid)
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
"A subversive is anyone who can out-argue their government"
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