I have to agree with Jason. I use a 5 year old Gateway laptop with Ubuntu/Kubuntu installed and on most things it will smoke my brand new Dell laptop with XP.
Regards, Mark. On 3/10/06, Jason Tower <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > get a thinkpad t42 and install ubuntu (then install kubuntu-desktop). > you really can't go wrong with this combo - everything works (with the > possible exception of suspend/hibernate which i never use myself). if > you just gotta run windows apps, install vmware-player and run them in a > virtual machine. i don't do much multimedia stuff so i'll leave those > app suggestions to future posts. > > jason > > Tarus Balog wrote: > > Okay, this topic is a little long, so let me apologize in advance. > > > > My 12" Powerbook turned 3 last month, and it's time to think about a > > new laptop. The Intel Powerbooks are too new for me (if I get one of > > those I'll probably wait until this summer or if possible after the > > Developer's Conference in August) although the one we have in the > > office is screaming fast. > > > > While I love my Powerbook, I am getting a little nervous about the > > direction that Apple is taking with respect to DRM. I used to have an > > Alfa Romeo, and when a saw one in a movie I rented (they still sell > > them in Europe) I want to send the picture to a friend to figure out > > the model. So I placed the DVD in my Mac, paused on the frame with car, > > and tried to take a screenshot. > > > > A dialog popped up saying that I couldn't do that. > > > > What? I can understand taking steps to protect against ripping an > > entire DVD, but a picture from it? Get real. I brought up VLC and took > > the picture anyway, but it did tarnish the love affair I was having > > with my laptop (no comments from the peanut gallery, please). > > > > Next, Mac hardware is just so darn expensive. Even the switch to Intel > > won't do much for that, and it looks like AMD is taking names in the > > speed department in any case. We bought an AMD64 powered Shuttle for > > demoes that is crazy fast. > > > > Finally, the Linux desktop, quite frankly, has gotten much, much better > > in the last three years. I usually run Debian on my servers and have > > little interaction with a graphical desktop, but I find it easier to > > use CentOS on 64-bit machines, and when I am using KDE on those systems > > I have been pleasantly surprised at how nice it is. > > > > So - before I buy my next Mac I was thinking about playing with using > > Linux as a desktop again. > > > > On to the questions: > > > > 1) What should I look at in terms of a nice, clean, powerful desktop? I > > like KDE. Is there a distro out there that is stable enough to use in a > > mission critical application (i.e. my desktop) that is current enough > > to contain lots of cool, bright, shiny things? I think Debian is out > > since I don't want to run sid. CentOS? Ubuntu? I doubt anyone has > > duplicated the usefulness of Exposé, but one can hope. > > > > 2) Recommended apps? I believe I will have to have CodeWeavers just > > because my job requires access to Office and I'd like access to iTunes, > > but others: > > > > Office: OpenOffice, KOffice? > > iTunes: xmms? > > Photoshop: Gimp > > Mail: Thunderbird > > Browser: Firefox > > Widgets: ? > > Calendar: ? > > Address Book: ? > > Adium: ? > > iPhoto: Gallery? > > iMovie: ? > > iDVD: ? > > > > 3) Connectivity: How is the current support for wireless (I love the > > "Location" feature of OSX) and bluetooth? iSync? > > > > I make my living with open source software and I truly believe in it. I > > think that the community has done a great job of porting standard Linux > > apps to OSX and creating new open source offerings for the platform. > > But there is something in the back of my mind that keeps nagging me > > that Apple may be turning evil, and now would be a good time to figure > > out if there are some alternatives. I may have grown too comfortable > > with my Mac "just working" but it is worth a shot. > > > > Thanks for any suggestions. > > > > -T > > > > ----- > > > > Tarus Balog > > The OpenNMS Group, Inc. > > Main : +1 919 545 2553 Fax: +1 503-961-7746 > > Direct: +1 919 647 4749 Skype: tarusb > > Key Fingerprint: 8945 8521 9771 FEC9 5481 512B FECA 11D2 FD82 B45C > > > -- > TriLUG mailing list : http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug > TriLUG Organizational FAQ : http://trilug.org/faq/ > TriLUG Member Services FAQ : http://members.trilug.org/services_faq/ > -- TriLUG mailing list : http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug TriLUG Organizational FAQ : http://trilug.org/faq/ TriLUG Member Services FAQ : http://members.trilug.org/services_faq/
