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So I've crossed over to the dark side...

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PhoenixMDM

Piano Man
Joined
Aug 21, 2001
Location
Candia, NH
I've basically used nothing but linux since december or so, excluding the comps in the school library. I loved every minute of it.

Now I'm typing this from my powerbook. Just got it monday, and I've loaded it up with the essentials like X11 and gimp. So what's my take on it?

I loved the dock idea for a long time now. I run Kooldock on my main rig and my server which doubles as a comp for the basement.
I'm having a hell of a time getting used to the lack of a taskbar of some sort. Usually I have a tiny taskbar on the top of my screen just so I can move around easily between a lot of windows, now I find myself throwing the windows all over the place. Yeah, that expose thing or whatever it's called is really cool, but I find it more useful as a way to quickly glance at everything at once, which is a feature I never thought I'd like.
Dashboard is pretty nice too. being able to hit F12 and instantly see the slashdot headlines, weather, etc, isn't something I couldn't live without, but it is kind of handy.
Compiling things sucks. At least what I've tried. I always thought downloading linux source code and compiling for OSX would be easy and effective, I must be seriously borking things or it's a lot harder than I thought...
I can't stand the finder. Let me see everything fools, I can handle it!!
I actually don't like the automounting. When I switched to linux, I hated having to mount things all the time. Now, switching to osx, it's almost painful to see a USB drive automatically be recognized. Strange how perspectives change. I think I didn't like mounting because it was an extra step and I just wanted things to work. Now I love mounting because it lets me interface with the device however I want. Mmm sweet mounting.
I miss the right mouse button on this laptop. Only hardware complaint I have!

My verdict? The hardware seems great, I like the .app files a lot (dependency hell must've gotten to me more than I realized...), I just don't like some of the interface and underpinnings. I've got mixed feelings. It's pretty, but working under the hood just makes it laugh at me for touching it.

I wish I could see what Gentoo would be like on this. Can macs dual boot? It would be interesting to be able to move back and forth until I decide which I like best...
 
There's a really good ppc install guide on gentoo's website, however I don't think wireless is working for newer mac laptops yet. If you have an older one the wireless will work just fine but they haven't released the source code for the newer wireless chipsets.
 
There is absolutely no reason to consider MAC the "Dark Side" it is still running on UNIX, the same as Linux, and it is not a Microsoft Product ;) ! Yes there is the loved right mouse button missing on MACs but to simulate it just hit the "Apple" key between Controle and ALT. Oh and if you duel boot it you might have to reformat the hard drive. For a Linux on MAC (or MOL MAC ON LINUX) I would recomend Linux Yellow Dog, you can download the ISO at LinuxISO Just click on Linux Yellow Dog, it should be a blacked button.
 
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