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. > 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. > 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. Friendly, Sven Luther -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
