On 2005-11-04 15:01:48, Sven Luther wrote: > 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.
I'm happily using IBM's Java 1.5 SDK beta, and I really hope the free javas will catch up soon. I prefer to use free software exclusively. (and yes, I mean free as in speech) > > 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. I can use MOL if I want to, but I'm not much of a multimedia fan anyway. As long as I can play my mp3 files and watch DVD's (which both work just fine on my Mac Mini). I'm happy ;-) > > 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. Airport Extreme is not a problem (and I can always buy a usb wireless adapter), since I rarely used WiFi on my x86 laptop anyway. And DRI would be nice, but I don't really need it (I think). Also, my intention was to find out if there were any caveats as to using an iBook, not PPC Linux in general. As I said, I'm already quite happy w/ my Mac Mini. Felix P.S. Please don't TO or CC me. I'm on-list. ;-) -- Felix C. Stegerman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> "Any sufficiently advanced bug is indistinguishable from a feature." -- R. Kulawiec -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
