[TriLUG] Bought my first Laptop--a new Apple Powerbook with OSX--With Linux software in mind I have three questions:

al johson alfjon at mindspring.com
Sun Jun 16 15:02:54 EDT 2002


Re: Windows programs--I probably should have said that the few Windoze
programs I can't do without (e.g. Usenet programs) will probably work on the
Macs, if I can't find an OSX substitute for them. I'm in no means in love
with Macs, as I'm using a no-name Win98 PC right now, but since I was going
to have to spend a bunch anyway, I thought I'd get something that might last
some time, and I definitely didn't want to get a MS-DOS machine because I
absolutely hate every OS Microsoft has made since Win98. And since I've
noticed there were problems installing Linux on a few MSDOS laptops, I
thought it might be best to get a laptop which already had a BSD OS!! That
was just my reasoning. I'm not a Mac-evangelist or anything. The evangelism
I leave to my best friend, Jim. ---73, Alf.
================================================
----- Original Message -----
From: John Franklin <franklin at elfie.org>
To: <trilug at trilug.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 06, 2002 1:49 PM
Subject: Re: [TriLUG] Bought my first Laptop--a new Apple Powerbook with
OSX--With Linux software in mind I have three questions:


> On Tue, Jun 04, 2002 at 05:51:37PM -0400, al johson wrote:
> > Another great response to my three questions.
> > >I doubt you would buy a Mac to run something you could run on cheap
> > > PC hardware.  That said, I tend to run NetBSD on old Mac hardware.
Not
> > > really for the newbie, though
> >
> > The main reason I decided to go with a mac laptop was that if I were to
get
> > the features I wanted (esp. an S-video connector on the back of the
> > laptop---so I can easily surf the web on my 36" Sony Wega) , virtually
all
> > of the laptops were about the same price ($2000+).
>
> Yes, I noticed that when I was shopping for my iBook.  I conisidered
> getting a low-cost PC laptop and found that for the features the Mac
> laptops were very competitively priced.  I couldn't justify the PowerBook
> (as much as I wanted to), but I could justify the top-o-the-line iBook.
> Which I am very happy with.  Ultimately, it was the 6 hour battery life
> (4-5 under reasonable load and with wireless running) was what sealed it.
>
> > Second, if you get a Mac
> > you can run virtually any OS you desire: Mac, Windows (there is an
excellent
> > emulator), Linux, and finally BSD (which you already have), etc.
Finally, I
>
> Virtual PC?  Sluggish on my G3.  Having to emulate the instruction set
> hurts performance.  Still, I can run NetBSD/i386 in a window on my Mac
> laptop, which has a certain geek appeal.
>
> > enjoy doing a lot of sound and graphics work, and as you know the Mac
excels
> > in these areas as well. I may curse it a year from now, but I haven't
seen
> > anything yet that I disliked. But then I really haven't had it longer
than a
> > few days.---Al Johnson
>
> That's a hard argument.  There are a lot of high-quality graphics and
sound
> cards for PCs.  Though finding them in a laptop may be more difficult.
>
> Don't get me wrong on Macs... I love 'em.  This message here is being
> typed out on my happy, shiny 14" iBook while I watch Cameroon beat Saudi
> Arabia.  PVRs rock.
>
> jf
> --
> John Franklin
> franklin at elfie.org
> ICBM: 35°43'56"N 78°53'27"W
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