osx vs linux

[tortoisehare]

Hello, this is my first post (although I have been lurking around reading for a while...) and before I go any further I am impressed by the helpful, patient and relatively mature nature of these forums; I am thankful and it is part of the reason I decided to post here at all. Now on to the question(s)...I have been a mac user for about 5 years now, and love osX(at least its potential) although it is a change for me from prior mac os's. I have been interested in linux for a while too, but have been hesitant to jump in...I do alot of video editing and linux does not seem to have the application support for that, but for more everyday tasks I could see myself using it as another option. I am not that computer saavy, for most of the time I spend the time learning the software I need to use and only want to know enough of the 'guts' of the operating system to keep things stable and efficient. I do want to change that however. My question(s) are:
1) How would you compare the flexibility of osX to that of linux(I know it is probably too broad a question to ask...)
2)Do many of you linux users shy away from osX because of the necessary hardware purchases involved? (Because in truth if I had x86 equipment I probably would have used linux long ago..)
3) In general terms will learning the command line/terminal in osx be helpful in learning linux and vice-versa?
4) I have heard it is harder to find ppc linux apps than x86 linux apps-is that true?
5) I know this is opening up a can of worms, but what is probably the best linux distro to try coming from where I am...I am looking for the greatest number of usable apps and a good initial ease of use/flexibilty compromise...and just in case you are wondering I do not like osx just because it is pretty, so a pretty GUI is not paramount.
I am just looking to get the most out of my computing experience and any comments addressing the above questions(or related) would be appreciated...I am not looking for definitive answers, just honest opinions. Thanx for your time.

[Penrich]

I haven't tried Linux on a Mac, so bear with me...

However, I switched from Windows to OSX and Linux at the same time, by buying a new imac and converting my old PC to linux. IMHO, I use the Mac for doing things, and "putter" around on the Linux. I'm not a real life computer geek either (but give Linux a chance, and you start turning inot one...)

My PC is too old and slow for Video Editing (I tried in Windows), so I'm not real sure about Linux there ...

My personal recommendation would be to just try Linux out - dual boot, or buy a cheap intel/amd pc - but stick with a "major" OS for now for mission critical stuff. Just play with Linux, learn a little, and see if it is for you.

Welcome!

[BaVinic]

I am not a mac user, but I have a very good friend who is, and he is using yellowdog and he loves it, I believe it is a redhat spin off, but I could be wrong.

He does Video Editing on his yellowDog ( although to what extent I am not sure) he plays games, and all his internet stuff is with yellowDog.

Having said that, he also swears by OSX, but loves the flexiablity of Linux. so I would have to agree, keep OSX and if possible, duel boot with whatever flavor of Linux you are incline to play with, the only one i know of is YellowDog, but I am sure there are others.

All I can add is welcome to the wonderful world that is Linux, once you are in, you will never want to leave :) you will be amazed with what you can do, and how easy it will be to do it. Don't misunderstand that statement, You will have to learn Linux, but that is part of the fun.

:)

BaVinic

[Hitchhiker]

I am currently using OS X with my iBook, and G4. I also have installed Yellow Dog 2.3 in my 7500 G3. Not to mention the Toshiba laptop to run Windows XP.
It is difficult for me to compare OS X to Linux. Apples and oranges really. Both have advantages and disadvantages.
I am using the G4 for most of my video/film editing using Final Cut Pro. I know of several film editors using Linux exclusively. All you have to do is look around. You have nothing to lose. After all, it's not going to cost you anything ;-)
Yellow Dog is quite good. I am enjoying it. However, if you are an absolute beginner, please expect some difficulties installing. But, nothing major.

[Farruinn]

My family bought a mac 6 years ago (and in fact, it's the one I'm using right now), so the MacOS has been my os of choice since that time. This fall I partitioned my harddrive and installed linux next to macos. The family also bought an eMac which has OS X 10.2. I kind of marvel at how Apple seems to have rejected all their years of hard work, promoting and deveoping what is OS 9 today, but I think that if they were to make a switch, BSDUnix is a good direction to go.
Anyway, that's not what you're asking about. To tell you the truth, not being a "super-geek", I couldn't tell you all the differences between Linux and OS X. There are a lot of similarities, especially noticable when you take a look under the hood on OS X, and you'll find that a lot of the commands are the same or similar between Linux and OS X's Terminal.
The only thing I'm not sure about it PPCLinux's support for multi-processing, which is very important when considering Apple's product lineup. Other than that, I'm getting the best of all three worlds: OS 9, OS X, and Linux.

My suggestion would be to partition your hardddrive and install both OS X and linux on your computer, that way you can learn linux, but you won't compromise your video editing.
As for which distro, I chose Debian because it seemed to be the most "pure" GNU/Linux distro. I haven't had many regrets, but I hear that Debian isn't one of the easier distros to install (it took me a while before I got everything figured out). You may want to try Yellowdog which is a PPC only distro, and I've heard good reviews for SuSE, but there are lots of them out there to choose from.

Good luck!
-Farruinn

[aqua]

Here's your answer...

Don't even mess with linux. Osx has everything you need and more. All you need to do if you want linux software is to download xfree86, fink, and OroborOsx. Why have another operating system when you already have Osx as a solid os. Go to www.osxgnu.org for the downloads above. Ever since OSX came out many people do not mess with ppc linux anymore. It is redundant and the osx is more elegant. However if you want to mess around with linux software then that is what the above downloads let you do. xfree86 lets you have x windows, OroborOsx is the window manager that looks like the aqua interface, and fink is a apt-get package manger similiar to the debian aptget if you are familiar. Fink allows you to get the linux software applications without having to install a linux os. This is probably the best bet but if you want to mess around with linux then that is fun too but imho it is redundant and old compared to OSX. Good luck.

[iGlass]

I am very newbie to Linux. I have only installed it onto ix86 machines and then left the machine owner to configure it to their needs. I am not Unix literate at all but I have had much experience on Mac OSX and Microsoft OS platforms. I may be able to help a little more by answering your questions.

1) How would you compare the flexibility of osX to that of linux(I know it is probably too broad a question to ask...)

Mac OSX is pretty close to Linux to start with. It is based on BSD which is very stable and most of the shell commands you will find are found on BSD and Linux distributions. If you like the GUI that Apple have provided then I would stick with OSX. As "aqua" has said, there is very little you CAN'T do on OSX if you know where to look.
I have an old 7600 that I beefed up so that I could run OSX on it, with a little help from some clever people. OSX sucked because it was slow and unstable. I plan to try Yellow Dog to see if things improve. I expect they will. I need MORE POWER!

2)Do many of you linux users shy away from osX because of the necessary hardware purchases involved? (Because in truth if I had x86 equipment I probably would have used linux long ago..)

The answer here is probably "Yes". In Australia, and I assume in the US as well, the average Mac is more expensive by at least 10% compared to an equivalent ix86 package. Hey, if I could run Mac OSX on a PC I would. Darwin didn't cut it for anything GUI.

3) In general terms will learning the command line/terminal in osx be helpful in learning linux and vice-versa?

Yes, commands are similar if not the same between OSX and Linux/BSD. Things are in slightly different places when it comes to locating files but this is the case between Linux disto's anyway.

4) I have heard it is harder to find ppc linux apps than x86 linux apps-is that true?

I can't really say. I haven't looked too hard at this stage. I would say that Applications would be easily found. But, if you are doing image editing and video or gaming you are going to find much more stuff directed toward ix86 as there is more people out there writing for it. May be a member of the Developer community can help out here?

5) I know this is opening up a can of worms, but what is probably the best linux distro to try coming from where I am...I am looking for the greatest number of usable apps and a good initial ease of use/flexibilty compromise...and just in case you are wondering I do not like osx just because it is pretty, so a pretty GUI is not paramount.


If you really want to play with Linux then I would try Yellow Dog or Mandrake to start with. Others will give you different answers based on their experience. Just remember. Try it, break it, try again. It's all about learning. I'm about to go there myself if I get the time.

If there are things in here that are incorrect then I'm sure someone will correct them. I'd be interested if they did.

Good luck and have fun. :p

[solo]

In general, yes... Because of the bias towards Wine. Many developers would like to work for both worlds (Win & Linux), so there have been more apps coming out for x86 Linux only.

Aqua makes a good point about being able to run Linux apps on OS X, through Fink and the other apps he mentioned (if you don't mind dealing with XF86 for a GUI server).

[aqua]

HAHA!

Did anyone catch the MacWorld updates? :)
If update to what I previously posted, you can now eliminate the OroborOsx windowmanager because if you go to the apple website you can now download their very own X11 app which runs native in OSX!!

Just a little bone in case ya don't know!

:p

[Penrich]

This is all looking way too much like I'm about to kill my imac! I need to get that X11 and Fink (do they work together?)... Time to do a backup first, methinks :) Is there a good Mac BBS where y'all go to discuss these things more (the Mac section here is not the most active forum!)

[solo]

I've found the MacNN forums to be quite nice:

www.macnn.com

Mac Central has a forum area as well:

www.maccentral.com

Mac In Touch has updates and personal accounts of the lastest software and hardware (submitted via E-mail):

www.macintouch.com

And let's not forget Mac Minute, shall we not? ;) :

www.macminute.com

[GaMMa]

Mac has great video editting software, but then again so does Linux. If the Scooby Doo movie was made in only Linux, editted using Linux, and the Scooby was made in Linux, then you shouldn't have any problem... They used Film Gimp for all the video editting, and it doesn't look too bad if you ask me. I like Linux better than Mac OSX mostly because Linux has software support. Mac is in their little world, practically the only ones making apps for their OS, much like Nintendo is the only ones that make games for their consoles...

http://filmgimp.sourceforge.net/

[solo]

Originally posted by GaMMa
...I like Linux better than Mac OSX mostly because Linux has software support. Mac is in their little world, practically the only ones making apps for their OS, much like Nintendo is the only ones that make games for their consoles...

http://filmgimp.sourceforge.net/

*cough* FUD *cough*

Let me guess... Some smartass Best Buy jockey told you that?

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/

That's just from the downloads section alone :rolleyes: .

[Penrich]

Originally posted by GaMMa
Mac has great video editting software, but then again so does Linux. If the Scooby Doo movie was made in only Linux, editted using Linux, and the Scooby was made in Linux, then you shouldn't have any problem... They used Film Gimp for all the video editting, and it doesn't look too bad if you ask me. I like Linux better than Mac OSX mostly because Linux has software support. Mac is in their little world, practically the only ones making apps for their OS, much like Nintendo is the only ones that make games for their consoles...

http://filmgimp.sourceforge.net/

That link shows the filmGimp working in OS X http://filmgimp.sourceforge.net/mac/MacFilmGimp.720x450.jpg

[aqua]

Originally posted by GaMMa
Mac has great video editting software, but then again so does Linux. If the Scooby Doo movie was made in only Linux, editted using Linux, and the Scooby was made in Linux, then you shouldn't have any problem... They used Film Gimp for all the video editting, and it doesn't look too bad if you ask me. I like Linux better than Mac OSX mostly because Linux has software support. Mac is in their little world, practically the only ones making apps for their OS, much like Nintendo is the only ones that make games for their consoles...

http://filmgimp.sourceforge.net/

I agree this is FUD.

In addition to the site listed for forum, which I think www.macnn.com forums are great, you may also want to check out www.macrumors.com . Their forums are not too bad either.

[CaptainPinko]

Originally posted by tortoisehare
4) I have heard it is harder to find ppc linux apps than x86 linux apps-is that true?

thats bollocks really, as anything GNU (aka "open source" - well clsoe enough) comes with the source so you can just make it for your system using gcc and a lot of stuff is done in scripts (frozen bubble is written in Perl) so it'll run if you have the interpreter and if you need any packages im sure some of the more popular one will be available for d/l from www.rpmfind.net or www.freshrpms.net but you can always get the source and recompile for your arch, i'm sure it would be a pain at first but you'd get use to it quickly,. i've never touched it but you might want to start with the Gentoo distro as i understand that you must recompile everything during install anyway so you'll have it all mac arched and installed in one step... tho "make"ing stuff can take a while (like recompiling akernel) so i'd make sure you're processor is fast enough



best of luck!

[deuterium]

Originally posted by GaMMa
Mac has great video editting software, but then again so does Linux. If the Scooby Doo movie was made in only Linux, editted using Linux, and the Scooby was made in Linux, then you shouldn't have any problem... They used Film Gimp for all the video editting, and it doesn't look too bad if you ask me.
http://filmgimp.sourceforge.net/

GaMMa, i'm afraid you have been misinformed, though film gimp was used in the creation of Scooby Doo, from what i have been lead to believe it was not (provided i understand your usage of 'editted') editted using Film Gimp. It was only used to edit out wires and sound booms etc.

So please don't think of this as a Final Cut Pro, but more of an Adobe After Effects. (Having said this, i havn't used FilmGimp, I just know people who know people, so to speak.)

[bproffitt]

I use Yellow Dog Linux on a dual-partition iBook, alongside OS X.

I have to say, without a doubt that I use the Linux side for everything except watching DVDs. I just took this machine to LinuxWorld, and it handled everything great.

I was able to take all of the Linux tools I use to edit these Web sites and perfectly duplicate them on my iBook. It even used my Airport card flawlessly. (Yellow Book has some great step-by-steps on their site that I want to get into our own Help File Library.)

Is the software a bit behind on Linux-PPC than x86? Yes, a bit, but not too far back. I estimate my PPC releases are roughly two months behind the x86 apps.

Peace,
Brian Proffitt