Are the new Macs worth the trouble?

sangremac · n00b Joined: 12 Sep 2004 Posts: 7

I just bought a new 12" Powerbook G4 from Apple. (1.33Mhz, Airport Extreme, Nvidia card)

I did what i thought was thorough research, and everybody I asked said that gentoo worked well with Mac's. But obviously I didn't do enough research because the Nvidia card and the Airport Extreme card don't look like they will b supported for a long while, if ever. Long story short, I plan on using Linux exclusively - or primarily - and it is aa lot of money for not fully working system. I am returning this system within the 14 day period (at a restocking cost of ~$250).

MY QUESTION:

Is it worth buying any other Apple laptop (e.g. a 15" Powerbook G4 w/ATI card an PCMCIA slot)? Am I pretty much assured an easy install and a trouble-free system?

If I want a working Linux laptop, am I better off buying a PC?

Should I not return my current laptop? (I still have a week to decide.)

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I do not enjoy spending too much time getting my system working. A little bit is fun, but I work full-time in another industry and am going to school full-time as well, I do not want to spend every free moment trying to get my system to work.[/i]

rlpt · n00b Joined: 12 Sep 2004 Posts: 7

I bought a 12" powerbook (1GZ) for using exculsivly for linux and everything seems great. true there are no accelerated graphics and for wifi you will need a usb doda but i really like the combination of great hardware and great software

set up is fairly easy with ppcconfdb.sf.net and other resources with a few little config probs.

sangremac · n00b Joined: 12 Sep 2004 Posts: 7

So other than those 2 issues, I won't likely have other trouble with the CD burner, or processor speed, or display, etc.?

rlpt · n00b Joined: 12 Sep 2004 Posts: 7

i havent got round to cd recording setup yet but ive read in several "install gentoo on a powerbook" guides that it works perfectly. display is fine (thanks to ppcconfdb.sf.net) and my processor speed is fully clocked, i think any issues with it before were fixed with newer 2.6 kernels.

woolsherpahat · Guru Joined: 09 Mar 2004 Posts: 347

The processor will probably run at half-speed inless you apply a patch. There's a thread about it titled "New Powerbook slow?" or something along those lines.

EDIT: and here we go, eh.
https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=177205&highlight=powerbooks+slow

EDIT II:Oh yeah, straight from the 15" Powerbook thread

* ATI 9600 hardware acceleration (ATI has not published specs or PPC drivers)

* Airport Extreme WiFi card (Broadcom has not published specs or GNU/Linux drivers). Actually, this is an option on this model, so I simply didn't ask for it and bought a pcmcia wifi card instead.

* Sleep: the screen goes black but the computer is not suspended (neither to RAM, nor to disk).

* TV-out and DVI-out do not work.
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sangremac · n00b Joined: 12 Sep 2004 Posts: 7

Thanks for the link about the patch.

In your honest opinion, do you think that I can get a gentoo system running on my 12" powerbook G4 and not have to spend much time maintaining my system or trying to get things to work at every bend?

woolsherpahat · Guru Joined: 09 Mar 2004 Posts: 347

I actually don't know. I have an iBook. Basicly it comes down to this. If you even want to consider using 3D Accel, the Airport Extreme or sleep and you use Linux as your only OS, you might want to look into a G3 Powerbook. Other than that it seems that most things are reasonably supported but like I said I'm running an iBook so I don't really know.
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SeJo · Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2004 9:43 am Post subject:

sangremac,

I have a powerbook G4 1 gig 15", 9600 ati radeon pro, 1.5 gig mem.

Gentoo runs smooth on it, i have no problems with it at all, works at full speed without needing to patch the kernel.

Only problems: no flash and no java plugin for browsers...

the rest, all smooth

greetings
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iTux · Guru Joined: 07 Sep 2004 Posts: 586 Location: Toronto

turning · n00b Joined: 14 Sep 2004 Posts: 33

As far as I can tell, the devs have let release control go to hell with the 2.6 kernel series. If it works on their machines, everyone else can go take a flying leap.

I had a 2002 model Mac which worked great until portage demanded that I upgrade to the 2.6 kernel series. Now I have a broken, unbootable system with NO WAY to downgrade.

I am having serious doubts about Gentoo on PPC right now.

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