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Linux PPC Boots On The Powerbook G4 Titanium
Therlin writes: "As this article explains, LinuxPPC 2000 Q4 succesfully boots on Apple's new PB G4. The Linux Kernel, X Windows and the LinuxPPC work. They also indicate that the internal modem and ethernet will probably work, but it hasn't been tested yet." It's really sad to see
such a sweet machine crippled by lack of proper mouse buttons.
...to see such a sweet OS crippled by lack of proper GUI design.
/. has shown just how far downhill we've come. The sad thing is that it's the editors that are dragging Slashdot down.
This is obviously a troll. So is this:
Its really sad to see such a sweet machine crippled by lack of proper mouse buttons.
When the Slashdot editors insist on trolling on the front page, why do we expect to see rational commentary in the comments area? The recent Hooters link and other total crap posted on
yeah yeah yeah, Macs only have one mouse button: big deal. sure it's a pain in the ass if you're using Linux, but the MacOS (including MacOS X) is designed to operate effectively with only one mouse button.
i hated it at first too, so when i bought my first Mac a few years ago (after using Linux and Windows exclusively) i ran out and bought a 3-button mouse. i found however, that after using the MacOS for a while you start to realize that if things are designed with a 1-button mouse in mind, using the standard apple mouse actually made things more convenient. to this day i have two mice plugged into my computer: the standard Apple mouse and a 4-button scroll mouse. i use the 1-button mouse the most, as it's just so much more convenient (and easier on the carpal tunnel) to just click one mouse button, esecially when i'm using photoshop or illustrator. in fact, the only time i use the 4-button mouse is when i'm web browsing as it's got the scroll wheel and the metakey-click combinations map to convenient functions in IE 5.0.
so in closing quit your bitching. it's been discussed here before that if you want to run Linux, you should be using an x86 anyhow. if you're buying a Mac, you'll probably want to (eventually) run OS X, and it works perfectly well with only one button. you can still of course attach an external x-button USB mouse, but again, i find that using the one button is pefectly convient the majority of the time. it's certainly no reason dismiss the Titanium Powerbook G4.
- j
well, the mice that ship with macs are now are nice, oval-shaped, "no button" laser mice.... the only reason i upgraded to 2.4.0 on my laptop was to use the damn thing.... of course gnome heartily subscribes to the "keyboard on wheels" theory of mice, so it's useless... oh well...
here's the deal: the mouse is a pointing device, not a mini-keyboard. If people want "added functionality" with extra buttons and levers and foot-pedals etc that's fine, but we should remember that that's supposed to be added functionality... as in "extra." The fact that most operating systems now can't be operated unless you have a 3-button frankenmouse shows a screwed up sense of design. Take windows up until fairly recently: files would get their names truncated at 8 characters all the time, but the os could support a mouse with 9 buttons, 3 wheels a lever and a trigger. It's all about adding needless complexity and calling it innovation.
2 1337 4 u!
The PBG4 has a USB port.
:)
Buy a USB three-button mouse.
Plug it in.
You may have to run mouseconfig or something like that to get it to see all three buttons.
And enjoy.
Haaz: Co-founder, LinuxPPC Inc., making Linux for PowerPC since 1996.
-- haaz.
holy cow, everytime the word apple is even breathed in passing someone (hundreds of someone's actually) bleat off about the mouse button count... honest to god, i am starting to get sick of it.
1. plug in a mouse in the usb port in the back. 2.4.0 supports usb quite nicely (osx does as well, wink wink)
2. start a group on sourceforge to "fix" gnome to actually be functional with one mouse button.
sheesh
flame if you must
2 1337 4 u!
I love seeing otherwise intelligent commentators pumping a dry well. CmdrTaco, Apple seems completely unphased by your assault on it's supply of mouse-buttons. If that's the only resource that comes up short in your assesment of the new Apple HW, then I guess that's the kind of shortage we can live with. Microsoft itself has found that only 10% of users even use a right click AT ALL, EVER. Such a biting condemnation from a community that devotes space to such earth-shttering topics as hacking the Furby...
I guess you don't know how to use a modifier key? Ctl-click for contextual menus too complex a sequence for you to remember?
I admire the rest of the comments about Mac acceleration (newtonian, not processor), alternate booting sequences (the leather kind, not the startup kind), and the endless litany of lame jokes that reaveal that the Open-Source movement and the Slashdot crowd aren't above their own sort of bigotry. Why did you even post the story and link unless it was to offer a punching bag to the trolls? Are you just jealous that OSX is gonna do more to bring *nix to the masses than your 6+ years of obscure forum posting and mutual masturbation have? Can't bring yourself to admit that cool and stylish counts to some folks?
I look forward to being moderated down as flamebait. That seems to be the only way the moderators can respond to a true reflection.
-- Why oh why didn't I eat the Blue Girl?
The mouse buttons can be VERY easily emulated via the yaboot boot manager. Just pass it the boot varible for the adb mouse button keys, and wa-la, you're there. Besides, you've got your hands on the keyboard, so emulating the 2 mouse buttons is NOT a problem. LinuxPPC/Yellowdog/DebianPPC _all_ have support for USB mouses and keyboards, so just plug in a friggin' mouse. It's really sad to see the poster of an article so poorly informed, and such is often the case with Mr.Taco's posts.
Last I've heard, in the non-server edition, they've obscured the *nix parts enough that only someone who wanted to get to them could.
/etc, /bin and such by default when the user is in the GUI. Just launch Terminal and you can see everything. You can change the default behavior of the GUI (at least in the beta), by flipping a bit in an XML file.
/etc and bash. It's going to consist of taking the functionality and features of Unix, and wrapping them in a consistent, approachable user interface. The masses aren't going to change for Unix. Unix will have to change for the masses (I know I sound like a broken record).
I don't know what this means, exactly. OSX hides things like
You should also get up to speed on the differences between Mac OS X (shipping in March) and the new version of Mac OS X Server (shipping April/May). They are from the same codebase, and are considerably different that Mac OS X Server 1.2 (essentially Rhapsody), which is currently available.
Bringing "Unix to the masses" isn't going to consist of expecting everyone to become comfortable with
This thing also runs on Mach, which is SLOW. (MKlinux anyone?)
There is a big difference in between MkLinux and Darwin.
- Scott
--
Scott Stevenson
WildTofu
Scott Stevenson
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