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Installing Linux On The New Apple iBook
Jack Moffitt writes: "I just bought one of the new apple iBooks, which I then proceeded to install debian on. There are some installation problems, but it works well. I wrote up my thoughts and notes here. Sound isn't working, but I've started driver research and work. This is probably the best Linux laptop one can buy right now, so go get one!" He includes an excellent rundown on installing Debian, and talks about what's known (and what's being worked on) to get sound to work. Does this mean that Ogg Vorbis tracks will soon play through the new iBook's speakers?
Forgive me, but I tend to disagree with this quite heavily. While I wouldn't say it's the best, the Dell Inspiron 8000 blows this out of the water for compatability. I'm partial to Mandrake 8.0, but any distribution is supported on this machine, and the ATI M4 Mobility or nVidia GeForce GO video, ESS Maestro3 sound, and Intel EEPro100 onboard ethernet are all supported out of the box. Hell, even the Lucent Winmodem is one of the supported models on www.linmodems.org and works great. Dell's support is great, their options are extremely configurable, and I've been enjoy watching my DVDs with Xine on trips for a while now. I'd recommend this laptop to anyone for Linux use, and would definitely pick it well ahead of an iBook.
Interested in open source engine management for your Subaru?
Wow, this guy has taken the "CmdrTaco School of Loaded Statements". :) There's an adage in the computer game reviewing industry that is summed up nicely in a writer's guideline I received recently: "Do not spend two-thirds of an article picking a game apart and then, in the final paragraph, say 'But it's fun. Four stars.'" A majority of his "thoughts on the iBook2 page" revolves around various parts of the laptop not working in Linux, the (trivial) problems of dealing with a 1-button mouse in X, and the benefits of playing DVD's -- in MacOS 9.
"Even without every piece of hardware being completely functional, this is one of the best laptops for linux use that I have ever seen or used."
Right. Well, my two cents. I purchased an Inspiron 4000 from Dell, installed RedHat 7.1, and EVERYTHING worked right out of the box. Sound card, networking, everything. Didn't even have to go through the command line setups. And getting DVD playback in Linux was easy after downloading a program to do so. And I've got more than one mouse button. :) That's a great Linux laptop, in my mind.
To me, running Linux on an iBook seems pretty silly when Mac OS X is available. Yeah, yeah, I know, it's Linux and it's free and it's the Right Thing to Do, because it Can Be Done... but c'mon, you can get pretty much any software you'd expect under Linux via Fink and the Darwin Ports collection. Run a nice window manager and rootless X, and you can get pretty much any app you like.
:)
And then you can start looking at Cocoa and all the nifty things that are going to be coming from the NextStep/OpenStep legacy... IMHO, Apple's gotten the job done in creating a solid, usable UNIX desktop, as well as a mature, unified app framework.
Blah. Anyway, if you want Linux, don't waste your money on Apple hardware. Just stick with some cheap ol' Intel stuff. Go buy a used Sony Vaio, like my old one I'll be eBay'ing soon.
As for Ogg Vorbis, it's coming out of my iBook speakers right now. I use
Unsanity Echo, and sometimes Audion.
Oddly they have been doing worse at getting the DVD video playback working then I expected.
Rumour has it that most of the problems Apple is having with DVD support in OS X is related to the fact that the MPAA is very concerned about the possibility of intercepting the decoded data stream through their player (since OS X is considerably more "open" for tricks like this with the UNIX layer). I don't know if there's any truth in this rumour but it does explain the serious lag time for DVD support. Playing DVDs isn't that difficult (especially when they already have a DVD player for OS 9) so perhaps this really is the reason why it's taking so long.
Another thing to note is that if you take a screenshot in OS 9 while playing a DVD you get a big magenta rectangle where the DVD screenshot is supposed to be. Is there a technical reason for this or are the MPAA really that paranoid?
- j
The ibook is $1300 ($1800 including CDRW/DVD drive). An Inspiron I tried configuring to your specs was $2200.
iBooks come with a proper unix already installed. What would be the point of running linux on it?
That's like buying a BMW and replacing the interior with that of a twelve-year old nissan bluebird with minor fire damage.
"Look! It looks like a Nissan!"
"You are a dumbass. Please drive through."
How can this not-completely-functional Apple be considered the perfect Linux laptop when there are plenty of completely-supported x86 notebooks / laptops out there? I don't understand...
I think he may be refering to a couple things:
1) The iBooks are pretty cheap and offer great hardware for the price: $1299, for the cheapest model, but $1499 for
128MB SDRAM memory
10GB Ultra ATA drive
DVD-ROM drive w/DVD-Video
8MB video memory
10/100BASE-T Ethernet
56K internal modem
RGB video output
Two USB ports
FireWire port
2) The battery life is around 5 hours, and the thing weighs under 5 pounds.
3) It can run OS X as well. W/ Linux and OS X on a laptop, you have a lot of productivity tools. I think you can even dual boot with the iBooks but I'm not positive.
It's a nice machine for under $1500
It's only when we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything...