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Load Linux on the Mac mini

Posted by timothy on from the two-great-tastes dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Mac mini is an ideal low-cost, high-performance PowerPC development platform for numerous applications. Learn how to install and configure Linux on the mini. Future articles will add the software required to make it into a stand-alone multimedia appliance."

5 of 198 comments (clear)

  1. Further software ? by rokzy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    what is linux going to offer over OS X since you get OS X with a Mini anyway?

    plus does linux have support for AirTunes? and will it have support for the possible video streaming over AirPort Express that was hinted at in the discussion of iTunes 4.8? I don't know but I don't think so.

    1. Re:Further software ? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 4, Insightful
      I have a Mac Mini in a co-lo centre, running OpenBSD. For me, it was a very cheap way of getting a co-located host (the mini is a lot smaller than a 1U server, and so hosting was cheap). In a headless box, most of the benefits of OS X are lost (assuming I am too cheap to pay for OS X server - which costs more than the Mini itself).

      I can't really see a reason for installing Linux. The article mentioned that YellowDog was `lightweight', at only 4CDs. OpenBSD is a 4MB boot CD and then you just download the parts you need (around 100MB for the base system). This gives you a secure server, which can easily be administrated remotely. Oh, and unlike OS X, you can upgrade things like Apache separately from the core OS.

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      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    2. Re:Further software ? by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Well I found that Linux is well geared to developing applience like applications. Take a Distribution strip it down. And make it do what you want and make it do it quite well. A firewall, A spam filter, A way to do remote backups. Or just a multimedia presitation unit. OS X as a desktop operating system is Great, and it is Good for a General Server too. But if you want to a more detailed workhorse then Linux does the job a lot better. Say you want to make a Multimedea system. Install Linux have it open up X-Windows and use your application say Firefox without the menus being displayed full screen. No window managers just firefox. So you have an easy to make multimedea station. Or better yet if you make your multimedea station software as a live CD. You just pop in the CD and boot the Mac. and bingo it is up and running make as many copies as you want and have it spread across your company stores.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  2. WTF? by baldass_newbie · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why would anyone waste hardware and time doing this?

    Not to be a troll, but you've got BSD running under the hood with a clean UI, so uh, what do you gain besides bragging rights?

    Or am I missing something? I did read the fine article and I see they want their project to be OpenSource, but THEY ALREADY PAID FOR THE LICENSE!!!!

    --
    The opposite of progress is congress
  3. Nothing New by Horrortaxi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    People have been installing Yellow Dog on Macs for a long time. This is nothing new.

    Since it doesn't support the built in wifi or bluetooth I'm not sure why this would be such a good idea though.