Slashdot Mirror
Installing Fedora Core 4 on the Mac mini
Tammy Fox writes "The Mac mini is all the rave. Discover how to install the soon-to-be-released Fedora Core 4 on this tiny desktop appliance, including new features in Fedora Core 4 to support the new hardware."
...Linux on Mac mini (or any Mac) won't support any built-in wireless hardware. I don't have any wireless hardware on my mini, but I can see that being important.
If a person wants a GUI-less Mac, it is possible to run OS X without the GUI as a text-only BSD variant. I forgot where I found the doc, I think you comment out one command in a script. I think that doc might be at the osxfaq site.
I can write over OSX, the put on Fedora and then start the endless road into making Gnome behave and look like OSX...which I just wrote over!
"Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
Apart from the form factor, what advantages does the mac mini have over an x86 box of similar price? What is PPC hardware like? Does it perform better under load or something?
# cat
Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
You have been trolled, by slashdot. The only reason they run these stories is to get the Mac losers to start a fight with the Linux losers. Thanks for biting.
Here's a related story from the 11th on an IBM article with instructions on installing Yellow Dog on an mini.
SEO Firefox Extension
As a long-time Mac Zealot (11 years and counting), I'm love the recent increase in attention linux-ppc is receiving! Now that Apple is "cool" again, and now that Apple's OS has "geek cred", it's finally getting some serious attention from the FOSS world, and that is great news for me.
I'm no big Fedora fan (I'm a Debain/Ubuntu user), but I'm grateful for the work RH is putting in to make Fedora Mac-friendly.
Thanks, guys.
multifariam.net -- yet another nerd blog
This seems like a semi-on-topic question. Why would I want to install Red Hat on my Mac? This isn't meant to be a troll, I like Linux, I use Debian Sarge and Ubuntu Hoary on retired x86 boxes at work. I just would love to know if anyone is running Linux on their Mac - what are you using it for? Why can't I use OS X to do it?
MacBook Pro. Worst name since the Bicycle
Why forsake Mac OS X on a Mac, well think about non-desktop applications. For example the Navy using Yellow Dog Linux and Mac hardware for a Sonar application: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7789.
a se/
For a somewhat detailed list of who is using Yellow Dog Linux see the links on http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com/realworld/showc
... on newer hardware, especially since you can't get airport extreme to work, there's little(not no, just little) reason to run linux over os x
"Little" may not be as small as some readers are thinking. Again, think non-desktop applications. For example the mini is small, quiet, and could make a good OpenBSD firewall. Do you recall all the various articles around here where people were spending lots of money to build quiet PCs for firewalls, lightweight home servers, etc? I think the base mini would be an attractive alternative. If my current firewall dies I'd consider the base mini over my an old celeron or 604e. Similar story with my home file server. It only receives lightweight use, transferring the odd file, backing up files, etc. The mini's slow hard drive wouldn't bother me. I'm currently using a mini with 10.4 for email, web, and lightweight development. I expect it will someday become my home firewall or server.
Hmm, sounds like an interesting story... Or at least it was, the first two times Slashdot wrote it up.
For real, this story isn't even a dupe-- it's a TRUPE!!!
Oh boy, I get to read all the posters who say, "But why install linux on a Mac?" again. It sure was interesting the first two times, so this time, I know it'll be awesome for sure.
Seriously, I can understand some dupes popping up, when two editors post links to the same story that seems interesting, but this isn't even interesting. A Mac Mini is just a normal Mac. It's no surprise that you can put Linux on it. You can put Linux on any Mac. Hell, you can put Linux on an iPod. As for those who are obsessed with asking "why," why should we install Linux on anything? Because we can! That's good enough, isn't it? This story isn't News, it's only barely for Nerds, and it definitely doesn't Matter, when you consider that anyone who wants to put Linux on their Mac Mini already did so back when they were released.
Because my G3 tower has workstation-quality hardware (64-bit PCI, solid power supply and fan, rugged case, etc.) and more than enough horsepower for what it does (serve files over gigabit LAN, remote ssh server, personal web stuff, and sftp).
It does all this with no fan except a big slow one that cools the PSU, CPU, and drives. You just can't get PCs built like that, even celerons need a cpu fan. You can't get a PC that's built for silent operation and massive I/O, it's one or the other. My G3 runs at 450MHz, but it's got a 64-bit gigabit ethernet card and another 64-bit Ultra160 SCSI card. It doesn't take CPU horses to keep the pipes filled.
I TRIED replacing it with a mini-itx box, but the quality of the componentry, lack of expansion, abysmal performance, and price made it a losing proposition. I ended up selling the mini-itx box.
As for why I don't run OS X on it? Several reasons:
1. No built-in package management, I prefer portage, which still isn't fully-baked on Darwin. Fink/apt-get is godawful, IMO.
2. I use the machine as a server, I don't want to pay Apple $500 for a server OS license, nor do I want to be subject to any limitations they might put on the non-server systems.
3. Linux is MUCH lighter, the machine will boot and serve with 32MB RAM. OS X uses much more, and that eats into disk-cache that could be making my system faster.
4. Linux is more customizable and it's easier to get answers for questions you have with it. I can easily tweak any VM setting on my Linux box, it's much harder to find those settings on OS X.
5. Linux often has BETTER driver support for non-Apple hardware. I get better disk and LAN I/O under Linux than I do under OS X as a result.
6. It's obscure and unlikely to be hacked. Even if I don't patch it in time when there's an exploit, someone injecting x86 binary code into an overflowed buffer isn't going to get very far on PPC/Linux. I think OS X is more likely to be hacked than PPC/Linux in the long-run.
7. Mac-On-Linux lets me virtualize an OS X or Classic system should I have the need. Apple's blue box doesn't let me virtualize a Linux session.
That's all I can think of right now. There's probably more, and I could have written this better, but it's after 4am here and I'm quite tired.
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
Revenge of the Redhats ...
Frankly, linux just works for me as a desktop (yes, I know I'm in an extremely small minority). The ports of pan I've seen are just not up to snuff, and I've never found a news reader that was anywhere near as easy to use and reliable. With KDE, I can drag and drop mp3s into my Creative lab's Muvo mp3 player directly, and I have easy access to a tool chain for converting my .flacs. tvtime is simply the best tuner app for cheapskates. Sure, you buy a $150 dollar tuner you probably get bells and wistles, pick up a $32 dollar el cheapo on newegg though and you'll be thanking God for TVtime. K3b is simply the simplest, most straight forward burning app I've ever used. I hate it when I've got to burn something in Nero or EZCD on someone else's machine. Plus, when I make DVDs, I can mount the images loop back and burn the data directly, which has proven much more reliable than any other methond I've come across.
Linux has real advantages on the desktop, believe it or not.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
One guy stated it before, but if you want to code for PPC-based embedded systems, I could imagine that the Mini might be one of the cheapest solutions for your needs.
Since many embedded systems are Linux based, this would make it a very viable option.
I DO love OS X, but why not put Linux on a Mac? What's so wrong about it?
It's not a sacrilege, guys 'n' gals!
You can program for PPC embedded systems right from your Linux PC and cross-compile. By definition, you won't be testing your code on the mac mini anyway, so why bother? I've cross-compiled OS and application code for SuperH, ARM, M32R, ST20 and other cpus from x86 servers, even using unattended build systems, and it's very efficient.
Mac games: http://www.phelios.com/mac/macsites.html
I think that the motivation behind buying a mac is about more than just software issues. Which is to say, purchasing an apple is about the Hardware as well as the software. When I recommend Macs to clients its about such issues as them not having to worry about OS compatability issues, or having to tweak for optimal performance.
Windows on the other hand... To install Linux is about getting at the guts of the system and the high level of customisations and optimisation. Windows, having to cater for all the different hardware mades it complex. MacOS is more powerful having a smaller range. Also, if one is concerned with maximising performance, perhaps a mini is perhaps not the best buy.
I do applaud linux advocacy though, and for that reason I applaud this.