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?
Well, Dude it's a low end Mac after all. But more than that, think about whether your P4 or P3 where doing drop shadows and transparency effects in real time permanently and all that fancy smoothing and bells and whistles that come with OS X. They didn't? Well, there must be a connection from that and the fact that they felt a bit zippier.
You can argue there should be a way to switch of the eye candy, but I believe that most of it really isn't candy but useful visual hints etc. making the Mac an ever more easy to use machine.
Also very important: Slap a ton of RAM in that baby and you'll see that it needn't be so slow. Mac OS X is first and foremost a memory hog. Once you've got a Gig of RAM in there, the performance won't degrade much anymore.
I've got a 17" PB (the first model with 1GHz G4) and I put 1GB of RAM in there from the beginning. It does feel rather zippy. Of course not as zippy as when I was using OS 9, but then OS 9 was doing less and was only zippy as long as you were running about 1 task--do a bit more and you were forced to have a coffee break.
Same with me. I don't even use Exposé much, when I want to to get access to the desktop, I simply click on it while holding down OPTION, this'll hide the current application (I rarely have other windows than the current app displayed). It doesn't look as fancy as Expose(r), but it does the job and has done it since ye olde Mac days.
When I switch apps I usually either do it via CMD+TAB (no hiding) or I click on the dock wile pressing OPTION that way the current app gets hidden. Keeps the screen clean. I have most of my windows hidden most of the time as I mentioned above.
Also I started using Witch, with this app-switcher you can switch between any window, even the ones minimized in the Dock.
I've tried Desktop Managers, but it somehow never worked for me. Having two real desktops however I found quite nifty, mainly because you can see both of them at the same time.
If I have to switch from one desktop to another I might as well hide one window and show the other. Same difference.
You know what? Copeland (the OS that was originally meant to replace the old Mac OS) developer versions had more or less the same search functionality a very long while ago (before BeOS for sure). Well it was killed and the OS never got finalised, but there have been a few demos of what Copeland's search functionality could do.
Well Linux is not a serious competitor in my market.
That's because I'm a designer, and as much as I'd love to have Linux as an alternative I don't see the GIMP replacing Photoshop anytime soon (no support for color conversion and proper color profiling etc.). Text handling of the GIMP is shitty, too. CMYK support goes only as far as a CMYK color picker (was that one of those things to put in, so GIMP can claim it does CMYK now? Well, it doesn't).
QuarkXPress or InDesign for Linux anyone? No?
Sorry, but I've been looking into the few DTP apps that are ambitious enough trying to be pro apps. They are a joke. The problem is those apps are made without help by pros (Typographers) for pros and lack about everything thinkable a Typographer would need to do his work.
And it's also an integration thing. Still all the applications on Linux feel as if they don't belong together and often enough you have the feeling they don't even belong to the OS. Drag and drop is a hit an miss thing and still not always working between all apps and the FileManager. Cut and paste is likewise. And this functionality is one of the most fundamental and basic ones which still isn't working well.
There are so many loose ends that I still have to say unfortunately Linux on the desktop is probably great for coders and programmers since they mainly handle text, but to smoothly handle multimedia data in a work environment it just takes much, much more than that.
While I see a few good moves in the right direction (GNOME with it's interface guidelines, although they do lack), making an OS and good applications for non techies is a concerted effort and I am not sure whether the Open Source developers with all their different opinions will ever get their act together to get it right. This kind of stuff needs at least one guy who sets the direction and leads the pack. No place for much democracy there, otherwise it ends in chaos.
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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!
Well, Dude it's a low end Mac after all. But more than that, think about whether your P4 or P3 where doing drop shadows and transparency effects in real time permanently and all that fancy smoothing and bells and whistles that come with OS X. They didn't? Well, there must be a connection from that and the fact that they felt a bit zippier.
You can argue there should be a way to switch of the eye candy, but I believe that most of it really isn't candy but useful visual hints etc. making the Mac an ever more easy to use machine.
Also very important: Slap a ton of RAM in that baby and you'll see that it needn't be so slow. Mac OS X is first and foremost a memory hog. Once you've got a Gig of RAM in there, the performance won't degrade much anymore.
I've got a 17" PB (the first model with 1GHz G4) and I put 1GB of RAM in there from the beginning. It does feel rather zippy. Of course not as zippy as when I was using OS 9, but then OS 9 was doing less and was only zippy as long as you were running about 1 task--do a bit more and you were forced to have a coffee break.
No, because PowerPC means:
Performance Optimized With Enhanced RISC Personal Computer
or if you want to take it a step further:
Performance Optimized With Enhanced Reduced Instruction Set Computer Personal Computer
At this point you can see where all those acronyms and abbreviating abbreviations leads:
;-)
A lot of repetitively redundant pleonasms
And they gave Xerox Apple stock which turned out to be millions worth later.
Same with me. I don't even use Exposé much, when I want to to get access to the desktop, I simply click on it while holding down OPTION, this'll hide the current application (I rarely have other windows than the current app displayed). It doesn't look as fancy as Expose(r), but it does the job and has done it since ye olde Mac days.
When I switch apps I usually either do it via CMD+TAB (no hiding) or I click on the dock wile pressing OPTION that way the current app gets hidden. Keeps the screen clean. I have most of my windows hidden most of the time as I mentioned above.
Also I started using Witch, with this app-switcher you can switch between any window, even the ones minimized in the Dock.
I've tried Desktop Managers, but it somehow never worked for me. Having two real desktops however I found quite nifty, mainly because you can see both of them at the same time.
If I have to switch from one desktop to another I might as well hide one window and show the other. Same difference.
You know what? Copeland (the OS that was originally meant to replace the old Mac OS) developer versions had more or less the same search functionality a very long while ago (before BeOS for sure). Well it was killed and the OS never got finalised, but there have been a few demos of what Copeland's search functionality could do.
Well Linux is not a serious competitor in my market.
That's because I'm a designer, and as much as I'd love to have Linux as an alternative I don't see the GIMP replacing Photoshop anytime soon (no support for color conversion and proper color profiling etc.). Text handling of the GIMP is shitty, too. CMYK support goes only as far as a CMYK color picker (was that one of those things to put in, so GIMP can claim it does CMYK now? Well, it doesn't).
QuarkXPress or InDesign for Linux anyone? No?
Sorry, but I've been looking into the few DTP apps that are ambitious enough trying to be pro apps. They are a joke. The problem is those apps are made without help by pros (Typographers) for pros and lack about everything thinkable a Typographer would need to do his work.
And it's also an integration thing. Still all the applications on Linux feel as if they don't belong together and often enough you have the feeling they don't even belong to the OS. Drag and drop is a hit an miss thing and still not always working between all apps and the FileManager. Cut and paste is likewise. And this functionality is one of the most fundamental and basic ones which still isn't working well.
There are so many loose ends that I still have to say unfortunately Linux on the desktop is probably great for coders and programmers since they mainly handle text, but to smoothly handle multimedia data in a work environment it just takes much, much more than that.
While I see a few good moves in the right direction (GNOME with it's interface guidelines, although they do lack), making an OS and good applications for non techies is a concerted effort and I am not sure whether the Open Source developers with all their different opinions will ever get their act together to get it right. This kind of stuff needs at least one guy who sets the direction and leads the pack. No place for much democracy there, otherwise it ends in chaos.
See?