[JohnM15141]

I don't know whether this question belongs in here where PowerMacs are discussed, or in the Mac Lounge.

I chose here because I'm going to ask about what to do with a surplus PowerMac. And this is the PowerMac forum, so here goes...

I noticed that the US Navy has chosen PowerMacs running Linux for a project they are running. Also just recently Lockheed bought a huge amount of Apple Servers running Linux, the largest purchase of Xservers to date.

So now I'm wondering about this Linux thing? What can one do with it, especially in a Microsoft world where Mac Users make up less than 5%.

First a little background...

I just recently bought a DP1.25 Ghz G4 Mac to update a failing 500Mhz G4 Cube. I dearly love my Cube so I upgraded the processor and got it running again. But it can't keep up with my new PowerMac. So it sits idle looking very cool but unused. After reading the "Linux on a Mac" stories, I got to wondering..."what if I installed Linux on my Cube?"

Can this be done?

How does one go about it?

What can I do with it?

All opinions are welcome!

Thanks

[RevEvs]

If you dont know why you would want to put Linux on your mac, or have a good reason too, then in reality the only point in doing so would be for hobbyist sakes.

From the sound of your post i assume youve not used Linux, my advice to you is to stick to OS X and turn your cube into a media centre or something

revs

[Angus_D]

Originally posted by JohnM15141:
I noticed that the US Navy has chosen PowerMacs running Linux for a project they are running. Also just recently Lockheed bought a huge amount of Apple Servers running Linux, the largest purchase of Xservers to date.

Lockheed Martin bought 260 Xserves from Terra Soft Solutions for eventual deployment in US Navy subs. It was the same story

[euphras]

Linux on Mac´s is more or less a Geek thingy. Linux was a fast OS in those days when the GUI was not so bloated. But modern distro´s are so refined and big that the minimal speed advantage has also vanished.
Want to run *NIX progs? Install X11!

[I Me Mine]

"What can you do with a Mac-Linux Box?"

Re-format it and put OSX back on it

[Superchicken]

My suggestion would be to install X11 for Linux Apps on the Mac. Linux is great for server stuff, but it's not really ready for the desktop... or rather noone's made it ready for the desktop

[mzllr]

Originally posted by I Me Mine:
"What can you do with a Mac-Linux Box?"

Re-format it and put OSX back on it

exactly... i have a b&w g3 that i wanted to turn into a development server when i got my laptop. i put ydl on it, played around with it for a bit, and when i found out that it really gave me no advantage over osx i switched back.

i think really the only advantage you would gain from putting linux on a mac is if you have an older one (say, 9600 and below) and you want to upgrade to a newer os without upgrading your system. other than that, osx is going to be your best bet.

[3dAnimation]

Here's a few ideas for your Cube:

1. Make is just a 2nd computer for Wife/Girlfriend/Guest/Whoever and run SETI@Home on it.

2. I like the Media Center idea. Connect a nice hefty 23" Cinema display and watch movies on. Connect it to your stereo for a fuller effect. Plus, there's the added benefit of having all your CDs in iTunes.

3. Make it a Server. Buy OS X server for $500 (10 Client) and have a BLAST.

4. Trade me for my old PB5300ce and some Snickers Bars. (best option out there :)


I was going to use mine for a server, but it ended up as option 1. Now I've got a beige G3 as my server and it's doing GREAT.

Hope you can put it to good use! <cough, option 4, cough>

-3d

[Angus_D]

Instead of buying OS X Server, just install Linux. It's the cheapest server OS, and you don't have to fight with the GUI tools to do anything non-standard

[Eug]

You could always dual boot it if you want.

[rambo47]

I like the idea of having a testbed computer. Fooling around with Linux is a good thing IMHO. Having options is always smart.

[ginoledesma]

Back when Mac OS X was still in beta, I used Linux for Mac primarily for the development tools it provided (gcc, java, etc). When Mac OS X initially came out, I found Linux was waaaay faster. The speed difference became slightly less significant when Jaguar came out.

The nice thing with Linux on Mac is that you can run Mac OS X through the Mac-On-Linux project. Its not an emulator like VPC -- it runs the OS almost as good as if it were running by itself (of course with some noticeable slowdowns to the Mac OS, especially with Quartz).

As you've got a spare Mac, if you've time to spare, then installing Linux on your Cube will give you an idea of what Linux is really like. So yes, its more of a hobby rather than something productive -- initially. You have to assess the strengths and weaknesses of Linux for you. After all, no matter how great an OS is, if it doesn't work for you (or doesn't suit your needs), what good is it?

The one advantage I see Linux (for me, especially) is the server-related and development-related tools it provides. I find that the Apache web server (and other services such as mail servers, database servers) are faster when run on Linux than on the Mac. I get better throughput with file transfers (SSH, FTP, SMB), and I find that at times, video playback can be a bit faster.

The hassle I find with Linux on the Mac (and strangely enough not on PCs) is that maintaining software packages (unless you're using Debian/PPC) can be a bummer. And for some reason, the "startup process" isn't as comfortable (for me) as compared to that on PCs (I guess I still infinitely prefer grub over yaboot). However, you CAN practically setup Linux and forget about it. You're Cube is going to be some expensive glorified router though (as most people tend to setup Linux boxes for that purpose).

But like I said, if you've got time, why not give it a shot?