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Linux Distributions
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turntabletux
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Aug 22, 2007, 03:10 PM
 
Next quarter I have a Linux class and I believe we are working with Fedora Core. Has anyone had any luck running this distribution of linux on the Macbook? I would like to do the labs and work with Fedora right on my Macbook.

Also has anyone else had any luck running any other distributions besides Ubuntu? Ubuntu on Macbook I might be looking into installing Suse as well. Suse has always been a favorite. Thanks in advanced!

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besson3c
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Aug 22, 2007, 04:29 PM
 
Do you want to dual boot, or run in a virtualized environment?
     
turntabletux  (op)
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Aug 22, 2007, 05:28 PM
 
Originally Posted by besson3c View Post
Do you want to dual boot, or run in a virtualized environment?
I would prefer dual boot. I get confused easily when setting a virtual environment. Either way I am will to try if you have any suggestions. Thanks!

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besson3c
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Aug 22, 2007, 06:08 PM
 
Well, virtualizing is a little safer as far as not messing up your master boot record and in doing so jeopardizing any data you have on your Mac. If you want to play with different Linux OSes, this is also a good case for virtualizing.

You will probably be living in the command line anyway, which you can access from your Mac over SSH.
     
turntabletux  (op)
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Aug 22, 2007, 06:18 PM
 
If I were to go the virtualization route, does anyone have any experience with Fedora Core? Or any other distribution (besides Ubuntu) that works pretty much out of box? Thanks again

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C.A.T.S. CEO
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Aug 22, 2007, 06:24 PM
 
Originally Posted by turntabletux View Post
If I were to go the virtualization route, does anyone have any experience with Fedora Core? Or any other distribution (besides Ubuntu) that works pretty much out of box? Thanks again
All of them should work, just make sure you download the i386 versions.

I recommend Parallels for vitalization.
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turntabletux  (op)
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Aug 22, 2007, 07:28 PM
 
All of them should work, just make sure you download the i386 versions
Thanks, I will update if I encounter any problems.

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ghostdawg
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Sep 9, 2007, 12:43 PM
 
Have you looked into a Livecd?
G4 Mini | 1.25mhz | 512mb | 40gb | OS X 10.3.9 | 19in Hanns G LCD
     
cgc
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Sep 10, 2007, 08:17 PM
 
Originally Posted by turntabletux View Post
If I were to go the virtualization route, does anyone have any experience with Fedora Core? Or any other distribution (besides Ubuntu) that works pretty much out of box? Thanks again
I've used Mandriva, Ubuntu, DSL, Puppy, Fedora, Slackware, OpenSUSE, Gentoo, Debian, and a few other small distros and they all worked fine out of the box (although Slackware's was the hardest to install). I didn't like the feeling of the mouse movement on any of the distros except Ubuntu which is odd. I could never get the mouse to move at the right rate but they all installed and worked very nicely.

I used VMWare Fusion on my MacPro.
     
applemacbook
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Sep 21, 2007, 12:13 AM
 
Originally Posted by cgc View Post
I've used Mandriva, Ubuntu, DSL, Puppy, Fedora, Slackware, OpenSUSE, Gentoo, Debian, and a few other small distros and they all worked fine out of the box (although Slackware's was the hardest to install). I didn't like the feeling of the mouse movement on any of the distros except Ubuntu which is odd. I could never get the mouse to move at the right rate but they all installed and worked very nicely.
I know exactly what you're talking about in reference to the mouse, but I did eventually get it to work as needed by altering the configuration files. Were you using the GUI to change the speed, or through the config files?
     
rjt1000
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Sep 21, 2007, 10:11 AM
 
For anyone setting up Ubuntu, there is a lot of good info at:

Ubuntu Forums

including separate forums for the intel Mac and PPC Mac.
     
cgc
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Sep 21, 2007, 10:29 AM
 
Originally Posted by applemacbook View Post
I know exactly what you're talking about in reference to the mouse, but I did eventually get it to work as needed by altering the configuration files. Were you using the GUI to change the speed, or through the config files?
I have used Ubuntu for a couple years but am not too comfortable editing config files...I used the GUI and never quite got it.

What did you edit to get the mouse to feel right because I'd love to use a different distro.
     
cgc
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Sep 22, 2007, 10:54 AM
 
Just downloaded and installed Fedora 8 (beta) and it is SWEET. I like it very much, seems faster than Ubuntu (I'll Geekbench it), the mouse feels perfect, and all the newest apps (OO 2.3, Gnome 2.20, etc.)
     
turntabletux  (op)
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Sep 26, 2007, 07:09 PM
 
Originally Posted by cgc View Post
I've used Mandriva, Ubuntu, DSL, Puppy, Fedora, Slackware, OpenSUSE, Gentoo, Debian, and a few other small distros and they all worked fine out of the box (although Slackware's was the hardest to install). I didn't like the feeling of the mouse movement on any of the distros except Ubuntu which is odd. I could never get the mouse to move at the right rate but they all installed and worked very nicely.

I used VMWare Fusion on my MacPro.
I don't know what it is with Linux, but every distro I used in the past, the mouse moved at a very fast rate. Especially the trackpad!

I have installed Fedora Core 6 on my Macbook with no fusses. The only issues I am having right now is my wifi isn't working out of the box. Has anyone else had any issues with the wifi, or knows how to get it to work. I remember going through this many times with Suse when I had my Dell laptop. I ended up getting it working with ndiswrapper, but now I'm on my Macbook.

When I run "Ifconfig" I don't even see my device. I only see my loopback.
Thanks in advanced!
( Last edited by turntabletux; Sep 26, 2007 at 10:30 PM. )

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Warren Pease
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Sep 29, 2007, 02:39 PM
 
I had Fedora Core 6 installed on my 15" MBP for a couple weeks. You might want to try getting the Madwifi driver to get Airport working. That is supposed to do the trick, but I never got it to work. I had to do networking through my ethernet, which defeats the reason to have wireless on a laptop. Maybe it has been fixed in FC7? FC8?

I downloaded the demo of Parallels Desktop and am able to run Fedora Core 6 (along with Ubuntu, gentoo, CHAOS) w/o any problem and since the networking is bridged through the mac os, you don't have to worry about setting up wireless.

I know you mentioned that you don't want to virtualize, but after trying it out, I think it is the way to go.
     
cgc
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Sep 29, 2007, 11:29 PM
 
Originally Posted by Warren Pease View Post
...I know you mentioned that you don't want to virtualize, but after trying it out, I think it is the way to go.
FC8 is sweet, try it. I know there are people who triple boot Mac, Windows, and Ubuntu...
     
nickclarson
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Sep 30, 2007, 05:27 AM
 
First of all, I would recommend using VMware Fusion over Parallels any day. WMware runs much more efficiently and uses much less resources.

As far as Linux goes the whole Ubuntu installation went very well for me and there were only a few problems I had. Easy to get around though. I plan on making a video tutorial soon outlining exactly how to go about installing Ubuntu on a Mac.

BTW, I have Ubuntu running as a virtual machine with VMware.

     
   
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