[ydl-gen] RFO: Mac Mini or G5 iMac

[Jurvis LaSalle]

On Sep 6, 2005, at 2:59 PM, Ken Schweigert wrote:

> Request for Opinions:
>
> I'm in a situation where I can do a hardware upgrade.  I'm torn
> between either the Mac Mini and the new G5 iMacs.  This is for my work
> workstation.  Most of my work is spent ssh'ing in to various servers,
> do some coding, and surfing.  I do also have XMMS running in the
> background.  I also boot into MOL a few times a week.  So as you can
> see, my needs aren't that great.  The others in my office will be
> upgrading to G5s but will only be running OSX.  Since I need to
> dual-boot, I have to be a little more careful.
>
> I thought the Mac Mini was going to work out, since I have an Apple
> 15" LCD, but I'm a little concerned about the hard disk speed being
> 4200 RPMs and the sketchy sound support (I saw BenH has written a
> patch for it, though).
>
> Then the G5 iMac sounded good with having the G5, and all, and then I
> saw no MOL and loud as heck with the fan running.  Is support for the
> fan coming along?  Is it really *that* loud?
>
> I would image that eventually sound and fan support will be supported
> and a new version of MOL will be released, but is any of this in the
> works now?  Will it be a year before these features are available?
>
> Can anyone offer any opinions towards an upgrade?  Any other things I
> should consider?  If you have either of these systems, could you
> comment on how well you (dis)like them and what it's like to run linux
> on them?
>
> Thanks!
> -ken
> -- 

If you want to run Linux on a Mac and have it work well, buy an older 
Mac.  Otherwise, just run Tiger on your new hardware, install X11 and 
ssh -X (or is it -Y now) into the rest of your linux boxen and be 
happy.  Running linux on a new Mac is like buying a new Cadillac, then 
ripping off the exhaust pipes and half the instrument panel because you 
think it's more your style (and maybe it is, I won't fault you for it 
_too much_).  The integration between OS X and a new Mac is just too 
tight for linux to even compare.  Not to mention that it's ridiculously 
simple to get many of your favorite linux apps through Fink.  Just my 
$0.02 as a Linux admin whose initial xterm usually starts on a Mac.

JL