Inquire ?

[Ron Smith]

Yes, I think you will notice a definite speed improvement. On a G4/500 
(Ti Powerbook) OS X was quite sluggish for me. In contrast YDL is 
snappy and noticeably quicker at everything.

Hmmmm, define "better"? ;-)    YDL should recognize most of your 
hardware upon initial installation. In my case sound doesn't work 
correctly, but I don't mind and haven't attempted to correct it. I also 
have not tried to use the modem, but I have seen on this list that 
others have had problems getting it to work. From reading those posts I 
know there are some workarounds and that it probably would work if  I 
put the effort into it. Everything else (AirPort, CD/DVD) works great.

For me the main advantage of YDL is that it runs fast enough on my 
machine to make the powerbook seem useful again. OS X was just too slow 
for me on that machine. I also think that documentation for linux in 
general is a lot easier to find than for OS X. There are some really 
good books on OS X and more are coming out every day, but when I am 
trying to do something I don't really want to stop in the middle and go 
shopping for a book. Most of what I need for linux I can find online. 
One day OS X information will probably be plentiful (or maybe I just 
haven't found the right resources), but today linux is everywhere. 
Another advantage is that most open source software should compile and 
work under YDL (or you should be able to find and rpm or apt-get the 
software). In OS X sometimes it will compile, sometimes it won't. Also 
if the software you want to run uses X11, it will work with YDL. OS X 
uses the Aqua/Cocoa interface and requires some workarounds if it is 
going to work at all. Arguably there are more potential applications 
for YDL than OS X, but OS X applications are more likely to "just work" 
and be better supported.

It really depends on what you want to do with the system. For instance, 
if you want to run a mail server, YDL is going to be more flexible 
because you have more options to choose from (sendmail, qmail, etc...) 
and those options have varying degrees of 
scaleability/useability/features for your particular situation. On the 
other hand, if you want to do DVD authoring and other multi-media 
intensive tasks, OS X is probably the better way to go.

I know those aren't very straightforward answers, but I hope they are 
of some value to you,

-Ron

On Friday, August 15, 2003, at 05:56 AM, Richard Nagle wrote:

> ON a G4 450, would I notice a speed improvement?
> does YD utilize all hardware, better than Mac OS X?
> does YD offer more advantages than Mac OS X?
> and last, Which Platform would be more scaleable Mac OS X or YD?