Why do you own a Mac and why did you install Linux?

[r0b0t1]

I have had very bad luck triple booting with windows products. Whenever I try to install Windows, it overwrites the Linux partition. Whenever I install Linux last, it causes Windows to not boot.

[Brightbelt]

I did a huge PC-2-Mac conversion
this last year - I have more than one computer because of my work.

My PC tower had crashed with nothing to show for it in terms of recoverable data (I did have backups) and that was the last straw for me.

I heard a fellow say this on these forums once and I agree with it. He said "Mac OSX is what Linux should be". I'll expound more on that below.

I like Mac's stability, although no company/computer brand is above reproach. Most everyone gets burned somewhere along the way, either with Macs or PCs. But I think Macs are better than the rest because of their integrated hardware/software. Plus they put more thought into their designs than any company I've ever seen.

I do dual boots with Ubuntu mostly because I enjoy playing with Linux, although I'm bummed out to hear about voiding the warranty - oh well. But it's a hobby really and not much more - this is mostly because of Linux's inability to fully deliver Pro Applications.

Please understand, I love Ubuntu and Linux, but I'm going to give some tough love here. I know many of such issues are not necessarily Linux's Fault and one can argue about that all day, but if you take many pro applications and look them square in the face, Linux just can't come close to what they deliver.

The digital world is marching on and it's my opinion that it might be marching on a lot faster than Linux is keeping up. The quote "Mac OSX is what Linux should be" applies to all this. Mac has the Unix system security plus the ease of things working right plus programs install and work well.

I love the idea and philosophy of open source and maybe it's just greed of the marketplace that keeps Linux out of the loop. But I'll give a real example here....

I do pro audio recording and if I were to really try and use Ardour 2 (which I think is Linux's best Digital Audio Workstation - DAW), I would have to buy a different interface/control surface to be compatible with it and I can guarantee you it would be inferior to what I use now.

Plus there is simply no comparison between pro plugins and those of open source...A bummer but true.

I do think the world is changing some for the better...when did we ever think Windows would be running on a Mac? And there is the saying, "Software wants to be free" So there is hope.

And maybe down the road things will turn even more. My last point is this because it helps explain why I installed Ubuntu: I never thought I'd ever be able to run Linux before I first tried Ubuntu. I was so intimidated by Linux...

But I began to see with other things (like doing a flash site with Adobe) that things are generally not as difficult as they seem, so one day I thought "why not try Linux?"

I found to my utter amazement that many Linux distros are actually EASIER to install from scratch on a computer than Windows.

And at first when I couldn't configure something, I took my laptop down to the computer shop and paid a guy there who didn't mind configuring things for Linux.

Finally, I configured a couple of things on my own and realized "Wow, I can do this". I do give these forums 99% of the credit. Folks on here are fantastic - this is like no other distro community out there.

Many Thanks, Frank B.

[Hover]

I like the hardware. My computers, a dual processor Gibabit Ethernet Powermac G4, and a Wallstreet II Powerbook G3, have held up incredibly well over the years with no failures. My Powerbook is obviously lagging behind, and Linux/XFCE was just the thing to keep it running smoothly.

That's not to say it's been perfect. but given a little bit of time and a text editor I should be able to make it so.

[grundygreen]

OSX has the best of both worlds.
Easy to use GUI + the power of a Bash shell.
I love to enable the voice recognition.
Then in front of people, state "computer console".
Voice activated shell, how geeky is that?

But regards Macs and linux.
I recycle old systems. Both PC & PPC.
Ubuntu is a nice replacement OS on surplus iMacs.
I'm finding gumdrops for $50 to $75 per machine.
I lerning OEM install so I can pass these machines out.

[Ultimate07]

My brother and uncle managed to convince me that Mac's were the future. I sucked it up and bought a top of the line Mac Pro workstation. Not the dumbest mistake I've made but definitely the most expensive. It was by far the least stable OS I've ever used (Leopard came out while I had it, don't remember which one it was). It crashed a dozen times, acted like it had a virus (I ended up shelling out 50 bucks to get Norton for Mac, there was no virus). It was the most crash happy OS I've ever seen, it crashed over a dozen times during a 4 month stint. Memory upgrades are 3x more than the best possible memory you can pick up at Newegg since Mac's don't use a standard pin setting.

The backwards compatibility was terrible. All my engineering software was as good as plastic. Weird things like not being able to put attachments into hotmail or use MSN instant messenger with the Mac messenger were the candles on the cake.

I reformatted and put windows on it. It worked so much better. I've never had a single crash. I scan biweekly for viruses and probably more than that for spyware.

One of my computer geek friends said I should try Linux. After a while I got a new harddrive and installing it I was amazed. Ubuntu is everything OSX should be. I've been discouraging people from buying a Mac ever since. Aside from a few pieces of exclusive software I don't see why anyone would ever want to buy a mac. When I ask mac lovers why they love their Mac the best reason they can come up with is that they look pretty, this seems to be the only valid reason to pay 40% more for a computer.

EDIT: One of my real peaves with how the computer operates now is that the bios will look for OSX for 60 seconds before booting XP or Ubuntu. If anyone knows a fix for that I would be in your debt.

[flaggh]

One of my real peaves with how the computer operates now is that the bios will look for OSX for 60 seconds before booting XP or Ubuntu. If anyone knows a fix for that I would be in your debt.

Not sure if this is the same problem you're having, but worth a try:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=852723

[oswaldkelso]

I use apple hardware, though the reason I got a computer in the first place was to publish a book. The funder recommended apple as at the time pagemaker was the main publishing tool and mac the platform used.
Consequentially I never had an i386 pc until about a year ago (and a very old one at that).
For years I regarded my use of an apple as an anti MS stance though in recent years its obvious that they are no different.
I will say apple make a good product though you do pay a premium at the top end of the range.
My conversion to gnu/linux was about freedom not quality and has been a gradual process. I still need to use osx some times mostly for dvd ripping movie stuff and psp conversion where linux just isn't quite there yet. I don't have a TV so use the iplayer from the bbc in osx . There is no version that runs on ppc. As those lockins are eroded I can see my conversion to FOSS resulting in me dumping osx but it will be awhile yet. I'm lucky in that I have two machines so can learn and tweek whist still having a working computer. It's getting to the stage where I'm getting proficient enough in using Debian to be running Debian on one and dual booting the other. But for not really techie people like me there is no quick switch.

Over the course of my 9 years of mac ownership which includes 9 machines I have had only one hardware failure, a cd tray on my imac 333. And that was fixed under warranty. Most of my machines are powerpc, and all but one are still in the family. One is so old its a novelty now, a mac classic 8mhz but it still runs great I may have been lucky but my pc using mates seem to be replacing broken components left right and center. So much for saving money by buying a pc! Actually their machines seem to only last about 4 years before needing replaced. Mine just become Linux boxes. That been said with apples move to Intel I don't know if my next purchase will be a mac.

For those interested the machines in the family are:
mac clasic 8hmz imac 333 imac 400 imac 500 g4 677 g4 867 two emac 1000's emac one overclocked to 1333.

[babyhuey]

I use apple hardware, though the reason I got a computer in the first place was to publish a book. The funder recommended apple as at the time pagemaker was the main publishing tool and mac the platform used.
Consequentially I never had an i386 pc until about a year ago (and a very old one at that).
For years I regarded my use of an apple as an anti MS stance though in recent years its obvious that they are no different.
I will say apple make a good product though you do pay a premium at the top end of the range.
My conversion to gnu/linux was about freedom not quality and has been a gradual process. I still need to use osx some times mostly for dvd ripping movie stuff and psp conversion where linux just isn't quite there yet. I don't have a TV so use the iplayer from the bbc in osx . There is no version that runs on ppc. As those lockins are eroded I can see my conversion to FOSS resulting in me dumping osx but it will be awhile yet. I'm lucky in that I have two machines so can learn and tweek whist still having a working computer. It's getting to the stage where I'm getting proficient enough in using Debian to be running Debian on one and dual booting the other. But for not really techie people like me there is no quick switch.

Over the course of my 9 years of mac ownership which includes 9 machines I have had only one hardware failure, a cd tray on my imac 333. And that was fixed under warranty. Most of my machines are powerpc, and all but one are still in the family. One is so old its a novelty now, a mac classic 8mhz but it still runs great I may have been lucky but my pc using mates seem to be replacing broken components left right and center. So much for saving money by buying a pc! Actually their machines seem to only last about 4 years before needing replaced. Mine just become Linux boxes. That been said with apples move to Intel I don't know if my next purchase will be a mac.

For those interested the machines in the family are:
mac clasic 8hmz imac 333 imac 400 imac 500 g4 677 g4 867 two emac 1000's emac one overclocked to 1333.

Luck of the draw my friend.

[stream303]

One thing to keep in mind is that not everyone buys it new, or really cares about OSX or the Apple hardware or marketing - they just come across a machine for free or very cheaply and want to put it to good use, rather than having it end up in a landfill or electronics chipper.

Ubuntu PPC serves as a good way to rescue these machines.

[Dark_Sabre]

Bought my Ibook G4 cause it was $35 and am putting linux on cause it has a virus+I want to dev
In other words, you can get them cheap, and linux is good for programming.