Mac OS X Trumps Ubuntu Linux
From Dan Palka
I found your article (Is Ubuntu
Linux a Sensible Alternative for Mac Users?) interesting, and I
agree completely. I maintain some of my friends' PCs which I have
installed Ubuntu on, because I think it is a more secure option
than Windows. However, I wouldn't replace OS X with Ubuntu,
and if OS X could run on PCs, I would be installing that
instead of Ubuntu.
REPLY
Hi Dan,
We're singing from the same hymnbook.
Charles
Ubuntu for Macs: Too Many Holes
From Otto Schlosser
Hi, Charles.
Just wanted to let you know that I have some experience with
this and, in my case, I reached the same conclusion you did. I was
running Ubuntu (Breezy Badger)
on a Blue & White G3, and I
finally went back to Panther.
It should be said that I had the additional complication of
working on a Windows network where I needed seamless access to
printers and file servers; that was a major irritant with Ubuntu.
Multimedia apps were another, purely personal one. I have little
doubt that, if I was running an Intel build of Ubuntu, things would
have been smoother, but on PowerPC, there were too many little
holes.
Thanks for your column - I always look forward to reading
it.
ojs
REPLY
Hi Otto,
Thanks for the practical insight.
Charles
Yellow Dog Linux vs. Ubuntu on a PPC Mac
From Martin Cohen
I installed Yellow Dog
Linux on an external FireWire drive on my G4 iBook because I
did not want to mess with my OS X setup. It installed easily -
I just entered "install firewire".
Ubuntu, OTOH, has no way of installing on an external
drive.
So maybe on a PC (since I got all versions of 6.06), but not on
my iBook.
Martin Cohen
REPLY
Thanks for the tip, Martin.
Charles
Running OS 9 on an Intel Mac
From Nathan Finch
Dear Mr. Moore,
I was doing some research on OS 9 and OS X (trying to
find out what percent of the Mac community is still using OS 9
and not having much luck in finding such stats) and ran across your
article, Is Mac OS 9 Still a Player?
Mac OS 9 Compatibility, Upgrades, Hacks, and Resources, 2006
Edition.
I also found an article published last month, Run MacOS 9 on
an Intel Mac, that describes how to run OS 9 on an Intel
Mac. I thought you might want to update your article to include
this information. I've not tried what is described in that article,
merely passing it your way.
Best wishes,
Nathan Finch
REPLY
Thanks for the link, Nathan. I'll check it out and perhaps
include it in the next update of the article.
Charles
Using FireWire Target Disk Mode to Install OS
X
From Dylan McDermond
Just wanted to note that I have always done this opposite to
your method. I boot the computer with the DVD drive into [Target
Disk Mode]. That allows you to boot the "lesser" computer from the
install DVD inserted into the DVD-equipped computer.
-Dylan
REPLY
Hi Dylan,
I agree. That method makes more sense. Being slow on the uptake,
it just didn't occur to me at the time.
Charles
WallStreet Hard Drive Upgrade
From Brian Hunter
Hi! I have been reading your articles on the Low End Mac site
for a long time. I appreciate your information a lot!
I just bought a 300 MHz/320
MB WallStreet, and need to upgrade the hard drive. Will I be
able to use the (Apple OEM) 60 GB HD I pulled from my iBook G4/933 when it died recently?
Thanks for your help!
- B.
REPLY
Hi Brian,
Congrats on the WallStreet purchase.
Yes, the WallStreet has a honking big hard drive bay, and the
drive pulled from the iBook should work just fine.
Remember that if you intend to install OS X on the "Old World
ROM" WallStreet, you will need a boot partition on the drive of
less than 8 GB.
Charles
5G iPod Scratches
From Chris Turpin
Hello Charles.
I am in need of your knowledge once again.
I have acquired an 5th Generation iPod from my sister. I already
had 1 GB nano, but I couldn't miss the opportunity. So I took
it.
Problem is it was quite damaged. I took the advice of the humble
people on the Apple Discussions forums and used the Brasso
trick on it (I don't have the link, unfortunately), and it
worked like a charm. I also dropped about $20 on a leather flip
case.
Now there exists a problem. I have taken my iPod on a few trips
without the case, and it has been in my pocket, which I have made
sure nothing else was inside. It came out quite scratched up. This
never happened to my nano without it's case.
My nano is dated March 2006. My Fifth-gen is dated December
2005. What I'm wondering is, did Apple quietly make the front of
the iPod chassis stronger to address the concerns of scratches? Or
is the Fifth-generation iPod generally more fragile than the
nano?
Also, another concern: I think either Dan Knight or Adam Guha
talked about a fourth-generation iPod dying from excessive disk
use. Can that happen with the fifth-generation iPod?
Thanks in advance,
Chris
REPLY
Hi Chris,
I have no hard knowledge on this issue, but Apple is explicitly
advertising better scratch-resistance on the latest revision iPods,
and it wouldn't surprise me if a plastic reformulation had been
quietly incorporated as a production modification after the flap
over the easily-scratched original nanos in late 2005.
My daughter's first-gen iPod hard drive died from excessive disk
use, but she had been booting OS X from it. It stands to
reason that those tiny hard drives are not going to be as robust as
their 2.5" and 3.5" cousins. Apple doesn't recommend using an iPod
as boot drive. Anything mechanical will eventually wear out from
use, and because of the tolerances of mass production, some will
expire sooner than others.
Charles
Re: iPod scratches
From: Chris Turpin
That's what I'm thinking. Also I noticed that black iPods seem
to have more problems with scratches than white ones do.
I saw an ad on LEM about iFixIt having iPod parts. I guess that
will make my solution easier, as I was just going to eBay a dead 5G
iPod, but that's a bit of a stretch. Now to save up the money.
;)
Once again, thanks for your insight on the situation.
-Chris
REPLY
Hi Chris,
When I was in the fibreglass sail yacht business, we used to
say, "All colors scratch white."
While I'm at it, there was another aphorism from an earlier era:
"There are only two colors for a boat: white or black, and only a
fool would paint a boat black." ;-)
Charles
Re: Problem Reading CD-R
From Andrew Main in response to Beige G3 Unable to Read CD-R:
Charles,
This page discusses DVD rather than CD media, but still has some
worthwhile information re brand vs. manufacturer: Blank DVD Media
Quality Guide. (Maybe someone knows about a similar page
discussing CD media?)
Andrew
REPLY
Hi Andrew,
Thanks for the link.
Charles
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