Linux, Open-source and my Macbook

jjinux.blogspot.com

4 points·krishna2··3 comments

If you've already got the Macbook then follow the advice given by DZC in the comments:

"I install a minimal Ubuntu (like JEOS) to a VirtualBox instance on my MacBook. It's set up to be as minimal as possible -- no sound, X, etc. Then I set it up as a local server -- mounting it's file system via SSHFS (or NFS or whatever you like) to the Mac OS side.

Then I can use Mac OS Terminal, Textmate, Firefox, etc. for development. The only major downside so far is the ~10% CPU VirtualBox seems to use at idle."

And if you intend to run Linux, don't buy the Macbook. In fact if you're technical enough to be reading this then you're technical enough to plan to buy a machine that's going to run well under linux (no binary blobs etc.) which isn't, even today, a complete no-brainer.

I disagree. I specifically purchased a machine that would run well under Linux, with no proprietary modules, and that suspended, displayed, and generally ran flawlessly.

I did that because running Linux was worth having poorer performance hardware.

Nevertheless, I still had problems - even the Intel drivers can't composite properly when plugged into a monitor. Oh well, these were acceptable limits.

Then Ubuntu 9.04 came out, and me, like everyone else, got stung by Intel drivers changes that broke many machines and had been identified in the betas but not fixed.

That's it. After 10 years of the Linu desktop, including running rawhide and sid, I gave up and brought a Mac, struggling with OS X for about two weeks then getting into the feel of it.

This is why I sold my MacBook and bought a ThinkPad T500. While it's nice that every single MacBook that is your exact model has the exact same hardware and runs very well on OS X, I have found that Lenovo laptops run better on Linux.

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