Should I sell my Macbook? And what distribution is best for me?

Sizemore101 · 08-15-2008, 07:40 PM

Hey,

I'm a apple user and recently decided that I would like to switch to Linux for political reasons (and it seems to be cheaper!); and I have two questions...

1) Is Linux compatible with Macbooks? Is it more compatible with other PCs? If I was to sell my Macbook what are some good PCs for Linux?

2) I mainly use my Macbook for word processing, watching flash files online, torrent downloads, email/chat, photo editing, and learning French on Rosetta Stone. Given this would certain distributions be better than others? If so which ones would be the best for me?

Thanks

AceofSpades19 · 08-15-2008, 08:10 PM

1) of course it works with mac books
2)basically any distro can do that sort of stuff for you

GlennsPref · 08-15-2008, 08:13 PM

see this post....

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...acbook-663065/

Regards, Glenn

weibullguy · 08-15-2008, 08:17 PM

Yes, Linux will run on a Macbook. Don't know if the Rosetta Stone will work on Linux. The Mac binary won't work natively on Linux and I'm not aware of an emulator like Bochs or compatibility layer like Wine. Otherwise everything else is possible. Just head over to distrowatch.com and take a look at the top 10 distros; everything you want to do is pretty much general purpose computing and any distro will work.

Sizemore101 · 08-19-2008, 01:12 PM

Thanks for the response everyone; I've been having some problems though, so let me rephrase my question...

I have just tried Blag (which had about ten thousand errors)

Then tried gNewSense (which had about five hundred errors)

Then tried Ubuntu (which works except for wireless internet and it isn't completely "free software")

These errors I can't find solutions for, or the solutions simply don't work. At least some of these seem like they can be attributed to using a Macbook - my keyboard for instance didn't work properly because the mouse pad doesn't have a right click.

On top of this I would probably make a couple hundred dollars if I sold my mac, as Mac are expensive...so to rephrase my question is there any compelling reason to keep a Macbook if one is using Linux? I.E. does mac have especially good hardware for it?

weibullguy · 08-19-2008, 08:56 PM

If you like the Macbook, keep it. Other than that I don't think there are any compelling technical reasons to keep it. I suspect you'll find more support in general for ix86 and x86_64 machines.

AceofSpades19 · 08-20-2008, 12:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by weibullguy

If you like the Macbook, keep it. Other than that I don't think there are any compelling technical reasons to keep it. I suspect you'll find more support in general for ix86 and x86_64 machines.

Macbooks are x86, ibooks are ppc

resetreset · 08-20-2008, 01:27 AM

if you're from the Mac world, you could try Dynebolic and see whether you like it or not. *I* love it

jax8 · 08-20-2008, 01:34 AM

Since you are doing this for political reasons I would suggest you sell the macbook because Apple has a monopoly over the hardware and Operating System unlike Microsoft that just has a monopoly on the Operating System. You will be able to then buy a good PC that will have better compatibility with linux. If fact, considering you are buying a PC to use with linux you can ensure all hardware you purchase will be compatible before hand.

Good luck