Post by Manuel Tobias SchillerPost by Eric P.Hello,
I'm interested in hearing from anyone who's compared the performance of
Linux (specifically YDL) and Mac OS X (the more current version, the
better). I want to install each of these systems and check 'em out, and
I'd like any useful information and interesting observations folks may
have from their experiences.
I can't really compare performance because I can't test OS X (I don't
have it), but giving both systems a try for two or three months is a
good idea; you'll find out what suits you best, and if you find yourself
using the "other" OS you didn't want to test that day, that gives you a
clue as well, doesn't it?
The learning curve on linux is generally considered a little steeper,
but, in my opinion, it's never a bad idea to learn something about the
tools you are going to use before getting to work. That's what any
worker must do during his or her education... Learning to avoid the
"smashing one's finger with a hammer" and a few other do's and don't's
in a computing context seems to be a good thing.
Post by Eric P.Since both systems were born of UNIX, does it make sense to run both on
a single machine? I'm wondering which of the two systems would be best
for use on a G4/450 single-processor system. That's the machine I have,
currently with 640MB of RAM, but I plan on maxing it out sometime soon,
then changing the graphics card to a GeForce 4 Ti (hope Linux supports
this!), and later a processor upgrade.
If you use both systems, it makes sense to have both installed. ;)
By the way, if I remember correctly, mac-on-linux can start OS X under
linux in a window, it'll be a little slower but usable. So you don't
have to do without OS X even if linux is running at the moment - you'll
get the best of two worlds, even if one of them is a little slower.
About performance: I'm running a G3 at 300 MHz (1 MB L2 cache) with 384 MB
of RAM under linux, and I'm quite satisfied with its performance; it's only
too slow to watch DVDs without a lot of frame skipping. The G3 will also
outperform my K6-2 at 500MHz (same amount of RAM) for most tasks unless
you're watching movies. Your G4 is probably quite a bit faster, and DVDs
should play just fine with the AltiVec instruction set that the G4 supports.
I'm writing this because I hope it gives you some idea what to expect,
even if it might not exactly apply to your situation.
Post by Eric P.I'm looking for the best performance I can get from my machine in speed
and stability. Wherever there's a choice, I favor more stability, of
course. I want to make my system the best it can possibly be for
Internet use, graphics and sound editing (later including audio
recording), word processing/spreadsheeting/database work, and gaming. I
don't ask for much, do I? *L*
You want a system that is optimal for any use one can imagine? Tell me
when you found it, we'll sell it together and get rich! ;)
Seriously though, stability is generally considered good for both
systems.
Post by Eric P.Any and all feedback will be greatly appreciated! For e-mail response,
please send to "thustar at yahoo dot com."
Thanks and happy computing,
Eric
Thanks, and happy computing back to you!
Manuel
My problem with the MAC OSX is that the Heirarchal File System (HFS) is
a bit screwed, in a couple ways, and no one has figured out why, and
then, how to fix it so it doesn't happen!
1. The system seems to slow down after initial dozen hours of use.
2. The file tree gets garbled, after further useage.
I work a MAC certified repair center, that is independant, but has
attained some notoriety for prompt solutions for warranty and
out-of-warranty customers.
We do several tricks on each OSX system that comes in the door, before
we can begin to release them to the owner. One is Disk Warrior, after a
program wipes out all the Urdu,Swahili,French, German, Russian, Chinese
and 90 other language files that total about 2Gb of space!
I also service PCs, and the XP system is hitting 8 years old before
anyone will see Vista. Our tests of Vista Test base convinced me that
Vista is truly going to stand for huge expenditures to buy new DRM
'certified' Monitors, hardware, plus it will take you 6 Gigabytes for a
minimal install!
GNU/Linux doesn't screw up the file system, has had a really great
'desktop' presence since about 2000, getting better all the time!
The 1600 applications normally included in a LiveCD install, and the
fact that every peice of hardware I have tested over the past 9 years
automatically installed, have sold me on GNU/Linux for all my home systems.
I would like to mention that there are the Ext2, Ext3, and Reiserfs
journaling systems that do not seem to kludge the File System, like both
MS and MAC do!
When somebody fixes the MAC HFS system correctly, and speeds up the
systems to meet what is available for about 40% less in the PC world, I
know that it will simply take off.
Right now, I can buy a Dell 3.0Ghz tower for about $900, with the same
monitor that is advised for the MAC, but, the MAC system at 2.0Ghz costs
$1500! (Looking at the current products at Costco. for instance). Both
come with the commercial OSes. Much more can be saved when systems are
purchased with no licensd OS and a FREE Software OS is installed.
And, my final note, If you don't want to try a LiveCDrom of Linux, and
want something closer to the MAC OSX, try one of the live *BSDs!
All 310 of both the above are at http://livecdlist.com