[off topic] Linux on laptop and all FLOSS?

[Larry Grover]

Magnus Therning wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 04, 2005 at 06:31:32PM +0100, baza wrote:
> 
>>Airport extreme wifi card does not work with Linux (any distro). That's
>>why I'm still using OSx on my iBook.
> 
> 
> Yes, yet again it seems it's the wireless device that doesn't work. :-(
> 
> Looking at tuxmobil.org I get somewhat confused. There seems to be A LOT
> of different iBooks and PowerBooks (AlBook, TiBook, etc...). How do I
> know which model is on sale at the moment, and more importantly exactly
> what is in it? (Any good pointers to sites where Mac-FANatics hang out?)
> 
> Also it seems that airport works on some models:
> http://cattlegrid.net/~christophe/titanium/#AIRPORT
> 
> /M


If you're considering a new Apple laptop, they all have Airport 
Extreme.  Airport Extreme does not now, and may never, work under 
linux.  If you want wireless on one of these, then you'll have to use 
a PCMCIA card (powerbook only, the ibooks don't have a PCMCIA slot) or 
USB card (ibook or powerbook).

Another thing to watch out for is the graphics card.  If you want to 
run linux and accelerated 3D graphics is important to you, stay away 
from any Apple model with an Nvidia card.  The proprietary Nvidia 
drivers are only available for linux on x86 hardware; Nvidia has not 
released drivers for their cards under linux-ppc.  As far as I know, 
the xfree drivers will provide basic functionality for the Nvidia 
cards, but you won't get accelerated 3d graphics.  The ATI cards 
should work better.

If you're considering a used laptop, then you might want to look for a 
G3 iBook.  I have one of these (800 MHz G3).  They were made with 
Airport (not Airport Extreme) and wireless works perfectly under 
linux.  I thinks all of the G3 iBooks came with ATI cards (though I am 
not 100% certain) -- mine has an ATI Radeon 7500 card and the graphics 
work fine under linux.  I get reasonable 3d performance (though that 
is not important to me), and I can also use an external 
monitor/projector (which is important to me).

The only downsides to the G3 iBooks are:  you would have to buy a used 
laptop (always a bit of a gamble with laptops, but the iBooks seem 
pretty sturdy), the processor is a bit slow (compiling a kernel will 
take a loooong time, but it's perfectly acceptable as a mobile 
desktop), and some of the iBooks are prone to a specific hardware 
problem -- logic board failures:  Apple has an extended warranty 
replacement program for the iBook (mine went back to Apple 3 times for 
repair in the first 6 months, but has been OK since the last repair 7 
months ago).

One advantage of purchasing an Apple laptop:  the OS which comes with 
it (OS X) is pretty nice.  If you like linux, you'll probably find 
that OS X is reasonable, once you get used to it.

These pages may be helpful:

Info page on logic board failure and extended warranty:
http://www.apple.com/support/ibook/faq/

Apple page with links to specs for current and old models:
http://www.info.apple.com/support/applespec.html

Regards,
Larry