Which is better? OSX or Ubuntu?

[Eric Dunbar]

Oooo... what a question to ask (am impressed by the civility of the
answers though :-)...

On 1/22/06, Richard Colbert Jr <richard at venuspcservice.com> wrote:

I've moved the most important piece of info to the top...

> I am asking this question SPECIFIC to use on an older G3 iMac (Tangerine)
> with a 400Mhz. PowerPC Processor, 128MB Ram (May upgrade this to 256 if
> needed), 10GB Hard drive (May upgrade this to 40GB if needed), Internal DVD
> Reader, external BenQ Dual Layer DVD+-R/W w/ Lightscribe, Micro Connectors
> iMac keyboard w/ 2port USB hub built in, Kensington Orbit USB Trackball
> Mouse, USB External 120GB HDD formatted FAT32 (Used for backing up files
> from both the iMac and Windows PC's.

> Okay before you guys/gals answer that, I have a set of guidelines that I
> would like used in answering that question.
>
> **Note: I am very new to Ubuntu and have never used OSX, hence the reason I
> am asking**
>
> Guidelines:

> 1.)     Ease of install – including installation, setup and configuring all
> connected devices

Install will be the same for both. Setup and configuration of your
particular batch of devices may be easier in OS X (NO setup should be
required). But, then again, you may get lucky and Ubuntu will
autodetect everything too.

For OS X you can get Kensington's AWESOME MouseWorks to program your
Orbit, but, given that the orbit has only two buttons you're not going
to get a whole lot of extra functionality out of it -- the only extra
thing you'll be able to do is "chord" (press both buttons at the same
time). Otherwise, both Ubuntu and Mac OS X will support your mouse
"out of the box".

> 2.)     Overall ease of use – User-Friendly

Depending on your computer experience, roughly the same. Mac OS X will
win in the polished department but Ubuntu offers you more GUI
configurability.

> 3.)     Ease of installing additional hardware (Post OS Install)

If it's not a bargain basement discount peripheral, Mac OS X! No
contest. If it's bargain basement, Ubuntu may include drivers.

> 4.)     Ease of uninstalling no longer used hardware (Without OS Re-Install)

There shouldn't be any difference. You should be able to simply unplug at will.

> 5.)     Ease of installing new software/games/etc.

Depends:
Purely open source software that's available in the repositories:
Ubuntu (hands down) because there is an interface to install open
source stuff

EVERYTHING ELSE, including open source software that's been packaged
by others: Mac OS X. The driving philosophy behind Mac software
installation/removal is drag-and-drop. You shouldn't need uninstallers
to remove an app (if you do, you should be asking what it's
installing).

> 6.)     Ease of uninstalling no longer used software/games/etc.

Slight advantage to Mac OS X. Drag and drop to the trash! Most Mac
applications come as a single "file" (it's actually a directory
(package) that's packaged into a single icon) so, to install them you
simply copy them to <insert favourite destination>. To delete, you
highlight the original icon (not an alias) and delete. Oftentimes I
have apps sitting on the desktop so when I'm done they simply go into
the trash.


> 7.)     Overall security and resistance to Viruses, Trojans, etc.

No difference AFAIK.

> 8.)     Ease of removal of Viruses, Trojans, etc.

Not applicable. No known viruses or trojans for Mac OS X. Presumably
the same for Ubuntu.

> 9.)     Availability of GOOD software/games/etc.

Define good. There's lots of good OSS (open source software), but, you
may be disappointed. Many bits and pieces are quite rough around the
edges.

The commercial gaming actually exists on Mac OS X vs. virtually
non-existent on Ubuntu, and, given that you only have 128 (or 256) MB
of RAM and a 400 MHz G3 pretty much everything you're going to be able
to play you can buy for $5 on eBay anyway (Marathon, Diablo II,
etc.)!!

Caveats:

1. Given the speed of your machine and the amount of RAM, you will
find that Ubuntu will perform better for many things! If all you're
planning on doing is basic work (web browsing, e-mailing, word
processing), Ubuntu is your better choice.

If you're doing multi-media stuff or need things like Flash you're
definitely better off with Mac OS X... most (decent) open source
multimedia packages are available for Mac OS X and in a few cases
people have gone to the trouble of actually building a decent GUI for
them (usually for $$).

2. Your machine has USB 1.1, NOT 2.0. This means that your 120 GB HD
will transfer files at a glacial pace (about 1 MB/sec MAX) compared to
USB 2.0 or Firewire. If you can use Firewire (IEEE 1391) do so -- it's
faster than USB 2.0 in real world situations (technically USB 2.0 is
480 Mbps and Firewire is 400 Mbps but Firewire is a more robust
protocol, better able to sustain data transfers).

3. You can easily set up a dual-boot situation. I would advise at
least 3 GB for Ubuntu and the rest for OS X. For ease of installation,
install OS X first and partition the drive using the OS X installer to
have 3 GB (partition 1) and 7 GB (partition 2). Make sure that Ubuntu
gets installed onto the first logical partition. This way you can
sample both and see the advantages to both.

Just some pre-emptive information for you to keep in mind about
dual-booting a Mac:

(a) The Ubuntu install sets Ubuntu to boot by default. You can change
that to boot OS X by default editing /etc/yaboot.conf ... sudo gedit
/etc/yaboot.conf (type man yaboot from the command line for more info)
(b) If you set a startup disk using Startup Disk preferences pane in
OS X or control panel in Mac OS 9 you will lose yaboot (your Linux
bootloader). You can regain yaboot by booting with the Ubuntu
installer CD and doing some magic (never had to do so), or resetting
PRAM by holding down command-option-P-R when the Mac chimes (it will
chime a second time if you had the keys down at the right time),
provided you have installed Ubuntu on the first partition and OS X on
the second partition (the "bios" (Open Firmware) will search for
bootable partitions starting with the first logical partition if it
isn't told what partition to use)

4. Regardless of what you do, upgrade your RAM. It takes PC-100
(cheap) RAM, has 2 slots and you can go up to 1 GB IIRC (check to see
what size DIMMs it needs to go to 1 GB... sometimes these Macs need
"low profile" DIMMs). 128 MB simply isn't enough for either Ubuntu or
OS X. You'll find that Ubuntu works a bit better than OS X in 128 MB,
but, the difference will start to diminish as you move up to 256 MB
and beyond.

5. Don't expect a speed demon (by today's standards) either way. The
Tangerine iMac 400 MHz wasn't zippy to begin with.

6. If you run into problems, feel free to ask. There are lots of dual
Mac OS X-Ubuntu users out there (it's a natural fit given that OS X is
Unix-based (they no-longer say Unix-like) and Ubuntu is Unix-like, and
both are open source (one more so than the other ;-)).

Eric.