On Wed, Apr 06, 2005 at 02:14:14PM -0700, Rodney Mishima wrote: > >Now see, I have it much easier because I run MacOS X on a Mac. > > When you wear your Mac end-user hat, do you consider yourself a > Switcher as I do?
Not really. The parts of the Mac that make it a Mac are either mostly unused or outright replaced on my system. I don't use Finder or very often even the Dock. I use Path Finder and Quicksilver. I use Safari instead of Firefox now, but Safari is to Konqueror as Firefox is to Mozilla of old. Most of my time is spent in iTerm and screen. I used Office because I get handed Office documents daily, often in class, and I am expected to be able to open them right then and there in class. When handed a quiz on a CD or memory device, you don't say, "I'm sorry, but that's not an open standard format." Do that and you won't pass the quiz most likely. In the past three months or so, I have really started to use Apple software more in the form of iLife and iWork, which integrate very well together. It's really nice, and it makes things really easy to do that are actually very hard in Word and Powerpoint. I've also started to play with Preview and Colorsync more and more. You'd be amazed what these two little programs can do to clean up scans, PDFs, etc. You could almost say that I've become a switcher now even though I actually switched two years ago. But really, I didn't switch, I just transitioned when the right tools came along. > I tried to install Linux to coexist with OS X on my 17" aluminum G4 > Powerbook and had the following adventure: > > I wanted to preserve the existing OS X installation, and made a full > backup of my internal laptop HD to a Firewire attached HD. I used a > Shareware disk copy cloner (name withheld to protect the innocent ). I point out that Carbon Copy Cloner is just a front-end to the CLI tool ditto. It's also an insecure front-end, so I highly suggest learning to love ditto. > I think the cloner utility is just a graphical fornt-end for a short > Unix script that copies all files including hidden, system files from > the partition on the internal HD to a similarly sized partition on > the external HD. If you used Carbon Copy Cloner, that's true. ` > I confirmed the completeness of my backup by setting > the > > System Preference | Startup Disk > > to reference the external HD partition, and booted up into it. > > Then, I tried booting up with a Gentoo PPC Live CD and using the > command-line "parted" partition editor to shrink the internal HD's > hfs+ partition. It failed, surprise. And you didn't test it, right? Naturally. > So, I booted up with the OS X install cd. Knowing that I now have a > good backup of the internal HD on my Firewire external drive, I used > the Apple Disk setup utility to delete the big hfs+ partition and > create smaller partitions including place holders for the New World > Startup Disk, the Linux swap, root, and home partitions; as well as a > reduced size hfs+ partition for the original Mac OS X install. > > Then, I boot into the Mac OS X on the external Firewire HD ( holding > the OPTION key during startup), used the cloner utility to copy from > the Backup hfs+ Mac OS X partition onto the reduced size internal HD > hfs+ partition, set the > > System Preference | Startup Disk > > to point the the newly restored, reduced size hfs+ Mac OS X > partition, confirming that I had put Humpty Dumpty back together > again. > > At this point, I am ready to attempt a Linux install. So, this is a > lot nicer than any attempt to install Linux while preserving the > existing OS that I have attempted on any X86/Windows system. > > One more than one occasion, I have encountered some mishap or other, > and lost the original OS. Much to my shame, I have sometimes had to > re-install Windows from scratch (and of course, all the Apps as well) > > I don't want to bore you with all the ugly details about my > attempt(s) to install Linux beyond this point. This is a brief > summary of what happened next: > > Strike 1: I attempted to install the latest Beta of Mandrake PPC 10.2 > > got snagged somewhere early in the install process > (details best forgotten) > > Strike 2: I attempted to install the latest bleeding-edge Ubuntu PPC > > successfully completed the install! (but not yet > time to ice up a cold one ) > booted up, choosing the Linux from the yaboot loader > tried to use the system. It would hang after I moved > the mouse a short distance. > > Strike 3: I attempted to install Yellow Dog 4.0.x > > This worked. I can boot it into it, use the apps. It > is based upon Fedora Core 3 > which is not familiar territory for me. > > But, I should reveal why I wanted to install Linux > on my Powerbook ( why would any sane person want to do > this)? > My primary use of the Mac is for burning DVDs. > Since I am a Switcher, I don't have a strong > Mac-centric mentality. I most often use an > external Firewire attached, dual format ( dvd +/- > r(w) ) burner. Mostly, because it is a > lot faster than the internal Superdrive ( mine is > almost 2 years old) which burns only t > the dvd-r(w) format at a MAX speed of 1x. But, most disappointing is > that the internal Superdrive refuses to even read a dvd+r(w) disk. I > thought that was a restriction imposed by Mac OS X. So, I thought > that if I use Linux instead; I'd be able to read a dvd+r(w) and watch > a movie with some video player program ( the usual suspects: xine, > et. al. ) > But, when I inserted a dvd+r ( whether blank or > successfully burned previously), the Superdrive immediately spits it > out, even in Linux. Apparently, the restriction is enforced at the > drive's firmware level. > > Fortunately, there are Superdrive upgrades that have the capability > to burn/read both the ( + / - ) formats as well as the Dual Layer. > For my 17" Aluminum Powerbook, professional installation is highly > recommended, no encouragement to do-it-yourself. > > Fortunately, I contacted Mr. O at Computerbase, and he assures me > that his shop can provide the necessary expertise at a reasonable > price. > > So, I have a problem for which I can throw money at it; and make it > go away. Wouldn't it be nice if every problem were so clearly black > and white? I have a simpler solution for you to consider: Pioneer DVR-109, firewire enclosure, Toast. Burns anything, and the DVR-109 is actually flashable to use Apple's own firmware (which lets iDVD use it). Requires power, but provides a drive that is faster than anything you'll put in a laptop. Costs less too. _______________________________________________ EUGLUG mailing list euglug@euglug.org http://www.euglug.org/mailman/listinfo/euglug
