[Cialug] Buying a new PC

Sun Sep 30 15:58:43 CDT 2007

Jason -

I'm not trying to start a flamewar either, but if you're used to Macs  
(or better, if you have a recent Intel based model already), but need  
Windows and maybe Linux too, just install Windows on one of the  
current crop of Intel based Macs using Apple's BootCamp (free)  
software that has Windows drivers and will automatically partition  
your Mac so you can dual-boot between Mac OS X or Windows.

You can also use virtualization software such as Parallels  
Workstation or VMWare and use both OS X and Windows simultaneously.   
Even other OSes such as Linux etc...as many as you have RAM to  
support.  As a programmer that has proved very handy to me already.   
I see a lot of Macs, especially MacBook laptops, in use among  
programmers these days....for this very reason.  You can even copy- 
and-paste and drag-and-drop files between Mac OS windows and Windows  
OS windows....they even interleave with each other as you click on  
them, as if it were all one OS instead of two being run.  Pretty slick.

Also, it's fairly trivial to boot from different internal and  
external hard disks on the Mac too so you could conceivably have  
Windows, Mac OSX and Linux all easily accessible on different drives  
or partitions. I believe you just hold down the "option" key at boot  
to get a list of logical or physical drives to boot from.  Haven't  
done this myself except years ago to boot between different versions  
(languages I mean) of Mac OS on different external disk drive  
"cartridges" for testing translated software but I believe it's even  
better now.  Worth investigating, anyway.

I use Parallels Workstation on my MacBook Pro to run XP on top of OS  
X, and it runs quite well, and I am planning to install one or more  
Linux distros as soon as I have a chance.  That wasn't as urgent as  
getting Windows running when I bought the MacBook Pro late last year,  
since Mac OS X is Unix based....I can still fiddle with all sorts of  
Unixy goodness without having to install anything else!

I hear VMWare is even better in most respects (but only just came out  
of beta so I went with Parallels since it was out last year when I  
bought the laptop).  There's also a freeware or shareware solution  
instead of VMWare or Workstation but I can't recall the name at the  
moment.

This is NOT emulation like you had to do with Virtual PC on the  
PowerPC chip based Macs.   It runs at full chip speed (minus the  
virtualization overhead of course...)

You can run Linux on Macs too, of course, either directly or in  
Parallels or VMWare.  PowerPC or Intel (I imagine you have more  
choices in Intel since it's got to be easier now that Macs run on  
Intel chips too.)  There was even a Linux (MkLinux) for the old  
Motorol 680x0 chip based Macs I think. Got a book about it around  
here somewhere....)

I'm running a Core 2 Duo based MacBook Pro.  The Mac Pro towers run 8- 
core or quad-core Xeons. Even the $600 Mac minis and the lower-cost  
MacBook (non-Pro) laptops and the iMacs all run a Core 2 Duo now.

To address your numbered questions:

1) Macs uses SATA drives (at least my MacBook Pro does....) Since  
Linux runs on the Intel Macs it would pretty much have to support  
SATA I'd think...

2) Mac OS X can run 32 and 64 bit software at the command line AT THE  
SAME TIME already (Core 2 Duo and Xeon are 64 bit I believe) and it  
gets better under Mac OS X 10.5 where run 32 and 64 bit GUI apps  
simultaneously will be supported too.  10.5 should be out sometime  
this month.  Dunno about 32 vs 62 bit Linuxes though. I imagine you  
could boot them from separate drives or partitions somehow.

3) Dunno.  As a related note, however, there are ports of many Linux/ 
Unix apps to Mac OS X (which support X Windows) available via package  
management software like fink, DarwinPorts (now MacPorts I think), etc.

4) The Macs use ATI, NVIDIA or Intel graphics chipsets, depends on  
which model.  Of course, the Mac Pro towers have slots, so you can  
pick and choose a bit.)  The current Mac Pro towers come with NVIDIA  
cards according to the Apple Store web site by default but you can  
configure it with a several other NVIDIA or ATI cards on Apple's site  
and I imagine there are other alternatives as well.

This is my 2 cents.  I don't claim to be a Unix or Linux expert by  
ANY stretch of the imagination, but I've dabbled with Unix-related  
stuff on and off for years...much more so now that my personal system  
runs Unix underneath.   On a typical day (until our company was sold  
and we were all laid off recently) I used and/or programmed OpenVMS  
Alpha minicomputers, Windows XP desktops (most of my recent  
programming was here), and my Mac laptop on a daily basis.  This is  
all just food for your thoughts, based on what I am aware of in the  
computer industry.

  - Bill Davis

_______________________
Bill Davis
5214 Meredith Drive
Des Moines, IA
50310-2956 USA
bill.davis at gmail.com
+1 (515) 360-0445 cellular
+1 (515) 270-6729 home

On Sep 30, 2007, at 2:22 PM, Jason Warden wrote:

> Hello Cialug!
> I have a question. I'm buying a PC for the first time in a few  
> years after using primarily Macs. This PC will have to have Windows  
> on it as well as Linux as my wife takes online classes at DMACC.  
> I've just spent a few hours browsing at tigerdirect.com and it's  
> quite the different world out there, isn't it?? I have a few  
> questions (Linux and Windowz related), if anyone wants to take the  
> time to answer:
> 1) This new SATA transport for drives - Linux doesn't have a  
> problem with this, does it? Anything I should know?
> 2) One desktop I really liked on tigerdirect is actually a 64 bit.  
> I know Linux has had 64 bit support for years, but I've heard iffy  
> things about using XP with 64 bit systems (and I don't trust Vista  
> yet) Would it be possible to put a 32 bit XP and a 64 bit *nix on  
> the same computer? Are those 64 bits backwards compatible to the OS  
> level?? I don't think this is possible because I think the RAM you  
> buy commits you to your bitrate; is that correct?
> 3) In the past (I was a hardcore Linux user from about '97 to '03)  
> I've always preferred the easy-on-the-user stuff like SuSE and  
> Mandrake/Mandriva. My biggest issues have been with the crazy  
> package management systems (apt-get on SusE 9 worked pretty well  
> but then 'broke'...) What is the easiest distribution in terms of  
> package management going these days? I know this question may start  
> a flamewar, sorry.
> 4) Nvdia are still the Linux friendly graphics people, right?
>
> Thanks
>
> Jason
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> Cialug at cialug.org
> http://cialug.org/mailman/listinfo/cialug

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