Linux user seriously considering OSX....

[mattman]

First off, a bit of my history. I grew up with a mac, and was a diehard mac addict. when i went into developement however, job requirements ment switching to windows, which i have alwas hated. about a year ago, i converted to the awsome power of linux, and am still loving it.

Now, a friend told me awhile back that OSX was unix based. i figured, they ripped out some freebsd code to dump in their kernel to bring it up to date. good for mac. at this point, i need my commandline interface to use a computer, and mac in my mind, was no longer an option. after some posts on unix/linux forums, i decided to do a bit more research into it. low and behold, OSX is a freeBSD fork!

now, i am still getting over my shock and amazement (just found out yesterday.) The more i read, the more excited i get. UNIX with a mac GUI. is the world coming to an end? has apple released the ultimate in power/userfriendlyness?

at this point, i am almost sold. the more i read, the better it looks. as a linux user, OSX looks roughly 10,000 times more attractive then OS9. as a java webapp developer, i wont have any problems with compatibility. as a conciencous linux user, i am still whoring myself considering buying a non-GNU os, but its slightly ratified by the fact that darwin is open (someone high up must have read eric s. raymonds "Magical Cauldren")

The last thing i need to know, linux is the most gratifying and rewarding OS i have ever used. the configurability and power are only limited by knowledge, something i have never been afraid of aquireing. I want to know, if i go out and buy a mac, will i be happy? does it appeal to the uber-geek as well as john q. idiot? will i be able to apply my linux skills to OSX? will i be able to compile tarballs on OSX?

It is just that the more i read this, the more im getting the "whats the catch?" feeling. if something is too good to be true, it usually is. the traditional weakness of Mac OS is that it didnt offer the same power to the power user then even windows did. that seems to have changed now, and that change would sink me right back in as a happy mac user.

[Captain Code]

MacOS X is more than a rip of FreeBSD code added to the old MacOS kernel.
MacOS X IS FreeBSD(darwin) with the Aqua window manager running on top of it. Apple has changed FreeBSD to suit their needs and turned it into Darwin.

You will be able to do anything you do on linux, on a Mac running OS X. There are some apps that may be hard to compile because OS X has things in different places but if you are good you should be able to get almost everything to compile. Things that won't work are programs with X86 specific code.

You will probably be even happier because Apple has their own version of X11 which will let you run a lot more programs than aqua alone.

You can always access the terminal at any point and plug away in it, or you can do it the GUI way.

You will not be dissappointed if you buy a new Mac, I guarrantee.

Some advice:
You seem to have not been following the Macintosh/Apple news for a while so you might not have heard about the new G5 that's being relased some time this month. If you are going to buy a Mac, this is the machine you will want if you are a hard core Mac addict. More info at www.apple.com/powermac

Make sure to wear a bib as you will be drooling over the G5!

[wiz]

there's no catch. it's just perfect.

btw the fink project has brought a huge chunk of the UNIX/Linux world to macosx, u might wanna check that out!

Aqua is not as customizable as KDE or Gnome! But I must warn u, that Aqua is addictive. Well if not addictive, it is so pleasing to use that you wouldn't give a damn about anything else.

But that dosen't mean u can't use KDE or Gnome at the same time

[Lycander]

OSX is not a direct copy of FreeBSD. To clarify, Darwin is not a direct port/copy of FreeBSD. Darwin uses the Mach kernel which was developed at Carnegie Mellon University. FreeBSD uses various "servers" to provide system services. The Mach developers decided rather than having seperate modules running, they're going to combine everything into one monolithic kernel. So yes it's FreeBSD code, but it breaks away from the modular nature of BSD. So Darwin only carries the FreeBSD name indirectly because Mach is FreeBSD based.

I went from Windows to Linux and now OSX. It doesn't have the same geeky feeling as Linux but if you ever change your mind you can always install PPC Linux.

Tip: Logout and login as "console" with the admin password to get command line only, no desktop, no GUI.

[symphonix]

If you want to take a look at some of the GNU/Unix packages that have been ported to Mac OS X as part of the Fink project, there is a listing here:

http://fink.sourceforge.net/pdb/index.php

This is only the packages that have been ported, tested and bundled for use on Mac OS X and is by no means a complete listing of what will run.

I migrated from Linux just over two years ago and am terribly happy with Mac OS X.

[scruffy]

Lycander, I think you got that backward - the traditional three BSD's are monolithic.

Darwin is a FreeBSD based OS running in userland (as a server) on top of a Mach microkernel. The BSD server is also somewhat modularized compared to the mainstream FreeBSD OS I believe.

The Mach kernel itself is not as 'micro' a microkernel as some - I believe some microkernels have something like a dozen system calls - but it's certainly a small one. The modularity of Darwin slows things down slightly, but in exchange you get easier development and more flexibility.

Theoretically it's easier to make changes on the fly, since most OS changes happen at some level of the BSD server OS, so you can make the changes without rebooting, but all the system updates just tell you to reboot, rather than log out & in & fiddle around with kernel extensions...

Incidentally, the whole thing is an evolution and partial open-sourcification of NeXTStep, the OS Steve Jobs developed when he was in exodus from Apple for a while.

[Arden]

In any case, Mac OS X is UNIX-based, which Mattman will love, I'm sure. Mattman, get a G5, and be prepared for a computer unlike any you've ever used before. Welcome to the real.

[adambyte]

The only thing you might be disappointed by, really, is Mac OS X's lack of built-in interface customization. you can move the dock, change some things, but it's still very Aqua aqua aqua.

If you're a really interface geek, head on over to http://www.resexcellence.com ... there you will find "Themes" and Theme apps for Mac OS X.... then you can really get your GUI on.