Is Linux faster than OSX?

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One Sick Puppy

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I'm interested in running Open Office on my iBook. I'm a "native" windows user, and I'm rather frustrated with MS Word 2004 so unbelievably slow, and after trying various other word processors for the Mac, I'm thoroughly unimpressed. I've also tried installing X11 and that crashed on me shortly after I got Open Office installed, so I ditched it.

Now then, I'm thinking that perhaps an installation of some flavor of Linux + Open Office for Linux would be practical.

Can someone advise on this idea? Is Linux faster than OSX? I'm thinking maybe Mandrake, or Gentoo or Yellow Dog, as I've seen these suggested around the net. None of which I have any experience with whatsoever. In fact, I have little or no Linux experience... but I learn quick.
 
Yellow Dog Linux is by far the best PPC distro of Linux, IMO. Very easy to install, and is based upon the tried-and-true RedHad distros.

Yes, it's faster than OS X. Simply because, again IMO, Linux looks like crap and doesn't have the "polished" look and feel that OS X has. Sure, you can spend a few hours customizing a Linux install to look decent, but it's not that way out-of-the-box, so to speak.

I would suggest a dual boot setup with OS X and Linux, and Yellow Dog's site has plenty of FAQs and tutorials that teach you how to do this easily.

Good luck!
 
I would have to agree with ElDiablo. Linux would be faster when using X Windows as opposed to OS X's Aqua interface since X Windows doesn't (yet..will change in X11R6.8 from what I hear) have all the cool GUI enhancements and accelerations as Aqua does. However, I don't think it's because the interface looks like crap. Of course, that's all subjective.

You would have to find some benchmarks online to see which is faster, or conduct them yourself. As ElDiablo also mentioned, a dual-boot setup would probably be your best bet so you can try Linux but not lose the safety of OS X.

Stay away from Mandrake...they haven't kept their PPC version on par with their x86 version, so you will have older apps compared to "Lintel" users. Gentoo is also good from what I hear, and their emerge software is supposed to be great for keeping Gentoo fresh. Mind you, it's not for the faint of heart, but if you are determined, it wouldn't hurt to try.

If I were you, I would stick with Yellow Dog Linux for now, and move on from there (if you desire) once you are more familiar with Linux.

You could also try one of the BSDs out there, or OpenDarwin which is the open-source part of OS X. Each of these has the same desktop environments as Linux does (KDE, Gnome, WindowMaker, etc.). I'm considering dropping OpenDarwin on a "WallStreet II" PowerBook G3 that I got from work only because OS X Jaguar is dog slow on it, even with the ATI hack I found online.

Good luck!
 
My experience with Linux on PPC has been that the speed increase is actually in perception. Because it doesn't have all the eye candy that OS X has it feels faster. However when you get down to numbers, it is actually slower. I've run some numerically intensive code on it just to see the difference in speed and I've found that Linux is about 10 - 20% slower than OS X on the equivalent machine.

If you're interested in Office documents, just use MS Office for the mac or if you feel the performance to be sluggish, get a cheap PC to run Office. OpenOffice is pretty much a joke on OS X. On Linux, its much better, but it doesn't handle exporting MS Office documents well. If you're looking to handle complex layouts and stuff like forms, forget it. Use MS Office.
 
One Sick Puppy said:
and I'm rather frustrated... but I learn quick.
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I can imagine. I've been looking at your past posts and have to say that you are definitely NOT going to be a Mac user. From the start you tried to make your system a, well, Windows PC. And you have displayed an extreme resistance (I call reinstalling the software on a system you had for a couple days extreme) to using your Mac and a preference for the Windows way of doing things.

Please don't take this as being negative, but reinstall your system from the restore disk so it is back to factory settings, put it back in it's box and sell it on eBay or something, and buy yourself a Windows laptop.

You are a Windows user. Remember this. Why people didn't tell you this when you started asking how to maximize applications to take over the screen is beyond me. That is a red flag. Windows users can't multitask, it isn't the Windows way. Mac users need to see that other things are happening, running two, three, four things at once. Seeing the other applications and even the desktop is a natural thing for Mac users. Windows users need blinders. If they see around an application they get distracted. That is why most Windows apps are rooted in a main (full screen) window.

As for why X11 didn't work, well you have spent a lot of effort to distort your system you to this point, and X11 and the apps that run in it require everything to be in the correct places to work... you started customizing your system within a couple days of having it, so it is not surprising that you are having these problems.

I'm sorry I didn't see your posts until now. You really need to get back to what works for you. You have proven that you had no intention of trying to learn how to use a Mac like a Mac, so my advice is to cut your losses and go back to Windows. Computers are things that people work with, you have been working against your Mac from just about day one, so your best option is to go to a system you are willing to work with... Windows.

Unlike many Mac users, I completely understand that not everyone is (or should be) a Mac user. Some people really need the Windows way of doing things... and you are absolutely one of those people.

Best of luck.
 
Cheers. Macintosh is most definitely not Windows, and if you're having this much trouble adjusting to the "Mac way" of doing things, then you're going to want to slit your wrists trying to understand Linux.

RacerX is right -- it's extremely backwards and stupid for an OS called "Windows" to allow you to get rid of all those... well, windows by going into "full screen mode." I suggest you give the Mac and Mac OS X another shot, and approach the situation as if you had never used Windows before. Play with the red, yellow and green window buttons and figure out by experience what they do. Some people claim that they don't work, but they just don't understand what each does -- the buttons are EXTREMELY consistent, and you should be able to tell exactly what will happen to the window before you even push the button -- there's no randomness to them. They're pinpoint accurate if you know what they do.

Try using your applications as you would anything on a physical desk. If you want to use a sharpie, you don't collect all the pens and pencils and notepads and hide them in drawers, then pull them back out when you're done with the sharpie (ie, fullscreen mode in Windows). You still have access to and can see other writing instruments (applications) while you're using one of them.

Also, when someone hands you a folder full of papers, you don't go and start rearranging them before you go through them and know what's in there (ie, the temptation to move things around or remove things in the Applications folder). What's the difference if iChat is in the Applications folder, or you move it to your own "Internet" folder? Typical power users don't access applications directly anyway -- they either place them in the dock or make an alias to them somewhere convenient. Mac OS X has all the built-in tools you need and makes it extremely easy to customize your system greatly without diving into the guts and folders and files of the OS and start ripping stuff apart and moving stuff around.

Give Mac OS X another chance, and try not to expect it to work one way or another. You will catch on to how it works with experience and usage over time, and it'll happen quickly. Don't try and use your Mac like a Windows machine, and don't expect it to do the same things your Windows machine does. I think you'll find the Mac OS X experience far superior to your Windows experience -- you just have to remember that you're not using Windows at all.

If it makes any difference to you, I don't want you to think I'm a Mac zealot. I started off in the days of DOS 3 and worked my way through Windows 95 before I really got an interest in Macs. I knew Windows machines far better than Macs, even though I grew up using both. Today, and for the last 11 years, I much prefer the Mac way of doing things to the Windows way.

Good luck.
 
ElDiabloConCaca said:
Try using your applications as you would anything on a physical desk. If you want to use a sharpie, you don't collect all the pens and pencils and notepads and hide them in drawers, then pull them back out when you're done with the sharpie (ie, fullscreen mode in Windows). You still have access to and can see other writing instruments (applications) while you're using one of them..
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Nicely put. I'll have to remember this illustration. :)
 
The major reason why I bought an iBook was because all I needed was something small to take notes during class. On a 12" LCD screen, in a bright classroom, it's very difficult to read text and I require a text editor with enough viewing flexibility that I need not use 16pt font just to see the text only to have to shrink the font back down when I hand in my paper.
OpenOffice seems accomodate, but doesn't seem to work particularly well under X11.
Appleworks does not seem to have the flexibility I need.
Mariner Writer looks promising and I'm still evaluating it.
I look forward to trying WordPerfect if there is a Mac version.
bla bla bla. I've tried several others, too.
I've decided to continue using MS Word 2004, for the time being, but obviously I'm looking for alternatives and still getting used to my Mac.

Finding a 12' LCD PC laptop in this price range and quality is surprisingly difficult. Even despite the fact that the first iBook I bought had a defective cooling system or graphics chip, I'm still quite impressed with the hardware. And, the truth is I like the OS too, and much of the software that the computer came with.

Anyhoo... I'm going to try Mandrake 9.1 since it's free, and maybe Yellow Dog.

Thanks for the replies.

PS. Why does it seem the Mac community has so many fanatics?
 
You've gotta be fanatic to survive. Just kidding. I don't know. I do love one of the initial scenes of "Best in Show" when Parker Posie and her prep husband are talking about how they met:

"I was at StarBucks, working on my Mac, and you were there... working on your Mac..."

Hehe... that sums up most of the Mac users I know -- stuck up, preppy beyond comprehension, and the only reason that StarBucks is in business. Of course, I don't fit into that group (and I'm sure none of us here at macosx.com do, either, right? ;) ).

I would give YellowDog a try before Mandrake -- that's my only suggestion.

If you really need high contrast, why not set up your Terminal windows the way you want them (maybe white text on black terminal window) and then use something like pico or vi to take rough notes, if all you need is simple text editing capabilities? Some people get so good with vi through practice that they could run circles around a Word user, and never touch the mouse (or trackpad).
 
Smultron is nearly as efficient as vi, but much easier to learn and OS-X integrated. Like an improved BBedit Lite.
 
One Sick Puppy said:
PS. Why does it seem the Mac community has so many fanatics?
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It really is all about standing up and being heard.

Look at OS/2 users, there was a nice quiet group who had close to 10% market share at one point (more than the Mac has ever had) and then their platform was gone without hardly a whimper.

The Mac platform is here because people who use it are unwilling to stand by quietly when it is ignored. And now we aren't alone. The Linux community has started taking it's cues from Mac users and are making a noise when they feel slighted.

Funny how terms like religious that were once applied to Mac users by the Windows community are now being aimed at Linux users these days. I guess Windows users think that anyone who wants to use something other than a Microsoft product must be part of some type of cult. I use Macs, SGIs and Suns, and no Microsoft software at all, so I must be part of a lot of cults from a Windows users point of view.

I think it is fanatical to think that Macs are for everyone. They aren't. And I surely don't think Windows is for everyone either. It is myopic to think that what works for you is what everyone should use.

One size fits all is just a bad idea... specially in computers. :D
 
Thanks again for the suggestions.

I'm now in the process of downloading Yellog Dog 3.01 and I look forward to giving it a run.

Do I have to ditch my current instal of OSX?
 
I would assume so, it has been my experience that you have to format the drive to partition it and i don't see a way to put linux onto the same partition as OS X.

There might be some other disk software that might let you partition with out erasing your disk, i know there are some for windows. I haven't seen the option with disk utility.
 
what the hell?? no guys linux is NOT faster than OSX? its the same speed. i'm using a lot different distros of linux and i have a mac too. i see no difference in speed. but yea ieeya.. i.. ehmm.. well there's one thing i need the mention here: osx needs a lot of ram.. increase ur ram capacity and watch the improvement. a faster graphics card helps too :D
 
I don't know if it's faster, but why futz around with that? There is a version of open office that runs in java, not x11. It looks a bit nicer, prints well and seems mostly stable. Google up neooffice/j

oh, what the hell, here is the link
 
How much memory and what speed is your CPU? My Word 2004 and Excel 2004 run perfectly fine. Sometimes they may feel a bit slower, but it's really just the little animations and effects that make it seem that way. Entourage does run slower than Mail though, but I'd imagine it has a lot to do with it just being a bigger app and using more RAM.

If you're going to just run Linux, you should probably do it on a PC, there are some nice, small, light-weight PC laptops out there. If you're going install and learn a complete new OS like Linux (which will probably be very frustrating) just for Open Office... that's crazy. Heck, if your Linux distro doesn't included Open Office, I'm sure it's no picnic to install that either, it took me three tries to install Gaim in Redhat!. If your X11 is crashing your Mac, something is wrong with your system, it's a painless one-click install and installing Open Office for OS X is just as easy as any other Mac program. (But doesn't look very good, IMO.)

If you need a quick way to take notes in class, use a light-weight text editor and then reformat it in a more presentable way later. I found that if I took my notes by hand in class and then re-typed them later that I actually remembered it better anyway.
 
Congrats, just my experience with YDL vs. OS X is that YDL can do more with less resources. It doesn't seem to require as much ram or need to page into and out of swap space as often making it a little zippier.
 
I have to poke my big head in here...


...and say that linux is easily 2 to 5 times faster than OS X, on the same hardware.

If you've experienced things the other way around, you probably don't have linux configured well.

Its easy to install the default distro of YDL, and have some device, maybe an unsupported video card or something completely throw off any speculation about the speed of the OS.

There have been tests which will back this up, if you search slashdot, you'll find a comparison of apache benchmarks.

But, screw the benchmarks. Linux is faster in every way. The linux kernel handels many things faster than mach can possibly. The GUI is typically far less cpu-intensive.

Sure, OS X affords you a lot of neat stuff you wouldn't otherwise have in linux - that is, without great things like MOL. But if you just need a slick unix workstation, and osx is just too slow for you, give linux a shot, you'll love it.
 
kilowatt said:
I have to poke my big head in here...


...and say that linux is easily 2 to 5 times faster than OS X, on the same hardware.

If you've experienced things the other way around, you probably don't have linux configured well.

Its easy to install the default distro of YDL, and have some device, maybe an unsupported video card or something completely throw off any speculation about the speed of the OS.

There have been tests which will back this up, if you search slashdot, you'll find a comparison of apache benchmarks.

But, screw the benchmarks. Linux is faster in every way. The linux kernel handels many things faster than mach can possibly. The GUI is typically far less cpu-intensive.

Sure, OS X affords you a lot of neat stuff you wouldn't otherwise have in linux - that is, without great things like MOL. But if you just need a slick unix workstation, and osx is just too slow for you, give linux a shot, you'll love it.
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Nonsense. You have no real numbers to back up the claim that Linux is 2 - 5 times faster than OS X. On the contrary, I can demonstrate that OS X is about 10 - 20% faster than Linux. Run Scimark and Almabench. You will see that OS X is faster. These are representative of real world applications that the scientific community runs.

Linux gives the illution of speed because the GUI is very cut down, and doesn't have the frills that OS X has. It isn't actually faster, once you get down to business. I made that mistake sometime ago and assumed that Linux was faster than OS X without testing it out for myself. Imagine the shock I had when I found out that OS X was faster.

If you've experienced things the other way around, you probably don't have OS X configured well.
 
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