OSX vs Linux

loom001

loom001

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Ok I have now purchased a G4 1gig, 256 ram, CD-R/DVD, 60HD, OSX, and 64meg NVIDIA video. I am going to use my previously purchased 19" Viewsonic CRT with DVI to VGA pig tail. My question before actually opening it is. My main motivation for buying the Mac is to actually learn UNIX. Is this MAC going to be able to help me do that or would I, just be better of going out and buying a cheap PC and loading up Linux?

From what I am reading OSX is based on a BSD kernel. So what I am trying to understand is the MAC look and feel just a windows manager like KDE is to Linux? Is BSD truely the under the hood driver of the OS? I am somewhat confused because nothing that I am reading really spells it out. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks
 
Mac OS X is the most powerful Unix system you'll find, anywhere. It support a full set of Unix commands and is compliant with the POSIX standard.

The "Aqua" GUI is not a window manager for X11, but is its own system based around OpenGL and PostScript technologies. However, you can run an X11 client on Mac OS X allowing you to use window managers like Gnome, KDE and WindowMaker on the same desktop as you use for your Mac OS X programs.

It is definitely a good system to learn Unix on.
 
Incidentally, yes, the core of Mac OS X is in fact based largely on BSD, but with significant extensions and changes.
 
I have used various Linux / unix things before OS X, and have to say OS X is my preferred OS now. To the point of having sold away my pc.

You can learn Unix with your mac. And use most Unix programs compiled...
If I had what you just bought, I'd never do the question of whether buying a cheap pc to load Linux in it instead. Enjoy your Mac!:)
 
You'll be able to learn unix well with MacOS X. I don't really know what you mean by learning unix because it means many things to many people. If you want to learn to interact with unix via the command line just open up a terminal and do it.

If you want to learn to write scripts in perl or csh or any of a variety of other scripting languages you can go ahead and do that.

If you want to learn to write software that runs on unix you can do that too, just install the developer tools.

I've used to varying degrees SunOS, Solaris, Linux, IRIX, AIX and HPUX. MacOS X is a very nice unix variant, I have access to bog standard unix as well as commercial packages.
 
If you are really new to UNIX / LINUX / *N*X then I would suggest the Mac, if you have some experience i would suggest the PC. Using a mac with Mac OS X will make installation much easier. You could also get a Mac or a PPC ATX computer from Terrasoft Solutions (www.terrasoftsolutions.com). You can order a Mac from them with both Mac OS X, OS 9 (on some) and Yellow Dog Linux (PPC). The PPC ATX boxes come with Yellow Dog linux pre-installed and use a G3 Processor. I have never used either Mac from them or the PPC ATX system but they offer great support for Yellow Dog and seen to be a very consumer friendly company. (I have used Yellow Dog Linux for a while, but heavy OS X use has replaced that). OS X right out of the box is very consumer oriented and I would suggest some books to help you get it more unix friendly such as Mac OS X: the Missing Manual by David Pogue. I don't have the current edition but much of the UNIX stuff still applies. If you decide to get a Mac, to install alot of *N*X apps i would suggest getting fink and finkcommmander. They make installation of Xwindows and window managers / desktops like KDE, GNOME, FVWM, and Window Maker, much easier. You can also install programs like the GIMP, GAIM, SDL(a library), Mozilla, Xscorch (a personal favorite), and Nedit much easier.

fink.sourceforge.org - a package manager
finkcommander.sourceforge.org - a GUI for fink (very good)

EDITED: to fix some errors
 
Differences...

- Mac OS X does not default to a command line &
- Mac OS X does not default to a X Window System login
- Mac OS X has the NeXT style netinfo database at its heart

What it really boils down to... As a *user*, Mac OS X experience won't make you a good linux user and vice versa. As a developer, both platforms make good sense. As a system administrator, you'll probably be better off learning linux.

However: I'd keep the Mac, anyway, because while the Mac also enables you to install a PowerPC Linux variant on a different partition, the cheap PC won't let you install Mac OS X. (This means partitioning and reinstalling Mac OS X at the beginning, though.)
 
Originally posted by loom001
Ok I have now purchased a G4 1gig, 256 ram, CD-R/DVD, 60HD, OSX, and 64meg NVIDIA video. I am going to use my previously purchased 19" Viewsonic CRT with DVI to VGA pig tail. My question before actually opening it is. My main motivation for buying the Mac is to actually learn UNIX. Is this MAC going to be able to help me do that or would I, just be better of going out and buying a cheap PC and loading up Linux?

From what I am reading OSX is based on a BSD kernel. So what I am trying to understand is the MAC look and feel just a windows manager like KDE is to Linux? Is BSD truely the under the hood driver of the OS? I am somewhat confused because nothing that I am reading really spells it out. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks
Click to expand...

Mac OS X IS Unix and then some... And yes, you will be able to Unix yourself out if you want to do so ;)

Still, if you insist on using Linux you can go and grab:
-Yellow Dog Linux ( http://www.yellowdoglinux.com/ )
-MkLinux ( http://www.mklinux.org/ )
-Mandrake 9.1 ( http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/ )

And for the cherry on top of the cake you can go and grab:
-VirtualPC ( http://www.connectix.com/index_mac.html )
which will let you run easily almost all Wintel based OSes out there (OS/2, DOS, Linux, Windows, etc.). However, if you care to run Windows above 98se and new modern versions of Linux distros, don't expect your system to be a replacement for anything more than a P3/450 or slower depending on what you actually may run on top of VirtualPC. Still, I think that you will find this piece of software interesting because you can run it side by side with OS X + load 2 or more OSes at the same time... Jaw-dropping! :eek:

Welcome to the real world! The Apple one... :D ;)
 
If you're ultimate goal is unix system administration you'd be better off using the PC or installing a Linix Distro on the Mac. Even though the BSD layer of OS X is POSIX compliant there is a large portion of the OS that is not standard to a unix system, just as fryke said.

Having done both I'd say that if learning the ins and outs of unix I'd go for a more standard unix. If a powerful unix derived OS on a full time desktop system is your goal, OS X is your animal.
 
Per Hulkaros post does mandrake find everything inside the G4, like CD-R/DVD, Soundcard, USB, Video? I have used mandrake on PC and have had good luck with it finding everything in the box, can I expect the same with a MAC? Thanks again to everyone who has posted, the info that you have provided me has been extremely helpful.
 
If you're just looking for accessibility of unix tools and behaviours, osx is a great choice. Its differences from linux aren't really much greater than the differences between any of the other systems people call "unix".

However, you may find that osx has one huge downside: it has a strong tendency to Just Work, without any intervention or setup on your part. Using linux would _force_ you to learn quite a bit about it, simply to get basic functionality working.

Of course, by this reasoning, an outdated or minimalist linux distribution would force you to be even more resourceful and diligent. Let us know how things go with installing slackware from forty floppies.
 
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