Red Hat 9 and Mac Pros

Shookster

Registered
I want to use a program called Massive but unfortunately it only runs on Linux, not Mac OS X. It runs on both Red Hat 9 (I happen to have a spare copy of this) and Fedora Core 2 and 4. I've never used Linux before but I'm sure I can pick it up quickly. The main problem is deciding whether to buy a PC or a Mac Pro to run it on. I'd prefer a Mac because I can then dual boot with OS X. A PC wouldn't be much good for me other than for Massive and any other Linux apps I may need to run.

I have the following questions before asking:
1) Red Hat 9 is not the latest version. Is this likely to cause problems with the Mac Pros because they are new?
2) It says in the system requirements that it needs a 32-bit system. The chips in the Mac Pros are 64-bit but can operate at 32-bit. Is this likely to cause problems?
3) The Mac Pros have only just come out. Are Linux drivers available for its hardware? Also, several sites list drivers as "Linux compatible" rather than referring to any specific distro. Are these likely to work with RH9 bearing in mind that it is an old version?

Thanks.
 
Given the high price of Massive licenses, would I be mistaken to assume that you acquired this software by other means?
 
You would probably want to contact Red Hat first (or fedora), to ask when they will support the Mac Pro hardware.
Has there been a release of Red Hat to support ANY of the Intel Macs?

For that kind of money, Wouldn't you be better off purchasing the hardware that is recommended - and not hoping you can make something else work? Massive looks like you should get comprehensive support if you need it. Talk to Massive about your desire to use the Mac Pro. Maybe they have a solution for that, or planning to do that.
 
For that kind of money, Wouldn't you be better off purchasing the hardware that is recommended - and not hoping you can make something else work? Massive looks like you should get comprehensive support if you need it. Talk to Massive about your desire to use the Mac Pro. Maybe they have a solution for that, or planning to do that.

Unfortunately the only hardware that is specifically recommended is
the graphics card. Everything else is a little vague, which made me wonder if it would work on a Mac. Anyway, I will call them on Monday to check. I get the feeling that their specifications page is a little out of date. Thanks for your help.
 
Yes, and that Quadro FX 4500 is a $1650 option on the Mac Pro.
The quadro series won't work with just any hardware, and needs a pretty capable box to start.
I think your main goal is to find out if you can install Linux on a MacPro, and a linux distro that will run Massive.
Some of the Linux-heads on this site will probably chime in, but I don't know if Red Hat will yet install on the MacPro.
If not, your quest for Massive on a Mac might stall....
 
Redhat 9 is about ... 4 years old? Even if you could install it on the Mac Pro, the question is why would you? Especially when the latest version of Fedora (release 5) is free for download and is pretty much backward compatible with previous releases?

I don't know about the Mac Pros, but Linux runs on the Intel Mac Laptops, Intel iMac and Intel Mac Mini, so I'm guessing it's also going to run on the Mac Pro. For video acceleration, as long as you get an nVidia card, you'll be okay. For anything else, like sound,etc. you might have to fiddle with it to get it to work right.
 
I phoned up Massive technical support and they said that they did not officially support Mac Pros, but if I managed to get Linux working on there, it *may* work. I didn't like the sound of that so I decided to go with a cheap machine from eBay. It's not the fastest computer ever but it has the recommended specs apart from the memory, which I will upgrade. Also, a friend offered to swap my PC laptop for a Quad G5, so I managed to get a faster Mac and the ability to run Massive for very little money.

Thanks for your help guys.
 
I'm surprised that they do not provide a demo for such an expensive software package. Surely, you must be able to try it out before forking over thousands of dollars?
 
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