My iMac story and why I use Linux distros

[rmcellig]

I received a call from my brother in law that he was having kernel panics with his circa 2007 24" iMac. He reformatted the drive reinstalled software etc.... He decided to come over to my place with his 24" iMac so that he could install Mountain Lion (OS 10.. Because I had a faster connection he thought it would be better installing Lion from my place. The download was about 4.7GB. It took about 3 hours but the main thing about this whole excercise that really struck me was this:

I had been a solid core Mac user since 1988. I also have a 24" iMac circa late 2006. In the time it took my brother in Law to download Lion, I was happily working on severaL of my older computers ranging in age from 2001 to 2010 using various linux distros. On my laptop I was running the latest UbuntuStudio. On my 2001 Dell Dekstop, Linus Mint 13 XFCE. You get the picture. The bottom line was that I was not and have never been tied up with downloading an OS on Linux. On Linux I have choices ans well as download mirrors. On the iMac, only one source to download the OS and that was from the Apple store.

Even though Linux may present a steeper learning curve (that's debateable), I wass able to function quite nicely. Even if all of my computers failed and I desperately needed an OS, I could always boot from a trusty Puppy Linux CD or something similar. For me, there is no comparison with Linux and Windows or Apple operating systems. I like many out there have bought into the "Mac" way or the "Windows" way for years but overall at least for me, the Linux way makes way more sense on many levels. My mother uses Linux and I guaranteel you she has no and I mean no computer related in depth knowledge regarding computers. She just wants something that is easy to use and works.

Linux distros can be challenging, or easy to use. That's what I love about all the distros out there. Pick and choose the one that works for you. I just thought I would post this ineresting iMac story because while my brother in law was wasting time as well as being quite frustrated with his iMac situation, I was being productive.

I still use my 24" iMac but it now has a backseat role and that is mainly to watch videos on. The other stuff I use computers for, like recording my radio shows, audio editing, I do on my older computers quite happily.

[3fRI]

I've been using Apples/Macs at home for about the same time you have. I dual boot LM 13 Xfce and OS X Snow Leopard on the iMac. My wife still uses OS X, but I hardly ever boot it up unless I'm doing updates for her. She has tried Mint and is slowly leaning toward using it instead of OS X. Meanwhile, I converted my MacBook to a LinuxBook a while back and haven't looked back. I also run various other Linux distros on both computers via Virtual Box just to see what's out there, but still prefer Mint as my primary distro.

[rmcellig]

I have Zorin 6 dual booting on my iMac but I am unable to use it for one main reason. I am unable to record my radio shows from my radio that is plugged into my iMac. On the Mac side it works fine but on the Linux side no dice. I have no idea why I cannot record from my radio. I checked the input tab in the Sound preferences. It is set correctly but no sign of any audio coming in from the radio. If anyone has ideas I would really appreciate it because I much prefer being on the Linux side than on the Mac side when I boot into my iMac

[homerscousin]

I'm not sure I can help, but I'm not sure what you have there. It sounds like you have a separate receiver or tuner connected to the audio in of the computer. The Mac records this correctly but Linux won't? Post some details on the hardware and software used.

EDIT: I just added your URL to radiotray and it's playing right now. Looks like 128 kbps. Do you by chance broadcast at 320 kbps? I'm always looking for high bitrate stations.

[rmcellig]

I'm not sure what our radio station is broadcasting at but I know that it sounds pretty good based on musicians around the world that listen to us every day.

I have an AIWA 945 ( I love this radio! Bought it in 1980) circa 1979 that I have hooked up to my iMac through the input jack on the back of the Mac. The software I use on my Mac to record my shows is Audio Hijack Pro. Thing is that when I go into my iMac Sound preferences, I can see the audio input from the audio bar. When I open the Sound OPreferences on the Linux side, the audio levels are non existant. I click on the input tab in both sound preferences.

[factotum218]

I have an iMac G5, the first release with no camera and the nvidia 5200. It runs Debian with XFCE for now with about the same speed as OSX 10.4. Not to shabby but not exactly a speed demon due to applications like Firefox (no Chrome ppc port).

After reading what it would take to install OSX 10.5 (can't read dual layer dvd's and I don't own a firewire external drive) I shrugged and gave Linux a go. I never considered that I would actually have more software choices and after getting wifi working I was sold. It's old, it's white, it's noisy, but I see a few more years of life with this bugger. It's great for frontend web dev work and multimedia sans flash (laggy) and hi-def video. I get strange looks from some that come into the office but when they show interest in adding longevity (usually penny pinchers) they're almost as impressed as I am.