Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with osx and linux

My Dream Dual Boot Netbook

lemonfridge — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:39:01 -0800

Help me build my perfect netbook! I've had my iBook G4 since I started Uni over 6 years ago, but it's starting to show it's age and things are starting to play up (apart from the battery!)

So I've ordered myself a Samsung NC20 with a 2Gb of RAM upgrade. I'd really like to dual or triple boot between Windows, OSX, and....something.

1. It comes with XP, but I'm tempted to go for a Windows 7 upgrade. Thoughts?

I like OSX and wouldn't mind keeping it an option.

2. I'd like a flavour of Linux or possible the new Google OS. Thoughts?

3. I really like how quickly my current iBook waked up when I open the lid. Can I expect the same thing from my new NC20?

4. Where is the best guide to acheive what I want? I've never dual booted anything before.

How to centralize adminsitration of multiple Unix machines (and others)?

Imhotep is Invisible — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:45:34 -0800

I'm curious as to what are the current "best practices" when it comes to centralized administration of a network of Unix (primarily Linux, but not necessarily so) machines? Essentially, what is the equivalent of Active Directory for a network with one or more Unix hosts? The immediate answer I come up with would be something like OpenLDAP plus PAM but what I'm looking for is the suite of tools (GUI and CLI apps) for managing the directory, deploying software, centralizing sign-on and security, managing printers, etc. In a perfect world, I would like to centralize administration of Windows, Unix, and OS X machines via a single directory service, though I imagine such a solution would be expensive and/or cumbersome if it even existed. Or is this something Samba 4 will do?

NFS disconnects w/ OSX clients?

xmutex — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 19:55:43 -0800

Why do my OSX NFS clients randomly disconnect from my Linux (Ubuntu) NFS server? Got a couple of OSX machines linked up to the file server with NFS. Occasionally they disconnect. Not such a big deal with my laptop, but my Mac Mini is running Boxee and the whole thing just assplodes when NFS disconnects while Boxee (or Plex) is running. Anything I can do to stop this disconnect thing from happening?

Choosing a filesystem for an external hdd

contraption — Sat, 02 May 2009 15:10:54 -0800

What filesystem should I use on my new USB 2.0 external hard drive? It'll mostly stay attached to an Ubuntu box and be used to store large video files for streaming to playback devices on my network, but I'd also like to be able to take it to a friend's house and plug it into whatever computer they happen to have. The files will be large and replaceable, so I'm not even going to attempt to keep backups. I'm guessing it should be a Microsoft filesystem, since afaik Windows isn't happy with anything else and every other major OS has some way of dealing with them. Should it be NTFS? Some version of FAT? What tool should I use to do the formatting? I also have Windows and OS X machines available for setup.

OS-X-like touchpad acceleration under Linux?

korpios — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 11:05:56 -0800

Is there any way to get the standard OS X touchpad acceleration curve working under Linux? I've tried messing with the "synaptics" driver settings many different ways, but nothing yielded anything close to what I was looking for. In the latest round of my seemingly annual experiment of running Ubuntu on my MacBook (rev 2,1), I was pleased to get most of the way towards a usable experience. I managed to get all of the important hardware bits working reasonably well; only two things kept me from considering a permanent switch this time: my iPhone (a subject for another discussion), and the touchpad.

I love my MacBook's touchpad under OS X. I haven't used a mouse in ages; the acceleration curve is perfect, IMHO. Under Linux, however, you get three settings: minimum speed, maximum speed, and acceleration factor. No combination of these yields a smooth-feeling touchpad experience; movements inevitably end up feeling either jumpy or ridiculously slow. It would appear that OS X is using a proper curve, whereas Linux is using a simple acceleration cutoff.

That said: has anyone had better luck with getting the touchpad to behave under Linux as it does under OS X?

Alternative to Papers

Aanidaani — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:16:27 -0800

I recently found a fantastic program for managing research literature on OSX and I'm looking for a similar program for Windows and Linux. The program for OSX is called Papers and is just beautiful. I really love the interface and it connects to all kinds of databases to make importing papers very easy. Is there anything like this for Windows or Linux?

Catching that Intrepid Ibex

photomusic86 — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 17:57:21 -0800

How can I use Ubuntu (running as a virual machine on VirtualBox with OSX 10.5) to improve my computing experience? After some initial problems, I finally got VirtualBox to run Ubuntu 8.10, which is cool, but I'm not sure what to do with it. Born and raised on a Mac since OS 7, I'm not used to Linux, or even Windows (which I might run at a later date). Why should I use Ubuntu, and what for?

How do I get generative music on my desktop?

headlessagnew — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 08:21:34 -0800

I've recently started digging RjDj. Are there any (awesome) generative music applications like this for when I'm using OSX or Linux, and don't want to listen to my phone or compose my own?

How do I tell my Mac that I'm me?

grumblebee — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 07:17:27 -0800

Question about changing my terminal prompt (and other matters) in an OS X Bash shell. I'm not the most experienced Unix guy, but I can usually figure things out. But this one has me stumped: I just got a slightly-used Macbook Pro. The previous ower -- Michael -- gave me his admin password. So I went into System Preferences, Accounts and created a new admin, grumblebee. Then I deleted Michael.

All went well until I opened terminal, where I saw that the prompt looked like this:

michaels-mackbook-pro: ~Grumblebee

(I know that ~Grumblebee isn't part of the prompt. I just wanted to show you that I'm logged in as me and it's finding my home directory. It's just the prompt that's wrong.)

I tried to edit etc/baschrc, but it said I didn't have permission.

How can I change the prompt and is it likely I'll encounter any other problems connected to changing users?

I'd like a Preview.app replacement that won't disappoint!

headlessagnew — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:33:12 -0800

I make a lot of images. Help me find a multiple-image viewing application to meet my needs on Linux... Up until now, I've been a very happy user of Preview.app on OSX. I'm having a hard time figuring out what to use on Linux, and I intend to accelerate my migration back from Appleland. There are a couple things about it that are getting to be a bit tough to beat; I can generate a hundred plots with some other code, open them all up and get a scroll bar next to a pane with the image set at full-size, and it will update within an application instance automatically if the file is modified on-disk. I've tried opening up the plots inside a bunch of firefox tabs and reloading all, but that is a heavyweight solution to a simple problem. "Display" doesn't really behave the way I expected it to, and the various digital camera apps (digiKam for instance) are all aimed at solving a different problem than mere image gallery viewing.

So what's the best app out there that will update on the fly, has a nice simple interface, and allows for full-size viewing within the main application pane? Is there such a thing? Thanks, MeFi!

WIFI card that has drivers for OS X Leopard and can be sued for Backtrack

antisocialiting — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 07:41:50 -0800

Looking for a WIFI card that has drivers for OS X Leopard and can be used for Linux distro Backtrack..PS I have Hackintosh so I Have a hackintosh and am looking for a WIFI card that has drivers for it in OS X Leopard and one that is usable in the Linux distro Backtrack.
thanks in advance for any and all help

Configure Readline with wrong directory. Oops.

djgh — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 20:18:08 -0800

Configured Readline with the prefix 'ur/local' on OSX. Then installed Ruby in /usr/local, but with Readline. Would like to put everything in the proper place without damaging anything, so what do I do now? A history snippet so you can see exactly what I've done:



  313  cd /usr/local

  314  cd src

  315  ls

  316  cd readline-5.1

  317  clear

  318  ls

  319  clear

  320  ./configure --prefix=/ur/local

  321  make

  322  sudo make install

  323  cd ..

  324  ls

  325  clear

  326  curl -O ftp://ftp.ruby-lang.org/pub/ruby/1.8/ruby-1.8.6.tar.gz

  327  tar xzvf ruby-1.8.6.tar.gz

  328  cd ruby-1.8.6

  329  ./configure --prefix=/usr/local --enable-pthread --with-readline-dir=/usr/local --enable-shared

  330  make

  331  sudo make install

  332  sudo make install-doc

Following Hivelogic's instructions, I did the above, failing to notice my typo. So now I have a /ur/local directory with what appears to be Readline inside, whilst Ruby resides in /usr/local.

I should mention that everything seems to have worked (Ruby works fine), so this is more to keep everything tidy and in the proper place.

I'm unfamiliar with the intricacies of configure, make etc., but would I be correct in assuming that I can't just take out Readline and reinstall due my invoking it when installing Ruby?

What should I do now to put Readline in /usr/local? Or should I just uninstall/unmake everything and start again (and how should I go about that - specific commands would be extremely helpful, due to my inexperience in this area)?

Make my Gnome OSX'y

ChrisR — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 14:16:16 -0800

How do I configure Gnome (on Fedora Core 5, if it matters) and X11 to act like OSX with respect to keyboard input? I've migrated my home PC to OSX, in a dramatic change of direction, and I love it. However, for consistency's sake I'd like to keep all of my computer interaction consistent, and it's unlikely that I'll be replacing my Linux desktop at work with a Mac any time soon (or ever).

So, how can I make it work in the same way? Ideally, what I want is the same keystrokes on my 104-key keyboard for both OSs for text navigation and (to the extent that it's possible) application shortcuts. The only caveat is, none of these changes may break Emacs :)

Even incremental improvements are welcome.

Installing Xubuntu on an iBook SE with a broken CD drive: possible?

jack_mo — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 04:08:38 -0800

Installing Xubuntu on an iBook SE with a broken CD drive: possible? I'd like to install Xubuntu on my old clamshell iBook SE (Graphite), but the CD drive on it is broken.

Would it be possible to install it from my other iBook? I'm guessing this might be possible over the network, but am not entirely sure how to go about it, and can't find any specific instructions online. (And I'm loathe to just jump in and try, in case I do something daft and end up installing Xubuntu on the wrong iBook!)

So, can I install over a network, or would I be better off borrowing a USB CD drive and trying to boot from the Xubuntu cd that way?

The old iBook is running OS 10.2.8 and the new iBook is running 10.4.7, in case that matters.

Help me choose a file server OS

humuhumu — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 10:35:34 -0800

Home network consists of two XP machines, an OSX laptop, and an Ubuntu laptop. Have just been given an old PIII to use as a file server. What OS should the file server run and what should I use to format the disks?

Linux for a web designer! Need advice of what versions to use.

spinko — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 08:05:28 -0800

Linux for a web designer! Need advice of what versions to use. I have just bought a brand new Dell laptop and I thought it would be good to learn other OS's like OsX (x86), Windows XP Media Centre and also Linux. Regarding Linux is where I stumble if you can help that would be great.

1) 12gb for Windows, 10gb for MacOSx and 5gb for Linux, 25gb for software, files to work. Do you think I need more for Linux or would 5gb be enough?

2) The files partition will have 25gb, What standard should I use (fat32, ntfs, etc) so that all of the 3 OS's would be able to see my music and work files.

3) What version Linux (e.g Red Hat, Lindows, etc) should I use. I have never used Linux before, however I was brought up on Dos. I would like a great platform which is easy to use, good looking UI like OSx, able to install Photoshop (through emulator), and be able to run a local host to test out php with apache. I have heard that you can run some windows applications on some versions of Linux.

4) Multiboot menu, what can I use for a multiboot startup? So I can choose which OS to load.

5) Is there any got to have applications that you recommend for both Linux or OsX?

My laptop specs are 1.86ghz centrino, 1gb ram, 60gb hdd and 128mb Radeon videocard. Basically Dell Inspiron 6000.

Thanks for your time

How do I setup my new Mac to run Linux and Windows applications too?

pwb503 — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 17:37:46 -0800

I'm about to get a brand new PowerBook and would like to be able to run OSX, Linux, and run Windows applications. VPC is one option, but isn't there a Linux version that will run Windows applications? If so, what is it, how well does it work, and how best should I setup the computer to use it? Dual boot? Boot from within OSX? Multiple partitions, one for each OS? Since this laptop will be brand new, I'd like to take the opportunity to get everything setup right. Oh yeah, I'd also like to give OpenOffice a try (on the OSX install), any words of wisdom for me there?

What filesystem can be easily shared between Linux and Macs?

odinsdream — Wed, 24 Aug 2005 13:59:03 -0800

Sharing hard-drives between Linux and Mac OSX (tiger). Which filesystem? I'd like to share a hard drive between my Linux system and my PowerBook. I'd prefer to format the disk as ext2/3 or reiserfs, something that Linux systems are familiar with, but it's necessary that the PowerBook be able to read it when connected to a firewire enclosure.

I tried formatting the disk in Mac OSX as "Unix Filesystem" using disk utility, but I can't see any partitions when I hook it up to the Linux system. Likewise, I can't see anything on the ext2/3 drives when hooked to the Mac.

Are there any ext2/3 drivers for Mac OSX Tiger? If not, what are my options on the Linux side for reading something that a Mac spits out?

Linux/OSX

alumshubby — Sun, 21 Aug 2005 09:11:00 -0800

Simple (I hope) question: I'm thinking that in the next year I might buy a Mac. I'm also interested in Linux, though, and I've thought about buying a "white box" PC to run Linux and open-source apps. I don't really understand the relationship between OSX and 'nixes all that well. Does OSX run Linux-type programs too? (TIA)

How to get XP desktop & OSX laptop to play nice in a LAN?

keswick — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 14:48:43 -0800

I'm getting an OSX laptop Monday after the keynote, and I'm trying to figure out how to get to place nice with my XP desktop.

What router would you recommend? I want something I can plug into my desktop that provides wireless for the laptop.

Will I be able to transfer documents back and forth between the the desktop and laptop?

Should I reformat my XP's HDs to an alternate format so the Mac can read/write? (FAT32, NTFS, whatever)

I'd like to be able to just run the desktop as a headless box, so I can use my current keyboard, mouse, and monitor on the xBook when I'm at my desk. Suggestions?

Would I be better off switching my XP box to a Linux box to accomplish all of the above? Any links to tutorials?

and why is this in Times New Roman?

OSX or Linux/BSD Laptop?

five fresh fish — Thu, 21 Apr 2005 09:10:28 -0800

My laptop is basically toast. I guess I need a new laptop. I was heading toward an iBook/Powerbook, but it suddenly occured to me that a Thinkpad with Linux or BSD might be good. Whatchall think?

Recording RealPlayer Streams

beniamino — Sun, 21 Nov 2004 20:59:42 -0800

How can I reliably record RealPlayer streams for later listening, on Mac OS X or Linux? [MI] HiDownload does the job pretty well on Windows. It downloads different bits of the stream in parallel, (apparently) at whatever speed the connection can handle. So a slow connection doesn't produce a glitchy download. But I don't have a Windows machine!

IRecordMusic is the nearest I've found on the Mac, but it records in real time so my flaky wireless connection results in annoying drop-outs. How can I get perfect downloads?