My MacBook is continuing wending its way to me from Shanghai; it should arrive sometime before Wednesday (there is even a chance that it will be delivered this morning). More interesting than the fact that I decided to buy a MacBook (as opposed to a Thinkpad or Sony Vaio or any other model of laptop) is the fact that I am planning to switch to OS X. In the past, I have pilloried OS X as offering false choices to its users. You, gentle reader, are right to expect some answers.
My forays into the world of Linux were motivated not by a need to experience different operating systems and make my life more difficult, but an attempt to simplify things by routing around issues I had with Windows. While my ability to use Linux without serious issues has improved significantly since I started using it five years ago,[1] it has not made things simpler for me.
Incidentally, I do not think that this is Linux's fault. Hardware and software companies that want their products supported on Windows or OS X spend time making sure that there are no outstanding issues. While Linux has sufficiently better hardware and software support than when I started using it, it is still not on the same level as Windows. This is even true if your computer comes with Linux.[2]
While I fully realize that using OS X is not going to be all ponies and rainbows, I am hopeful that it will provide me with a decent experience and help me accomplish more. My thoughts on the matter a year ago, when my Thinkpad's fan needed to be replaced and I spent extended amounts of time using my work PowerBook G4:
If I were to replace OS X with Ubuntu, I think that it is possible that my productivity would actually increase. Maybe then the display would come back on every time the machine wakes from sleep (instead of just 50% of the time).
Actually, neither sleep nor hibernation are currently working on my Thinkpad. I am pretty sure that sleep will work on my MacBook.
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[1] The first time I installed Linux (Mandrake 9.0, now called Mandriva, because I had heard that it was good for beginners. After having ridiculous issues with multimedia and printing, I deleted the partition where I had installed it and used PartitionMagic to resize the NTFS partition where Windows was installed. This corrupted the partition, so I had to reinstall Windows (and I lost everything from January 2003!).
[2] For example, Dell laptops that come preloaded with Ubuntu Linux have a number of issues, and the modem jack in the Asus EEE PC is plugged because there are no drivers for it.
"I highly suspect (though I have not started the software examination yet) that the phone jack works but that the linux distribution does not yet support the soft-modem drivers to make it run, and to avoid confusion, Asus decided to plug the port instead."
Actually, that statement is speculation, and is wrong. The Eee PC does not contain the MDC for the modem, hence the port is plugged.
"the modem jack in the Asus EEE PC is plugged because there are no drivers for it"
I suggest you ask Asus why the port is plugged, rather than trying to pass off speculation as fact.
pm
I guess I stand corrected, although I think it was reasonable for me to assume that there was a modem included. I've found a forum thread which suggests that models with WiFi do not have modems. On the other hand, there is an Amazon product page for a Eee with both features.
I think it is possible that the situation is more complex than you imply.
So it is not plugged because the MDC was not included?
I am not going to talk to you for a period of 10 minutes beginning when I submit this post in protest over your acquisition of a Mac. Traitor.
i put ubuntu on my old imac. it's running beautifully, and i am pretty damn cheesed with it. so much fun.
it's not hard to do, really, and i'm sure you'd enjoy it. or at least reconcile yourself with having a mac easier. :p
then again, i'm a mac girl.
To tell the truth, I am not really missing Ubuntu - OS X 10.5 is alright, at least for the time being.