Are Macs better for linux?

[musically psycho]

I have been really interested in the Macintosh ibook and tipowerbooks. Maybe someone can answer these questions for me.

First of all, does linux run better on pc or mac? I have heard the powerpc is more efficient in Mhz so this would seem to me that linux would(could) be better on a powerpc.

Second, is the mach kernel in OS X better than the linux 2.4.+ kernel? When I say better I mean faster and more efficient. I know mach is a unix variant with OSX using bsd. I would use Debian however on a dual boot system.

I would have put this in the Mac forum but I figured i would get more eyes in this forum.

Please leave all elitest views at the door. I just want the facts. If Windows was to become the best OS I would go for that too. I just don't know much about Macs so I want ot learn more about it.

Thanks

[StarbuckZero]

I think it's pretty fast on a mac. Then again My PC is a P2-400Mhz and my Mac is a G3 400Mhz... As for which one is better... hell I don't know. I figure you will make up your mind once you used one with MacOS X. I even have MacOS X(not 10.1) but it's not install, all my apps are not ported it over so it's no need for me to run it.

[musically psycho]

I like the architecture of the powerpc but apple again shot themselves in the foot by not having their software be more open source. Sure Darwin is open source, but I think having aqua being open source would help them drive up their hardware sales. And I like apple because of hardware not their software. I believe in opensource because it pools the minds of many people. So, again I am just curious whether the mach kernel is better than the linux kernel.

[Molecule Man]

It is not so much speed as support. PPC works pretty good, but x86 still remains top dog. You will find 80%-90% of the apps for PPC as there are for x86. If that is satisfactory, then go for it. Remember, Linux helped invent the Crusoe, an x86 emulator chip, and owns a Vaio. What architecture do you think he knows best?

[evil_roy]

Unless you really want free software I'd go for the mac and use OSX. Once you've used it I doubt you'd be up for dual booting at all.

Unless you have some compelling reason to use linux , other than freedom, OSX has it all. Judging by the comment that you'd use MS software if it was the best I would hazard a guess that you couldn't care if software is free or not.

As for mach ..well the micro vs monolithic kernel debate has never interested me from a desktop user perspective....with all the grunt available today it just seems moot.

BTW - going on the current agreed ratio ..the PPC @ 400mhz = PIII 600 or thereabouts. All depends on what you do with it really.

[musically psycho]

I guess what I really wanted to know was which of the operating systems is more of a solid design. I don't mean which has more apps. If I wanted apps I would go for Windose since software is everywhere but Windows is not an efficient OS. I guess yes I am interested more in the actual muscle of the OS like the kernel but then again there are many distros of linux out (I like Debian) so maybe I should be asking how does Darwin match up against something like Debian. But I am still interested in a mach vs linux kernel comparision as well. The GUI is nice but not everything and I like the fact in linux you can change things like the window manager (I like blackbox). If anyone has any thoughts about this subject please give your 2 cents.

Thanks

[knavely]

well i recently got an i-book...
I really like it, and OSX. I have been running mandrake linux on my desktop for about a year, i am by no means a linux power user, i simply prefer it for my programming, and its got all sorts of neat things to muck around with.
I havent really thought about installing linux on my i-book, simply because it came with a very robust set of "developer tools"
which gives me everything i need.
As for speed, my desktop is 667 mgh p3 and i-book is 500 G3. The desktop also has 256mb more ram. The mac is noticeably faster for most if not all tasks. I am actualy kind of puzzled as to why the mac is so much faster on the internet. I am pretty sure it has to be somthing to do with its "giga bit ethernet card" as they are both connected to the same dsl. Its my understanding that the BSD kernal is more robust, while the linux kernal intentionaly small and is more customizable. Frankly i truste OSX well enough because it was developed by apple, the people that designed the hardware, who should know how to best optimize it.

but thats just my 2 cents.