Beginner's question: *nix programs on a Mac
Hi everyone, apologies if this is a bit of a beginner's question, but might someone explain to me the extent to which a Mac can run *nix-based programs from the command line? (e.g. can I expect to be able to run *any* UNIX program on a Mac? Or just those that have been ported?)
I'm a Windows user looking to purchase a new computer for use during a PhD in physics. I know I'll be using field-specific software that was developed for use on the *nix platform, and I was wondering if this would be an issue if I owned a Mac rather than a PC running Linux.
Also, from searching online I haven't been able to get a clear picture about the extent to which I could run Linux on a Mac using Parallels or BootCamp.
Any thoughts would be very welcome!
Best,
H.D.
*nix on a Mac
I've compiled a number of UNIX apps on a Mac without problem. A few have required minor tweaks to to reflect differences in compiler etc. but for the main I've had few issue.
Physics is becoming one of the Mac best supported sciences so if you could perhaps list the software you will be using you stand a very good chance of someone already sing it on a Mac.
I'm not sure Parallels is the best choice for running Linux, VMware Fusion seems to be getting better press.
1) most open source projects
1) most open source projects have been ported to Mac Os X.
You can install them using either:
- MacPorts (www.macports.org) previously called DarwinPorts or
- Fink (www.finkproject.org)
both will provide you precompiled binaries
or you can compile from source (install XCode from Os X DVD),
and it's better to use unstable tree to get latest versions
(if the projects uses Xwindow, you need to install it from Os X DVD, and if you want
to compile from source, you'll need Xwindow SDk too, download it freely from Apple
Dev Connection);
2) a few open source big projects have been already stuffed together into a single Os X package or a group of precompiled binaries (like Gimp or R);
3) undisclosed (not free neither open source) applications will run on Os X only if they have been ported;
4) it is not easy to use Boot Camp to install Linux, but you can find instructions on Internet how to do it;
5) Parallels is strongly biased toward installing Windows, yet there is a Parallels Appliance using Ubuntu Linux; VMWare has much more appliances which are ready with different Linux distros.
6) Resources:
http://www.macports.org/
http://www.finkproject.org/
http://www.macforge.net/
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/unix_open_source/
http://nothickmanuals.info/doku.php?id=opensourcemac
http://opensourcemac.org/
http://osx.hyperjeff.net/Apps/
http://www.freesmug.org/review/
Linux box == low productivity
Oh, to have had a mac laptop in grad school! I was in grad school (in physics) in the days before OSX when linux was the lesser of the evils. However, you quickly get sucked into twiddling and tweaking with linux to get it to work -- video drivers, wireless drivers, sleep mode, etc.
By all means, get a mac. All the system stuff will work. You can get MS Office or iWork and have a spreadsheet. You'll still have the command line where you can port your custom unix tools with little or no effort. As other posters have mentioned, ports for common unix tools (like LaTeX) are readily available.
In short, the mac will enable you to concentrate on doing physics rather than becoming a linux admin.