consideration before buying a ppc computer

[GNUtoo]

i think of buying a powerfull enough ppc to enjoy this kind of architecture(good multithreading capabilities,low consumations) and to play games(my computers are a little bit outdated)
i think of buying it without mac-os (it will be cheaper)
so i have a few question
-could i run non open source games (unreal tournament) that are running on linux i386 or mac os
-could i emule mac os without buying it (again for games)
-is windows games emulation be possible one day
-is there free programs for video codecs
-is gentoo beter optimised than mac-os
-how fast could i expect for runing games under gentoo-ppc:
*ibook 12"(the cheaper)
*powerbook 12"(the cheaper)
*imac g5(the cheaper with another graphic card if necesary(coming from pc world so cheaper))
*powermac g5 (the cheaper with another graphic card if necesary(coming from pc world so cheaper))
*mac mini (i esitate between the 1,25GHZ ,the overcloked 1,25GHz and the 1,42 GHz)
-is there a kind of problem that i have not mentioned(i've already read about hardware compatibility,include second mouse key emulation,overclocking...)

[MACSRULETHEWORLD]

hmm, if you are primarily interested in gaming, then i would either suggest you not use gentoo-ppc. either get an i86 and put gentoo on it, or if you really have your heart set on ppc, just use the mac os. it will better optimized than gentoo, more games, and more video codecs.

[Gherald]

The only good buy is the mac mini (but not much of a gaming machine...)

If you don't get a mini, then I suggest you look into amd64 systems. Much better deals than the rest of the mac family.

[sktrdie]

i have a powerbook 12 inch myself..
i use Mac os X on it...
If u want a gaming machine dont get PPC... Mac os X has games, but not all of the games... and emulation never works right.
SO i would suggest an x86 machine, or anything that can RUN windows...
i only use windows for games, because thats what the market goes to first..
so the best games ex (Half Life 2) are on WIndows.
and PPC as u know dont run windows..

BTW i was also thinking of installing GEntoo on my powerbook, as i really love it, but defenitly not for games.

[xavier10]

Gentoo-ppc is not a relevant choice for gaming.
Except if you are happy with some great old goodies, like exult (as I am).

[GNUtoo]

but i've seen some games for ppc
there is
all unreal and unreal tournament
doom3
etc...
but i know they work under mac-os
i dont't know if they work on linux ppc, natively or emulating mac-os

another thing i don't know if i should talk about this here becauseit's hardware related
how upgradable is an imac (i'haven't seen a lot of mods on the web)
could i change the graphic card,is there any expansion slot,how many hdd could i run on it???
(if i mod it to have the place forall the composants)

[Gherald]

Macs are shit for upgrades, why do you think mac fans love their silly external drives so much?

I think you can put more ram in an imac. That's pretty much it....

[GNUtoo]

ps: i'm an ocasionaly gamer
i like playing good games and also multiplayers games
i'm interesting of having playable games (no need of superbs graphics)
so i need a computer that can hadle games (in a good resolution if possible as 1024x768 or 16/9) but idon't care about anti-aliasing,very good textures...and all this kind of stuff
the resolutions is usefull for seeing far away adversary and i always set the vewing distance to the highest distance

[Gherald]

Have you done any research on x86_64? I really think you'll be happiest with an AMD64 system and, say, a geforce 6600.

[GNUtoo]

i'm not a pro in cpu architectures
but i know that the p4 has hypertreading capability
this means that it has an hardware switching method between the treads
so it can switch between treads in nearly no time
so it's has a good multithreading capability but it's not very well programed (this feature is programed as there were 2 cpu)
and it produce a lotof heat and so it's very dificult to cool it silentely (fanless)
in another hand his pipeline architecture isn't very good because it's designed for a very long pipeline and so that makes it not very good for multitasking
that's it reach a higher frequency that produce a lot of heat
so that's not a so good cpu

i know the others processors have a diferent pipeline architecture,shorter pipeline
as the atlon64/sempron754 there are good specialy for overclocking but i think a powerpc is better in term of multitasking
and also the pm(peintium m) it's the same of the atlon/sempron

[Gherald]

i'm not a pro in cpu architectures
but i know that the p4 has hypertreading capability
this means that it has an hardware switching method between the treads
so it can switch between treads in nearly no time
so it's has a good multithreading capability but it's not very well programed (this feature is programed as there were 2 cpu)
and it produce a lotof heat and so it's very dificult to cool it silentely (fanless)
in another hand his pipeline architecture isn't very good because it's designed for a very long pipeline and so that makes it not very good for multitasking
that's it reach a higher frequency that produce a lot of heat
so that's not a so good cpu

i know the others processors have a diferent pipeline architecture,shorter pipeline
as the atlon64/sempron754 there are good specialy for overclocking but i think a powerpc is better in term of multitasking
and also the pm(peintium m) it's the same of the atlon/sempron

Hyperthreading is irrelevant to game performance. Games do not benefit from multitasking. There are a handful of SMP aware games but none of them really benefit from hyperthreading either.

The prescott (P4-E) pipeline is too long, and it's clear Intel's primary design goal was making them cheap to manufacture and easy to market, not to make good performers. The previous northwood line (P4-C) is still a good buy for e.g. multimedia encoding. But not a very future proof, seeing as x86_64 is clearly poised to take over the market.

Prescotts do run a little hot (not terribly extreme, though) and AMD64s do run a little cool, which is nice. Northwoods are about average.

PPC systems are expensive and most games aren't designed to run on them.

[GNUtoo]

i don't do only games on computer...
neverwinternight can run on all linux architectures?
(you have yoshimo avatar from baladur's gate 2)

[Gherald]

i don't do only games on computer...
neverwinternight can run on all linux architectures?
(you have yoshimo avatar from baladur's gate 2)

I would guess NWN is x86 only, but I could be wrong.

I don't play NWN cuz online multiplayer would take too much time away from my studies, and the singleplayer campaign is poor.

But BG2 is my all-time favorite

[GNUtoo]

http://www.ludomac.com/images/articles/286/halo.jpg
http://www.ludomac.com/images/articles/286/ut.jpg
???
g4 faster than g5 or what???
faster only on games???
what's the diference between g4 and g5

[sktrdie]

g5 is 64 bit
g4 32 bit...
well when u run 32 bit apps theres no difference...
but its much more powerfull..
the g5 is one fast ass processor.. i think one of the most advanced out there.

[GNUtoo]

so what?
is it mac-os that limit it's performance for a comercial reason???
for not making too much concurence between imac and powermac???

[Solra Bizna]

The processor isn't the only factor for game performance. The iMac G5 does not come with a very good video card or a lot of RAM.
PowerMac G5s are freaking impressive. I have access to a dual 2GHz one with "only" 512MB of RAM... I only wish its owner would let me install Gentoo onto it.
-:sigma.SB

[GNUtoo]

but there is a bettre graphic card on the g5

[GNUtoo]

is there an x86 equivalen to an ibook/powerbook 12"
even if i plan buying it,i plan waiting that they come with a better graphic card

[bryon]

I am also looking into purchasing a power book this summer. I have actully had a chance to use osx last summer at work and i really started to love it. At work i needed to foward xsessions from unix boxes on the other side of the buiding and it was a bitch to set up on the M$ box that I had but It was a breez on the osx laptop that I had.

I am planing on dual booking Linux (possibly gentoo, I have not decited yet), and osx. My main use for it would be system administration, wardriving, some programing, very minimal gaming.

Questin:
Are there any quirks that gentoo would have with the apple hardware? Would it be possible for me to swap out the apple wi-fi card in exchange for a cisco 350 card. That should work fine under linux and mac right?

[Gherald]

is there an x86 equivalen to an ibook/powerbook 12"
even if i plan buying it,i plan waiting that they come with a better graphic card

Thinkpad x40 or x41. But all ultraportables suck at gaming.

[bryon]

I would also like to add that

I want to be able to run Kismet but kismet does not run under osx so could i just bot into my Linux enviroment and use it just fine?

[NewBlackDak]

The processor isn't the only factor for game performance. The iMac G5 does not come with a very good video card or a lot of RAM.
PowerMac G5s are freaking impressive. I have access to a dual 2GHz one with "only" 512MB of RAM... I only wish its owner would let me install Gentoo onto it.
-:sigma.SB

We just got 10 Dual 2.7s with 2GB RAM apeice w/10.4. They're incedibly fast especially compiling large projects with distcc turned on. I'm going to order one for my desk since they won't let me take on to put linux on.