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I have an Aluminum G4 Powerbook model A1138 with a dead hard drive. I've got a replacement drive, but no install DVD for Mac OS. A new Mac OS 10.5 install DVD costs $150 retail.

From the system specs this machine is plenty powerful to serve as a decent laptop - 1.67ghz CPU, 1GB RAM, wireless built in.

I'm aware of this superuser post which answers the question of whether you can install linux on a pwerbook. What I'm interested in is whether I should install Linux. I'm an advanced linux user so that's no problem. However, I hate linux on laptops because it's so annoying to set up. I don't want to go through the work of installing linux only to find that things like suspend and resume don't work reliably.

So, does anyone have any advice here? Should I bite the bullet and buy the mac OS install DVD, or should I try linux? Have you tried it? Does it work?

EDIT: A commenter raises a concern that this question is too subjective. Here are some more objective questions I wish to answer:

  • Is the process of installing linux on this machine straightforward (put the disk in and answer a few questions) or is it more complicated, like you have to track down special drivers or make extra config tweaks outside of the installer?
  • does suspend and resume work reliably running linux on this machine?
  • does wireless networking work with linux?
  • does the system sound work with linux?

Basically I need to get a sense of whether installing linux on this machine is an afternoon tasks or a weeklong battle. I don't want to take on the latter.

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This is a subjective question so I'm voting to close, but surely if you own a laptop, you can simply borrow someone else's OS X? I thought all of them came with a DVD in the box. Mine did. – Randolph West Jan 24 '11 at 4:57
Hm I haven't had any luck finding an OSX install DVD for a G4 powerbook. Everyone has Intel Macbooks these days. I'll edit to make my question more objective. – philiph Jan 24 '11 at 4:59
You've now got a whole swathe of questions attached to the original of asking if people have tried it themselves – random♦ Jan 24 '11 at 5:25
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closed as not constructive by studiohack♦, Randolph West, random♦ Jan 24 '11 at 5:16

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