[Kde-nonlinux] Considering Imac

[John Levin]

John Velman wrote:
> I've decided to retire my old 400mzh 128mb dual boot (linux, win98) machine
> and am considering one of the new intel based imacs.
> 
> I've gotten to like KDE on my old machine.
> 
> It appears I can install KDE on the imac, but haven't been able to locate
> much information.  Would like to know more before taking the plunge.  I'm
> not sure what questions to ask at this point.
> 


Your KDE options for iMacs:
1: Install KDE4 via http://ranger.users.finkproject.org/kde/index.php/Home
This is not the KDE desktop, rather it sits on top of OS X. You get all 
the libs and apps.

2: Install KDE3 via Fink or MacPorts:
http://ranger.users.finkproject.org/kde/index.php/KDE_3_on_Mac_OS_X
Fink is apt-get for OS X, with the difference that the graphical apps 
require X11 xserver.b This means you can run them on top of OS X, as 
with KDE4, or have the complete desktop environment.
MacPorts is portage for OS X; haven't used it much so not quite sure how 
it works.

3: Use a Virtual Machine.
There's lots of VM systems for OS X: Parallels, VMWare Fusion, Virtual 
Box. You're basically running linux (or BSD or whatever) in a window on 
top of OS X. Full desktop environment. I use VMWare to run Kubuntu on OS 
X, mainly because VMware cares about linux, especially Ubuntu. Virtual 
Box is gpl, and Parallels only cares about running windows.

http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/
http://www.virtualbox.org/
http://www.parallels.com/

4: Install linux
You can dual boot or even wipe OS X altogether, and install the 
kde-flavoured distro of your choice.
Haven't done this so google is a better friend than I.

HTH

John