[conspire] (forw) Re: SVBUG

Tue Sep 21 18:38:39 PDT 2010

I forgot to provide the context for that forwarded conversation.  It 
was from an inquiry that arrived while I was out of the country.
Here are the earlier parts of that discussion, which I resumed with 
today's reply to A User (just posted).

 Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2010 17:38:58 -0700
 From: A User <auser at example.com>
 To: jessemonroy at email.com
 Cc: bofh at linuxmafia.com
 Subject: SVBUG
 Organization: Foothill ACM

Hello Jesse and Rick:

I found your name on http://www.svbug.com/ and I was wondering if there
is going to be an SVBUG meeting tomorrow at Carl Jr's on first street?
Please let me know before tomorrow.  I would like to attend.

I am a paid member of HackerDojo, a startup botique and community center
for hacker (see hackerdojo.com). I am new to the Mac and decided that I
would like to install a dual with Mac OSX, Open BSD, Suse Linux, and
Windows 7.  The documentation on the Open BSD Website may not be
sufficient to do a proper install
http://ftp5.usa.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.7/macppc/INSTALL.macppc  Some
of the documentation I have read suggest that I may need to install
GRUB2 if I was installing the Mac OSX, Free BSD, Ubuntu Linux, and
Windows 7 http://www.anomalousanomaly.com/   I am wondering if the ame
situation applies to the list of operating system that I wish to
install.

I look forward to your response.

 Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2010 18:23:42 -0700
 From: Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>
 To: A User <auser at example.com>
 Subject: Re: SVBUG
 Organization: If you lived here, you'd be $HOME already.

Quoting A User (auser at example.com):

> Hello Jesse and Rick:                                                         
>                                                                               
> I found your name on http://www.svbug.com/ and I was wondering if             
> there is going to be an SVBUG meeting tomorrow at Carl Jr's on first          
> street?  Please let me know before tomorrow.  I would like to attend.         

Hi.  It's lucky you caught me, as I'm currently on holiday in           
Melbourne, Australia, and have only occasional Internet access.                 

SVBUG, which is or was my friend Jesse Monroy's group, hasn't to my             
knowledge met in several years.  That's really too bad, because I liked         
SVBUG and like Jesse.                                                           

By the way, I believe the address Jesse is currently using is                   
Jesse Monroy <jesse650 at gmail.com>                                               

> I am new to the Mac and decided that I would like to install a dual           
> with Mac OSX, Open BSD, Suse Linux, and Windows 7.                            

We at CABAL (http://linuxmafia.com/cabal/) can undoubtedly help you             
in-person with that during one of our twice-monthly meetings at my house        
in Menlo Park.  However, some advance preparation in the form of                
research on the Internet is invariably a really good idea and can/will          
avert much wasted time.                                                         

You mentioned the                                                               
http://ftp5.usa.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.7/macppc/INSTALL.macppc pages:        
Are you quite sure your machine is one using PowerPC CPU architeture?           
As opposed to an Intel CPU?  Apple, Inc. migrated off PowerPC quite a           
few years ago.  It would help if you could cite which specific model you        
have.  Also, the amount of total RAM on your machine is often very              
important, so if you could look that up, it would also be useful.               

I would also urge you to consider the possibility of running additional         
operating systems, above and beyond your primary one, inside vitural            
machine sessions rather than in a native multiboot configuration.  There        
are significant disadvantages to native multiboot and advantages to             
virtual machines that many new to multi-OS computing don't stop to              
consider.                                                                       

I can advise you better if you wouldn't mind telling me what model of           
Macintosh you have, how much RAM it houses, and in general terms what           
you're trying to do.    

 Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2010 19:12:23 -0700
 From: A User <auser at example.com>
 To: Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>
 Cc: A User <auser at example.com>
 Subject: Re: SVBUG
 Organization: Foothill ACM

Hello Rick:

I just bought a Macbook Pro with 4gb of ram, so I am definitely
running the Intel Processor.  I do own a book called Absolute OpenBSD
by no starch press, so I have a tiny bit of experience with the                 
subject.  I have previously run a triple boot with Open BSD, SUSE
Linux, and Windows XP, and had no problem whatsoever.  Some of my               
readings suggest that there is some added complexity with a quad boot           
that needs to be evaluated.

Those readings seem to suggest that that Open BSD should not be the
first thing installed and that Windows should be last
http://www.anomalousanomaly.com/2008/10/31/triple-booting-your-mac/ --          
at least with a triple boot.
The same author who wrote this article cited some problems and work             
around situations for a quad boot using Mac OSX, Free BSD, Ubuntu               
Linux, and Windows 7 http://www.anomalousanomaly.com/  My question is
whether or not Open BSD has the same problems picking up Mac's EFI as
Free BSD?  I have already verified that SUSE Linux will work with
GRUB2, that SUSE has legacy GRUB installed, and that GRUB2 is
available if installation is required. But do I need it?                        
You indicated that I would be better off with an emulator.  What
advantages do you see?   My SUSE Linux and Windows 7 projects preclude
the use of the emulator.  I would rather learn from someone else's
mistakes instead of my own.

I was hoping to make the right decision when replacing my stolen
laptop, and I ended up buying a Macbook Pro.  One of the things I
don't like about the Mac Battery is a lack of a quick release.
Although the Mac battery came with good reviews, I have already
determined that the battery doesn't hold a charge for any real length
of time, and I am inclined to think it is a little over rated.  I used
the Macbook Pro at the OSCON convention for the first time in July,
and let the laptop sit a  couple of weeks, and already it needs to be           
recharged.  I do like the magnets that the latest Macbook Pro has.              
However, I don't like the LCD because it goes to the edge and                   
encourages fingerprints to open the screen -- kind of bad design.               
Fingerprints eat screens because of the acid in your hands.  Most               
developers go through laptops no less than every two years, but Mac
should have done better.  I would have bought an ASUS, but ASUS's
fastest machines didn't have all day computing and I would have ended           
up buying a 12 cell battery any way. I thought I would try something
different.

I look forward to meeting your group.  I am glad you are in Menlo Park
because I am also in Menlo Park.  I might be interested in restarting           
the OpenBSD group.  I am a paid member with privileges at Hacker Dojo,          
so there is always a good free place to meet.

 Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2010 19:13:11 -0700
 From: A User <auser at example.com>
 To: Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>
 Subject: Re: SVBUG
 Organization: Foothill ACM

Hello Rick:

I forgot to mention in my last message that I have the latest MacBook           
Pro i7.