PPCLinux.Apple.Com

imac.usr writes "MacNN mentioned that Apple now has its own Web page describing Linux, the distributions available for PowerPC Macs, and links to them." But can you drag your hard drive to the trash to unmount it?

Re:Maybe they do.. buuuut...

Were the LinuxPPC people going to pay Apple for the time?

Apple may not actively help, but that doesn't mean they're stopping anyone. Apple has more important things to spend its time and money on. Engineer time isn't free, after all.

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com [velocinews.com])

This is, like, 3 years old.

Folks, Apple's had LinuxPPC and mkLinux websites up for a few years now. Long before the return of Steve Jobs, they had a small team of engineers primarily focused on the mkLinux project using the Mach kernel.

Whether there's anyone still left at Apple working on this is another question, since after acquiring NeXT, Apple's OS strategy became a Mach + *BSD one. Note that by working with the Mach kernel all along, it can be assumed that work done on the key focus of the Mac Linux porting efforts--device drivers--would be largely applicable to mkLinux, OS X and Darwin.

Good grief, 200 posts to this item and only one AC who noted that this is old? Wow.

Hmmmm...

I sort of wonder if this is a real apple page. Look at the real apple homepage. Look at the OS X aqua interface. Look at an iMac. All of them are pure eye candy. This page is boring and unprofesional. It had a spelling error(so do my possts, but they aren't supposed to be profesional), and it appeared to be a bit inaccurate.

Posix certified?

Has linux really been officially posix certified as this webpage claims? I thought it just follows the posix guidelines as closely as possibly.. And doesn't this certification affect more than just the kernel? Not that I know much about the details of posix but just started wondering..

Re:Hmmmm...

Look at the OS X aqua interface. Look at an iMac. All of them are pure eye candy.

Thats the point, you have eye candy to entice the masses to purcase your product. the average american wants style, they dont care how long your box will run without a restart, if its longer than a day, thats good enough, since most consumers shut their boxen down at night. apples strategy is: eye candy to lure them in, then spring at them with power and ease of use underneath. sure it would still work as well, look at linux, it works great, but is it easy to use? is it beautiful to look at? were working on it, but apple is light years ahead.

Re:Stop being so critical, please

The courtesey of Linux users to any windows/mac user will not win them over. They much experience and make the decision themselves. They have to see the light that is Linux. For if you know nothing of Linux, you should feel lower and inferior. Apple is not moving towards a friendly relationship. It sees competition in Linux. Apple can see the writing on the wall. Their move is nothing more than a ploy to blind us.

You know what? thats exactly what apple zealots said when microsoft started making windows. "Apple has better quality, if people just buy macs, theyll see the light, and soon everyone will run them" Granted, apple has improve significantly the last couple of years, but not as a result of quality of product, but as a sole result of marketing. Candy coated computers are good PR, they make you want to buy them ( if youre average Joe six-pack) If linux users get into the same mindset of "our quality will win them over" then linux will fail. Microsoft and others will spread so much FUD youll think that world war three will result from runing linux on your box. lets embrace apple, since theyre helping us as a community market the goodness of linux, and counteract some of the fud thats out there

This page isn't new

Note that this page has the old navigation bar at the bottom instead of the new Aqua one at the top. So this page has probably been around for a while and certainly hasn't been updated since Apple redesigned their site.

Linux PPC on the iBook =)

Hi all, A few words on Apple's LinuxPPC page...the kernel hack made available by benh is required for use in BootX using an iBook. I just got my brand spankin new iBook G3/300 , 160mb RAM yesterday night and have been working on getting Linux up and running.

If you have an iBook and attempt to grab the Bootx and install files from linuxppc.com , the kernel provided will not work (hang on boot). Just grab the kernel from the Apple page, uncompress it using MacGzip and throw it into the Linux Kernels folder in your system folder. All will be well, the boot will be successful.

Just a note for everyone out there, the iBook is one excellent laptop and thanks to hard working kernel hackers like benh , I can now take advantage of the superior architecture in the iBook with the power of Linux.

Thanks for the hardware Apple!
Thanks for the kernel hack Ben!

If anyone else wants to try to get Linux up and running on their iBook and is having any trouble, I'd be happy to try and help. Just mail me at [e-mail]

Stop being so critical, please

I don't get it, I just don't get it !

At last, Apple has come out fully embracing Linux, and they even have a PPCLinux.Apple.Com to prove it, the people who champion Linux (and all other opensource projects) suddenly turn their noses.

Why?

Why do you have to be critical to Apple just when they embrace Linux?

Sentence like "But can you drag your hard drive to the trash to unmount it?" just isn't going to win any friend, you know?

A friendly reminder to all Linux Advocates:

Believe it or not, Linux is still the new kid in town, and those of us who want to see Linux to be the dominant player in the world OS scene must remember that the number thing we must do as Ambassadors of Linux is to be friendly to all, and only by our friendliness and our helpful attitude that the world will be finally brought into our fold.

Snobbery doesn't win any friend. Please remember that.

Apple and Linux

Before too many people whine and bitch about Apple let me set some things straight.

First off without Apple, MkLinux wouldn't exist for the PPC and a lot more effort would have been needed for Power Macs (of ANY type) to support a monolithic kernel.

Apple engineers AND marketing are both interested in working with Linux on PPC developers. We ARE getting hardware, specs, and assistance on making things work.

Apple wants all "new" machines to be supported at or soon after their release. How can we do this? By Apple giving us specs and such. Look at the iBook for a good example.

Now what about those people bitching about BeOS. Everything to support BeOS on the new machine is available to Be. Just because Apple won't hand hold them through desiging their OS, the Be engineers are a bit peeved. Apple isn't hand holding any of the Linux on PPC programmers either, but for some reason we're not whiners like the Be people.

Linux is important for Apple. They know they are selling machines to have people run Linux on. Why is this a big deal? Well it given people a choice. Now you can CHOOSE your operating system (Linux) and then choose which platform you want. A lot of people are picking the newer Macs as their Linux platform.

FYI I know what I'm talking about, Apple loaned me hardware to help with the Firewire linux port... So before you bitch about Apple, understand they are changing, they are supporting "Alternative" OSes, and more importantly they are helping out the independent Linux developers.

Check out www.crashing.org [crashing.org] for a good picture of last years Apple Think Different bus.. :) (Also for information on the Linux/PPC Developer's Reference Release 1.1)

--Mark Hatle