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How Unix-like is MacOS X?
prospective_user asks: "I
am a heavy user of Unix, spend most of my time running Linux and am
considering getting myself an iBook, after seeing a considerable
amount of exposure Macs/Apple have in both Slashdot and the O'Reilly
Network. Given that MacOS X is based on FreeBSD/Mach, I suppose that the usual
Unix libraries and environments (like ncurses and tcl/tk) are
available in MacOS X (which I hope is true, for text-based
applications). In fact, I'm concerned about the Unix side of MacOS X
and also plan on running Debian/PPC on it, but I plan to primarily use
MacOS X. So, before having an (uncertain) investment in a new platform, it
would be reasonable to have a bit more of background on it and thus,
the questions: how well does MacOS X support traditional Unix
applications? For instance, how do the following applications run
under MacOS X (which I use the most): teTeX, GNU Emacs, mutt and
fetchmail?" Note that the submittor isn't asking if OSX is or is
not a Unix; we've fielded
that question already. No, the question here is where does OSX
differ from the other unicies.
"Also regarding the investment in a new platform and coming from the
x86 world, I'm a bit interested about the PowerPC performance in
comparison to what I could get with a x86 notebook. I've read some
articles and pages that suggest that PowerPCs may not be fast (or, in
fact, may be quite slower than their x86 counterparts):
Some of the sources I've read are:
these
pages, from
D. J. Bernsteins's website, and
this article on
processor performance from the
GMP website.
Also, as some later questions, can the portable Macs be plugged to
non-mac monitors? And does MacOS X feature a packet filter like Linux
or other BSDs do?
Any comments and experiences with these machines are welcome.
Thanks."
Take this with a grain of salt. Andrew Orlowski is a long-time Mac user, some of whom (myself excluded) dislike the departures from the traditional Mac UI. If you're coming from a *nix background, you'll feel more comfortable, since you won't have to unlearn anything.
--- Work, worry, consume, die. It's a wonderful life. -- Bill Griffith
Uhm, I mean seriously. Did you really need an Ask Slashdot to figure this out? Apple has a website. I'll leave finding it as an exercise to the reader. Look up about MacOS X, you'll find its core is Darwin. Darwin is BSD based. What more do you want? Go to [insert chain computer store here] and play with a machine. Stop asking stupid questions you're too lazy to figure out on your own.
"Nature doesn't care how smart you are. You can still be wrong." - Richard Feynman
No /etc. Well, technically, there is a /etc, but it is incredibly empty compared to what you may be used to in FreeBSD or Linux. None of the system's configuration is included in standard POSIX text files; Apple has opted to move everything into what they call a "NetInfo" registry. This is awful, to say the least.
/etc, each with its own syntax and gotchas, is somehow more elegant than a registry-based solution? The registry is something I wish some Linux distro would get around to doing, to be honest, and one of the few good ideas Microsoft has ever had.
Why is this a bad idea? The concept of a system registry is fantastic in theory; in practice, on Microsoft's operating systems, it is a trainwreck. Why must Apple's attempt immediately be classified as such, as well? Do you honestly think managing 100 different little config files in
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
The Unix directories are completely hidden from the Find
This is an option. You can turn the hiding of the Unix directories on and off. It's off by default.
likewise one cannot start GUI apps from the console.
This is just plain wrong. There exists a utility called open (/usr/bin/open). To open something, simply run it with the path to whatever you want to run.
ie: open ./iTunes.app
There is none of the tight CLI-GUI integration seen in AmigaOS or BeOS or even Windows.
Bah, just look at the consumer Apple is marketing to. They don't even want to see the CLI. Apple is attempting to make it possible for people to use the environment efficiently without a person ever having to use a shell.
All editorial writers ever do is come down from the hill after the battle is over and shoot the wounded.
No /etc? There are 72 files in my MacOS X 10.1.2's /etc. Why so little? /etc/rc.* was moved to a new structure in /System/Library/StartupItems (and 3rd party in /Library..), which has 380 files.
As far as NetInfo goes, it's just like the NIS your familiar with on other UNIX's. (and can be hooked into NIS or LDAP). In fact, everything in NetInfo, except for maybe printers, is found in NIS. And if you don't think NIS is UNIX-like, you've never ran more than 3 machines.
As far as the other two, others have countered that.
(Score:-1, Offtopic)
The titanium powerbook is an awesome piece of kit. Shame on those that don't have one.
Yes, the Ti PowerBook has a lot going for it. Yup, it's thinner than thin. Uh-huh, beautiful screen. Ooh, built-in Gigabit Ethernet. Pretty fast, too, and it comes with a combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW. Hard to beat.
But it's not perfect. To install an AirPort card, you have to skin it completely. And the sexy titanium skin is so thin, it scratches and dents very easily. And titanium is one of the most conductive metals on the periodic table; after an hour, the bottom of the laptop gets hot enough to make your thighs and the palms of your hands really uncomfortable. The joke going around the office after we bought ours was that Apple was planning to make the next one out of copper.
It's an awesome laptop, but in my opinion it's just a little bit too delicate. I love my iBook. I throw it in my backpack and hit the road. Over $1,000 cheaper, too.
i just recently dumped the whole x86 archetechture and went with a powerbook g4 for college next year (parents pay half as a graduation present). the powerbook supports my 17" NEC multisync monitor flawlessly. what's better is that it treats it as a dual monitor display, rather than replicating the primary display, and at resolutions up to 1600x1200 on the secondary monitor (1152x768 for the main lcd)....very nice indeed. my adivce is to skip the ibook and get a powerbook, it's a fully fledged desktop when you hook up a second monitor, and has pretty much everything your desktop has built in, cd-rw/dvd, 10/100/1000 base t eithernet, usb and firewire, plus Svideo out. the only thing you might consider is a usb video capture and usb mouse. you might say it lacks expandability, but you need to look and see that this laptop has everything required for day to day operation for the next 2 years already built in. the only thing you might ask for is counterstrike and a dvd-r.
moox. for a new generation.
One thing to be aware of when purchasing a Mac (I use MacOS X/9.x exclusively -- X exclusively once Photoshop/Flash/Director run natively):
The "consumer" level models do, in fact, offer VGA out -- however it's mirrored video of the main display ONLY. This includes the iBook and iMac series.
The "pro" level models (TiBook, G4 tower) allow you to tile displays, and the TiBook also allows for s-video out (which can also be had on the consumer models via USB converters).
If you're worried about the overhead of the GUI/Aqua, you'll be happy to know that you can launch into "single-user mode" -- command line only, if you'd like. That said, the 10.1.2 version of the Finder, etc. does a great job of being friendly to CPU cycles.
As mentioned above, OS X is a "real" unix -- but several directories (etc, bin ad nauseum) are hidden from the Finder (hidden from Grandma, actually -- who'd throw them away on accident if given the opportunity). You can make them visible with an indispensible little piece of shareware called Tinkertool which can also customize (or turn off) several extraneous features of the Aqua interface.
You still have access to those directories via the command-line/Terminal, though.
My first week under OS X, I was able to download and compile all the latest versions of Apache, PHP, mySQL, SSH with minimal problems.
Today, most of the popular packages are available as double-clickable installs, FWIW.
If you're an Apache user who is considering to move to OS X, do yourself a favor and check out Tenon's iTools.
That allows for full customization of the httpd.conf from the GUI, with a few extra goodies thrown in.
--dr00g