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Yellow Dog Linux 2.3 Released
pinqkandi writes "Yesterday, TerraSoft Solutions announced its next generation of its PowerPC Linux, Yellow Dog 2.3. New in this version is Kernel 2.4.19, KDE 3.0.1, CUPS printing, and OpenOffice 1.0, among other updates of included applications. It is available immediately from TerraSoft's online store for $30, or $60 if you want personal support for 60 days."
Perhaps they'll be willing to share it with the rest of us. I've been waiting for it for a few months now and still can't get it. ;-)
Is your browser retarded?
Kernel.org says 2.4.19rc1
I purchased a titanium powerbook just for the purpose of running YDL 2.2 on it. (I liked the style of the powerbook--still do). I purchased YDL and found it very well put together. I was very impressed with it.
However, after a few weeks of playing with OS X (I left a small OSX partition), I erased YDL and now I work exclusively in OS X. The Linux desktops just don't compare to it, and MS Office runs on OS X as well. I don't personally use it Office, but it's nice to have when I working with others.
In sum, YDL would be great for older Apple hardware that won't run OS X. If you have newer hardware, OS X is wonderful for a desktop machine.
but what really can this do that Darwin or OSX can't?
for making older macs that don't run OS X useful :)
If they are including 2.4.19 are they going to publish their time travel method under an open documentation license?
Free Mac Mini
Because unless you are running on a G4 or a very fast G3 OS X is hella slow. Quartz and Aqua is optimized for Altivec. Not a good idea to run it on a G3 blue-and-white 350MHz.
I'm really interested in this version of Yellow Dog. KDE 3, apt-get, mac-on-linux...looks REALLY sweet.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
This is my experience with installing Potato Debian on my iBook DVD, using the
/home (home) /opt (opt)
/dev/hda9 -m /target/etc/ofboot.b --root /dev/hda10 --partition 10 /target/etc/yaboot.conf. Here is what it looks like after all the
= /boot/yaboot
/target/etc/yaboot.conf -m /target/etc/ofboot.b
rev0 CDs. I know this story is about YDL, but a lot of people do not realize that Debian and Mandrake works just as fine on Apple hardware. And thus this walkthrough, hope it's helpful, give it a try.
This is not a Guide to Debian installation, rather a step-by-step
guide (doh!). And write down what you're doing (especially partition numbers,
that the reason why I'm writing this and reinstalling everything from scratch
for the second time)
Enjoy.
Instructions
------------
1. Boot the laptop with the iBook install, by pressing "C" during the chime
sound
2. Launch the Drive Setup, on the CD, in the Utilities directory
3. I created 2 partitions. First one is the Linux Place Holder, one big fat
partition that we'll split into all your Linux partitions during the Debian
install process. The second one is for MacOS. You might want to create 3
partitions (respectivily for Linux, MacOS, and an HFS one for sharing files
between Linux and MacOS). I'm only using MacOS to play DVDs, so it's no big
deal for me.
4. Install MacOS on the MacOS drive (don't install on the place holder for
Linux!)
5. Reboot the 'puter, it should work, otherwise bring your iBook back to the
shop and jump off a cliff.
6. Now that we're sure that the iBook and MacOS works, reboot up, and press
Option-Apple-O-F during the chime to access the Open Firmware.
7. type in "boot cd:\\yaboot". Try "boot cd:\install\powermac\yaboot" if the
former fails.
8. On the yaboot prompt, enter "debian video=aty128fb:vmode:10:depth:8:" where
debian is the name of the image you're gonna be using to boot (hit to
list the available ones).
9. Select your keyboard, and Partition your HD, following Ethan Benson's
mac-fdisk-basics.txt (see at the bottom for URL).
11. At this point I have this kind of partitioning:
hda1 to hda8: MacOS crap
hda9: Apple_Bootstrap partition
hda10: / (root)
hda11: swap
hda12:
hda13:
hda14: MacOS
(...Later...)
10. When asked if you want to "Make Linux Bootable Directly From Hard Disk",
get to another console and get a shell (on the iBook, it's a bit dodgy,
keep pressed in this order Apple-fn-F2).
11. Run this line to get your bootstrap partition initialized:
mkofboot --boot
12. In the present state, you wouldn't be able to boot Linux because of the
(lack of) novideo option in the default yaboot.conf
Edit the
editing:
boot=/dev/hda9
device=hd:
timeout=20
install
magicboot=/boot/ofboot.b
image=/vmlinux
label=Linux
root=/dev/hda10
read-only
partition=10
append = "video=aty128fb:vmode:10:depth:8:"
13. Run that to be able to run Linux:
ybin -C
14. Reboot the system, and get into the Open Firmware again
15. To boot your linux system, type in:
boot hd:9,yaboot
(...Later...)
16. Voila, you still need to configure your computer (X-Window, dial-up,
desktop...), but at least it will boot up normally =)
17. to boot up by default with Linux, run "setenv boot-device hd:9,yaboot"
within the Open Firmware. Press the Option key during the chime to boot
MacOS.
The moderation system fucking sucks.
The fucking moron who gave this +1 Informative...what the fuck? If you're not going to follow the goddamned link, don't fucking moderate it.
Oh, and doesn't OS X kind of eliminate the need for ppc linux? Am I missing something?
--
pants ahoy
the "free" aspect is what is hurting linux IMHO. "free" is not a very solid business model. yeah, yeah, red hat is doing okay, but they'll never have the revenue to seriously compete with microsoft or apple on the average joe's computer. server sales only go so far.
Which link was that? All three links seem valid to me. Don't know what you look like, but normally a penguin doesn't look anything like a naked man.
-- This sig for rent.
Gentoo Linux 1.2 also comes with a patch for 2.4.19 (although it's an 'optimized' Gentoo version). 2.4.19 patches have been out for a while, I believe...
I tried the last yellow dog and found that their libm was fscked
doesnt exactly inspire me
anyone tried to compile spec benchmarks on it ?
regards
john jones
A blue-and-white 350MHz G3 is actually *exactly* what I'm running MacOS X 10.1 on, and it runs great (I gave the machine a lot of memory, though).
linux will win
try compileing lmbench and see the results
the whole driver issue in OS X makes it great for hotswap devices such as USB
BUT if you have a decent compiled linux kernel and know your hardware then it will beat it every time
(plus ext2 beats the pant off apples UFS)
regards
john jones
I blew my mod points, so I can't moderate... the link above redirects you to a gay porno site.
Linuxiso.org is a gay porno site? Not until they put up a page for Lesbian Linux. And someone's already submitted the link, so don't bother. ;)
Naked.
It'll hit there when an ISO for YDL 2.3 shows up on the mirrors. Or on Yellow Dog's FTP site, for that matter. I guess they're delaying in the hopes that someone will buy the CD. Always good for a business to try to keep paying its operating expenses...
Naked.
Can you show any evidence that OS X is one of the " best unix implementations ever written?"
I mean, other than the proprietary desktop that doesn't even speak X...what makes OSX a GOOD unix?
(I did not say " good OS" I said " GOOD UNIX"
This is complete news to me that my "oldworld" Power PC here is capable of running Linux! I was equally surprised the YDL is not unusual in supporting Macs but Mandrake and the like happily support PowerPC too.
I'm a happy Mandrake-on-intel-laptop user. So any suggestions on what I need to consider when deciding whether to put, say, Mandrake or YDL on this power pc? My only thoughts are that Mandrake has advantages in familiarity and it's well known user-friendliness wherease YDL gets the plus for being specifically targetted at the Macintosh and may be easier to set-up and use
Also bear in mind that I'll be half doing this to convert my mum to Linux. If I can do that, I know Linux will be ready for the "mum" world of users
I thought the 2.4.19 was just a normal slashdot typo, but it appears that they are listing 2.4.19 on their website.
" YDL 2.3 surpasses YDL 2.2 with an array of timely updates, improvements: kernel 2.4.19, the 'Liquid' theme, CUPS print system, apt-get, OpenOffice 1.0, Mozilla 0.9.9, Galeon 1.2, Evolution 1.0.5, AbiWord 1.0.2, netatalk 1.5.3.1, and support for the Radeon 7500 (excluding 'Mobility') video card. "
Perhaps they have a typo or they are running a beta kernel or something. . . Could be they just have a typo on the site and let it alone to generate more interest in their distro?
Ah who knows. . .
I agree,
The Linux kernel is also much more responsive and versatile than the BSD kernel in Darwin. Latency is lower, it has support for a bazillion filesystems and partition types (reiserfs anyone?).
Also, another reasson to run linux instead of darwin/OSX is that security updates are much faster down the tube if you're running servers or 'net-exposed systems.
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
Mac-On-Linux virtualizes a Powerpc chip and allows MacOS to run on a virtual terminal. With a little work, even networking works well. The speed feels just like a native boot on my 400Mhz Pismo. Video is a bit slow because it's just a framebuffer with no accelleration. It's plenty fast enough for things like Office even if games don't play well.
It requires kernel modules that are built against the kernel running on the machine so you will need a good source tree to go along with your kernel. I mention this because many Powerpc Linux users go with precompiled kernels. MOL can be had from:
http://www.maconlinux.org/
They usually wait a few weeks to a month before putting it on their ftp sites. This version will be available for download july 5th.
I'll tell you why. I've used Debian, and it scared the bejeezus outta me (granted, it was a long time ago). YellowDog is RPM-based right off the bat, and RPM is nifty for those of us who lack the 'leet skills. YellowDog is also MUCH easier to install and harder to damage. Also, call me crazy, but YDL strikes a perfect balance between Debian's strict adherence to the 'free speech' philosophy and Mandrake's overt bastardization of packages and excessive friendliness.
The argument against OSX is that on an older G3 (under about 700MHz and under 256MB RAM) it's just too damn slow. YDL Linux flies on my old G3, OSX crawls like cheney to the 'Life Alert' box.
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
Just a FYI, many people use debian because it is so much easier to use than redhat.
Installing gnucash on redhat: rpm -ivh gnucash, then a billion dependancies pull up, forcing you to got to rpmfind.net and pray to find the right versions of the libaries.
Installing gnucash on debian: apt-get install gnucash. All dependancies are resolved. I use debian because using any other package management system (besides portage or ports) is simply way to much trouble
Easy answer- always agree to whatever she says UNLESS it starts with "Does blah blah..". The "Does" sentence is always a bad thing to agree with, so automatically say no!
Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
For the most part, G3 and G4 towers, iMacs, and portables. That isn't too much variety of hardware. Yet no one can get it right! Every linux on PPC I've tried has suffered from some terrible screwup!
The computer I was trying to use was an iBook2, about a year old. YDL, Mandrake, Suse, they all claim to support it. Yet no one can make the Airport card work as part of the install process! Sound frequently doesn't work, (i.e works in KDE but not Gnome or vice versa), and video problems abound.
It seems that for the most part these guys just copy what's already available in x86 land. I'm no programmer, so maybe I'm just misinformed. But would it REALLY be that hard to write a bit of code to enable the Airport card during the install? After all, there is only ONE card you need to support, Apple's! Instead, every PPC linux makes you dig up a how-to, type some command line mumbo jumbo, sacrifice a chicken, etc. I never could get it working.
Good point, but I think some of us like having servers on our desktop. A lot of us do things like PHP programming, or database programming, and being able to easily have the test bed sitting under your desk rather than in the server room is a real benefit.
Anyway, it really boils down to what you are going to use it for. A GUI isn't as important to someone who works 10 times faster with just a few terminal windows, a browser and their editor of choice.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
I would put put gentoo/PPC on it, since:
a. gentoo is 100% free
b. gentoo offers the best package manager ive ever used (and yes, i have used both debian and slack).
c. gentoos package crew are cowboys, the give you the lates and greates of everything. Fast, gnome2 is for example allready available in the portage tree.
d. gentoos community is the most helpfull crowd ive ever stumbled over, there are allways tons of help to get if u need it @ #gentoo on openproject.Theres allways a ton of people in there, even the creator finds time to hang out there in a regular basic. Forget paying for support, the support you will get from the community will probertly be better than any support you would get for money.
I could go on and on, gentoo rocks(best disto out there in my opp). And they have a PPC build, soo go for it. No need to waste hard earned money.
Debian is "the one true Linux" and it runs just fine on my ibook. Anyone who is in the market for an easy to install and use Unix like system on a Mac will most probably go with OS X. I don't see what the selling point of a "Mac only" distribution is these days. Did I mention I thought Debian was great.
At the risk of sounding like marketdroid, I'll tell you why it makes sense to have a "Mac Only" distro without understanding PowerPCs. The Terra Soft site says, "Terra Soft's integrated PowerPC solutions take advantage of the low power consumption and high performance of the IBM and Motorola PowerPC chips. When the Motorola's AltiVec(TM) unit (Apple's "Velocity Engine(TM)") is engaged --the result may be performance well beyond the CPU's given speed rating."
Now that I've sung the praises of the Yellow Dog Linux Team, I'll furter quell your silly attempt to start a Debian flame war by your mirage post. You might mention WHY Debian is as great as it is. Little things like:
Radically decentralized distribution. Debian mirrors can be found everywhere and the package system assures quality of the packages.
Ease of install and upgrade. The Debian PowerPC istall can be found here. i386 install of Debian is easier than most Linux installs, though it may take longer. The power PC might be a little more difficult, I've never done it. Upgrade by command line "apt-get update" and "apt-get upgrade" is the easiest upgrade I've ever seen.
Trust. The overriding GNU philosopy of Debian makes all of the above possible and garuntees that Debian will remain free and easy.
So Alec, what's a dude like you posting biggoted looking stuff like this for? Despite your earlier NT horror, you look like you might know better. Is there any reason you put Chinese characters on your proported home page? What's all those references to Death about? Do you really own a power book? Have you ever really installed any kind of Linux? Are your still using NT?
DMCA, Hollings, Palladium. What might have sounded like paranoia is now common sense.
That would be Black Lab Linux.
We have a B&W G3 at 400mhz and home, and as long as you use 10.1.5 it runs quite fine, imho. Also make sure it has 512 ram.
I guess the Rev A. is a bit slower though...
No, it keeps the Red Hat in the closet. But, it does at least openly discuss it's Red Hat (yes, "it's" is a pun).
Compared to what?
I have a B&W 400 at home, and that is only 50mhz faster... It is certainly acceptable, and the gui isn't any slower than X is on the k6-2 500 downstairs...
Of course, use 10.1.5, it seems much faster on the ATI cards.
Yellow Dog Linux is also Free (as in Beer). Just like everyone else, they don't exactly make it easy for you to download the free ISO versions. You can FTP into ftp.yellowdoglinux.com anonymously. They don't have the ISO's up for the new version, but Pomona (2.1) and Rome (2.2) are there, and you can download all the new packages for 2.3.
What I like about Yellow Dog Linux? Unlike other Linux companies, Terrasoft is actually expanding the scope of Linux by offering practical solutions built around the dynamite combination of PowerPC processors and Linux. I could shill all day about the Yellow briQ Node and the Black Lab Clustering distribution, but it just would'nt be dignified. They've also got a kickass 2U rackmount dual PPC Linux based server, which offers a wonderful alternative to Apples XServe.
AFAIC, YDL deserves my $30, and non-linux types would be well served by the supported $60 version (better than Micro$hafts support). Like our friends Google, they're actually bringing legitimacy to linux, and helping push it into the public.
I just installed YDL 2.2 (I'm pissed, I would've waited for 2.3, but no bother) on a G3 550 PowerPC to use as a Scoop web server. I am utterly impressed by it's flexibility and stablity, and flabbergasted at how well it runs compared to my RedHat Linux 7.3 on an AMD Athlon 1700+ (with twice the ram).
In my experience, any distribution is touchy on a laptop, and I personally had nightmares putting SUSE, RedHat, Caldera, and BSD on a Sony PCG-F580. Finally, I just put WindowsXP on there, figuring either way it was destined to be crippled : )
Try running OSX on a PowerPC 7100, or a 6116CD. YDL will run swimmingly as a straight server, and is competitive to MacOS 8.6 (the last truly stable MacOS) while offering a helluva lot more features.
OSX is bloated, but not overly so. Wait for the G5 processors to appear.
Just a nitpick...OS X doesnt use the BSD kernel...its uses Mach....there is a BSD server that provides much BSD functionality...but the actual kernel is Mach.
Okay, all you trolls complaining about Terrasoft charging for linux need to log on to ftp.yellowdoglinux.com where you'll find ISO's for 2.1 and 2.2 avialable for download, as well as all the new packages for 2.3.
Moreover, YDL isn't doing anything anyone else isn't doing. Charging for support and distribution. I'd pay $30 for the shirt it comes with.
You should alse look at what else YDL is doing to further Linux: The Yellow briQ Node, Black Lab clustering server, and a 2U rack mounted server that makes X-Serve look bloated.
These guys rocs like google does.
Actually I am not against look-n-feel, when it's not a goal, when it just helps, rather than disturbs.
Less is more !
Linux helps you to understand the system architecture, network protocols and even programming concepts. In a lot of cases of Linux usage scenario you don't have to program or administrate your system by yourself. But the good news that such chance is not hidden from you - it's around the korner.
Try to think about it (if you are still capable to think). Do you want to live the life of "professional mouse clicker"?
Less is more !
I don't personally use ... Office, but it's nice to have when I working with others.
So why not use OpenOffice on Linux?
My only real complaint about Linux is that there is no standardization of user interfaces as there is with MacOS. It's pretty sad when cut and paste doesn't even work right...
Find free books.
It is the intellectual freedom -- sharing of code and ideas -- that distinguishes Linux, etc., from closed source software. Derisive comments, aired in public, claiming that for-profit companies have an obigation to "give it away" serve only to strengthen the image that Linux is a niche player that only merits attention from adolescent geeks who are too cheap/too poor to be of any interest as a market.
And, what is it with all this "we" stuff? What community? Just because I run Linux doesn't make me a memeber of a "Linux community" any more than owning a Volkswagen makes me a member of a "Volkswagen community". This "community" business smacks of people who paint their faces anf go to football games. Get a life and make your own decisions.
-- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
Believe it or not, I'm not a soapdodging open source hippie. I couldn't give a shit if it's open or not. I should have known some anti-open-source wanker like you would jump on my saying " proprietary". I wasn't complaining that it was proprietary. Just using the term to refer to it.
They are using BSD as a reference. Whee. That happens everywhere. IT doesn't have the feature set of fbsd, though, does it.. it's more restrictive than that.
The point was, just because apple has a neat desktop doesn't make it 'the best unix ever'.
Whoops, You're right, replace 'BSD' with 'Mach' in my comment for correct reading :-)
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails