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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.
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
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.
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. . .
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Gentoo/PPC has one huge problem. It shares the same portage tree as the I86 version. Packages are tested for I86, and they break the PPC distribution. I wasted a weekend trying to install Gentoo PPC on my iBook, and I couldn't emerge system because the build for ncurses was broken.
The middle mind speaks!
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.
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'.