55 Operating Systems On A PowerBook

OttoMagick writes "I found an article called 'Many Systems on One Machine' over at Kernelthread.com that shows over 55 operating systems running on a 17inch Powerbook. The article includes screenshots and descriptions of each system, and also hacks and tips on getting the nasty ones installed. The author Amit Singh (the Hanoimania guy, covered earlier on Slashdot) explains his reasons for all this in a related FAAQ (frequently asked + anticipated questions) ... In all a very interesting read, specially the FAAQ, where he calls the setup "the iPod of operating systems". Now thats an Apple Power User! I wonder what Steve Jobs would say if he sees people doing such things to his machines!!"

Comments

Virtual PC == Cheating

[Duckman5]

It seems he's running a lot of those operating systems in Virtual PC. Is it just me or does that seem like cheating? I was expecting him to have all those operating systems installed natively.

Different versions

[Zarhan]

I noticed that on the list there are just

FreeBSD
NetBSD
OpenBSD,

but every Windows & Dos version released, like, ever. I consider that either non-consistent and/or cheating. Either include every release of non-MS-systems as well or then just single representation from each product line. Pick one from each series: MS-DOS, Windows 3.x, Windows 9x/ME, Windows NT.

So What?

[bfg9000]

I don't get it. This guy just figured out Virtual PC. So what? That's what it does, let you run other OSes.

I've probably run way over 55 systems on my PC over the years. Looking at his list, I've tried most of these, including the ones he couldn't get working. How is this a story? Because it's on a Mac with emulation?

No offense, but his feat gets him into the typical Slashdot geek club, but not much else.

Hobby Operating Systems

[daveho]

He missed a couple hobby operating systems:

• Mobius
  
• O3one
  

Happily, he did mention my hobby OS.

Emulators like VirtualPC and Bochs are a really nice way to play with operating system code without having to worry about screwing up your machine.

What Steve Jobs would say:

[fw3]

"You've voided your warranty"

A friend who's got a tibook mentiond recently that the only v. of linux that doesn't void Apple's warranty is Yellow Dog.

Re:What Steve Jobs would say:

[AmigaAvenger]

they are running on VM's, not booting. technically he isn't running the OS, but the VM, hence warranties are safely intact...

Why this is better than running them on an x86 PC

[The Infamous Grimace]

First, a disclaimer of sorts. The guy is obviously a geek, what other reason does he need?

Now, surely it would have been nice to see them all installed natively, but one of the beauties of VPC is it's ability to run multiple OSes at the same time. Could that have been achieved if all these OSes were installed natively? With the possible exception of Linux->MacOnLinux, the answer is no. Emulation of some sort is necessary.

I would like to see if the other *nixes, the ones that are available for the PPC architecture, could be installed, but I don't think they could be run in tandem with OS X.

'Course, I don't really know jack-squat. I'm such a wannabe...

(tig)