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A Power Users Look at Linux on the Mac
An anonymous reader writes "Even though most Linux users have treated Linux as an operating system for their x86 white boxes, Linux runs equally well on PowerPC machines. This article looks at Linux on the PowerPC and the appealing range of PPC machines produced by Apple, where the option of using Linux is of great value to many users."
Your favorite operating system isn't only for x86
Level: Introductory
David Mertz, Ph.D. (mertz@gnosis.cx)
Developer, Gnosis Software, Inc.
20 January 2004
Even though most Linux users have treated Linux as an operating system for their x86 white boxes, Linux runs equally well on PowerPC machines. David looks at Linux on the PowerPC and the appealing range of PPC machines produced by Apple, where the option of using Linux is of great value to many users.
About PowerPC
The POWER architecture describes a family of RISC CPUs that arose out of a consortium of IBM, Apple, and Motorola. Within this chip family, higher-end POWER4 chips are used in various IBM mid-range machines (see Resources for links to more information on IBM iSeries and pSeries hardware and software); at a personal computer, workstation, or workgroup-server level, the PowerPC branch of POWER chips are used in widely-used consumer machines from Apple Computer. Chips in the PowerPC family -- especially those from Motorola -- are also used in various embedded and specialized systems, including PCs from smaller manufacturers such as the phoenix-like current incarnation of Amiga.
The interrelations among various POWER architecture chips are similar to those in the x86 world -- for the most part, later generations of chips provide backward compatibility with earlier ones while also offering new and enhanced capabilities. Within the PowerPC family branch, five-year-old Apple machines used 601, 603, and 604 model chips. The current models have phased out the G3 but continue to use the similar G4, both 32-bit chips, running at various clock speeds; the recently introduced G5 is a 64-bit IBM chip that mostly adds some multimedia-specialized instructions to the POWER4 chip models.
The bottom line on all these chips, from a Linux developer's perspective, is that they all run Linux happily and well. For the PowerPC branch of the chips, excellent consumer-friendly distributions are available and offer commercial customer support. IBM also installs Linux for customers of its high-end POWER4 machines.
So you want to run Linux -- Why buy a PowerPC machine?
The "default" systems for running Linux are unquestionably x86 machines. Whether based on CPUs from Intel, AMD, Cyrix, Transmeta, or smaller makers, the x86 architecture is well known and makes up the large majority of personal computers, workstations, and small servers. It is certainly safe to go with the majority.
For many Linux users, the best reason to buy a PowerPC machine will be, quite simply, the range of well engineered and reasonably priced machines available from Apple. Admittedly, the G4 lines -- bottom line -- do not quite keep up with comparably priced x86 machines in CPU power. The G4s do not lag that far behind, but they do a little. However, Apple makes some of the best laptops available from an ergonomic, aesthetic, battery-life, and weight perspective. All of those features are far more important to me, for a laptop, than raw number-crunching. On the desktop, the G4 models differentiate themselves mostly on an aesthetic or ergonomic perspective -- for example, in the compactness of Apple's cantilever-mounted flat-panel iMacs. All of Apple's machines, moreover, have a good reputation for durability and reliability -- including their rack mount servers, which are nice for clusters and server arrays.
At the high-end, Apple's G5 towers are comparable in speed to the fastest x86-derived CPUs and systems; in other words, the Intel Itanium and AMD Athlon64. Benchmarks among the three contenders are a mixed bag, but all three chips obtain quite similar performance (all are remarkably fast, and suitable for intensive number crunching applications). Moreover, on price, Apple's G5 towers seem to sell for less than comparably configured systems from x86 vendors such as Dell, Gateway, HP, and other well-known PC retailers (contrary to Apple's reputation for imposing a price premium). It is worth noting that Apple has contributed optimizations
IBM should make some g5 PPC systems aimed specifically at linux. If they're cheap enough I'd buy one.
True genius is grasping a situation like a peice of fruit, and peircing it just right so that it drains dry.
Next time try locate filename. It's a wee bit faster.
If I could get a hold of a $300 mac that can run kde 3.2, xmms, mplayer, encode divx, have 30 things open, apache, bit torrent, ovenet and transluecency(sp) all at once then I would go ahead and buy one. Cause thats what it costs in the x86 world.
I spent $310 for my comp and it does everything I want it to do at the same, take 20s to boot, and wakes up with a slight to to my mouse. If I'm so cheap why would I want an lcd? why would I want my comp inside my monitor?
Also the software is outrageously high. When I have to spend 1000 bucks to get a decent office suite, music studio, and web server they are just as bad as ms.
What I would like to see is IBM releasing ppc mobos and procs, and all that other hardware. I could then slap Gentoo on it. I also want to see everything cheapened, at least a little. I would have to spend $1500 to get a $800 comparable.
I would escpecially like to see smaller and more sppecialty boards, like those in the gamecube, only with a single ide slot. I could then use it as a small webserver. I could then use the ethernet connector to hook it up on my net. *drooling*. That is the future I see. A nice selection of mobos and procs.
P.S. Has anybody overclocked a ppc?
You know you've been brainwashed by Intel's marketing when you still believe that the primary reason to buy a system should be based on the raw processing power that it provides in certain benchmarks.
The sooner we can all stop obsessing about benchmarks and Ghz and start putting quality of software first the better.
I'm forced to use Windows at work and I used to run Debian at home, but the level of quality and flexibility of the software that comes with the Mac is simply streets ahead in my opinion. I'm going to be a Mac user for a long time to come. I don't mind paying 150 pounds a year to keep 3 Macs at the latest level when the software is this good. I've saved that much in time alone not having to tinker with anything, which is how a home system should be for a sysadmin in my opinion.
I haven't been this creative since the Amiga/Atari ST days, simply because I'm not messing about under the hood so much.