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Yellow Dog Linux Gets 64-Bit Version For G5

Posted by simoniker on from the apfel-apfel-apfel dept.

An anonymous reader writes "There is an announcement on the YellowDogLinux.com page regarding the new release of a 64-bit distribution of Yellow Dog Linux for the Apple G5 and some custom hardware from IBM. The 64-bit release is being dubbed 'Y-HPC' and is scheduled to be released along with the new 32-bit Yellow Dog 4 at the end of May."

7 of 352 comments (clear)

  1. Just curious by Neo-Rio-101 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Just curious.... but who wipes out MacOSX on the G5 to replace it with Linux? Call me a troll, but I just don't see the point when there are cheaper architectures out there.

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    1. Re:Just curious by JanneM · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Such a machine may well fall into your lap from somewhere - a friend always uppgrading to the latest wanting to sell off some stuff; getting an opportunity to buy it used, cheaply (from a failed business, for instance); or wanting a G5 for some reason, but not OSX.

      And don't forget the possibility of people that leave Linux to go for OSX, then, after a while, decide Linux was a better fit for their work after all.

      --
      Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
    2. Re:Just curious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The people for whom:

      1. The hardware provides an advantage over other hardware.
      2. The existing OS (OSX) doesn't do the job.

      The hardware costs $$, yes. And OSX is a very very good OS, but for some purposes cost of the hardware is a minor issue and an existing linux solution may do the job immensely well with a strong stable track record

    3. Re:Just curious by gantrep · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Wouldn't it be just as light, slim and quiet with os x? The question is why run linux on a mac, not why choose a mac.

    4. Re:Just curious by JanneM · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Um, because you prefer Linux over OSX?

      Because you're developing Linux apps, not OSX apps, and that is easier to do using Linux directly than try to do it via OSX?

      Because you like the hardware, but want to distance yourself from a user community seen by many as insular, conformant and intolerant?

      Because you are working on UI issues (either as a hobby or professionally) and it is easier to experiment with new and alternative UI designs on an OS that does not have a deeply ingrained standard UI already?

      There can be any number of reasons. Don't disparage people for making choices different from yours (see my third example above).

      --
      Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
    5. Re:Just curious by jeremyp · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Because you like the hardware, but want to distance yourself from a user community seen by many as insular, conformant and intolerant?

      Which user community is that? The Windows, Mac, Linux or BSD community? There are people in all of those that could be described as you have described them.

      I'd never base my choice of hardware or software on what the other people who use it are like (if you can even make such a generalisation).

      --
      All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
  2. Good to hear it by menace3society · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Being locked into an OS, even if it's the niftiest thing in the universe (which OS X is), and even if it's core is open-source, is a bad thing. If you buy a refrigerator, you don't want to be locked into whatever food it comes with, plus whatever further food stipends the manufacturer provides. Having another good software reason to buy a mac (64-bit Linux with AltiVec) will only help Apple's sales, and make the newest Macs a force to be reckoned with in high-end personal computing.