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New Patches Let iMac G5 Boot Linux
An anonymous reader writes "Apple enthusiasts and Linux geeks allied and the result is the announcement of a set of patches (still in test stage) that allows iMac G5 owners to (at least) boot Linux on their toys."
It is redundant to argue either:
1. There is no need for linux when you have Mac OS X. With its Unix-underpinnings yoiu can do basically everything on Mac OS X that you can use linux for.
2. Some people like Apple hardware (even though it might be more expensive compared to x86) but for (e.g.) political reasons prefer to use linux.
Read my lips. This is redundant. These arguments has been posted thousands of times at Slahsdot's Apple-section.
Please moderators. Take this into consideration when you moderate. I am tired of people telling the world that 'I can use Photoshop and Word on the same OS/computer as I write shell scripts and run Apache' and I am even more tired of when these postings are moderated insightful.
They are no more insightful than someone explaining that if you spend the same money you would get a faster computer today compared with a year ago.
As a linux user, I had to use MacOSX ay my aunts house while house sitting. I hate the interface. It only servered to get in my way. It was very pro doing one thing at a time, and made it very difficult to multi task.
Of course being a linux user, I'd also prefer cheaper ahrdware, so unless you already had PPC hardware, I'm not sure why people would buy soem to put Linux on when x86 is here and cheaper.
> Hardly a real victory.
Hence, symbolic victory....
The unofficial
I've been doing a bit of clustering, and have been using the OSCAR system for building clusters. OSCAR is build using RPM-based distros (primarily RedHat). There are some folks porting OSCAR to Debian, but it's not there yet. Apple's got some pretty good tools that can be used for clustering, but nothing I've been able to get my hands on yet does all the stuff OSCAR does.
So since YDL is an RPM-based distro, there is a hope that OSCAR could be used with YDL. It doesn't work now, but it would probably be easier to do than try to port everything over to OS X right off the bat.
Now I will say I didn't like YDL on the G5 AT ALL. I told a co-worker it was like being a kid and taking apart your favorite Tonka truck to "improve" it. I ended up with something different, but I really wanted my old truck back. Also, there are some things that OS X is slower than Linux for (eg - run openssl speed on a dual G5 vs. a single Xeon - the Xeon will be multiple times as fast).
OS X is a fantastic operating system. The developers package is incredible, Fink rocks, and having X11 inside is cool as heck. I'm saving up to buy a G5 for my next personal machine. However, it's not perfect (no OS is). I can fully understand folks wanting to get a working Linux install running on Apple hardware.
Other than the obligatory references to climbing mountains because they're there, why would anyone want to run Linux on a G5?
Because Linux runs circles around OSX in terms of speed. Especially for servers. OSX's file IO and network IO in particular have too much overhead.
The same holds true for the desktop. Linux is much snappier on the desktop than OSX.
That's not relevant for either Powerbooks (your example) or iMacs (the topic), as these computers can't be equipped with more than 2 GB of RAM. That's only relevant for the Xserve and the Power Mac G5.
And that objection will vanish in about six months, more or less.
I write in my journal
I've run linux on my powerbook and there actually is hardware support for most of the powerbook's features. There's sleep mode support (for when you close the display), trackpad support, display support (for running X), LED support (you can have it blink with disk activity), PCMCIA support, and support for all of the ports on the back.
You've gotta remember that linux is NOT OSX. Just because OSX has a Unix (BSD) subsystem doesn't make it the same as linux. If you're programming in OSX and using certain Unix APIs, they work differently in linux and OSX and I've run across a couple things that are kept in different libraries and in different places.
Besides, some (albeit VERY few) software is distributed binary-only. I've seen software that's only got linux-x86 and linux-ppc binaries, and they will NOT run in OSX.
My primary reason for running Linux on PPC (aside from development to make sure my apps work in linux and OSX) is for my servers. I have 2 macs (450mhz G3 and G4) set up for that purpose. IMHO, linux is better on a headless server than OSX. Sure, I could use OSX-Server, but I don't wanna shell out the $ for it. And I want a streamlined system (yay, Gentoo).
Also, there is this great thing called "Dual-Boot" where you can have 2 or more (Multi-Boot) OSs installed at once and decide which you want to use when you start your machine.
And, lastly, in 5 years when OS12 is out and only runs on G6 and G7s, the G5 linux support will have matured enough to fully support your older hardware.
...spike
Ewwwwww, coconut...