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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.
I'd like to see somebody come up with a dual-cpu monstrosity using hyperconnect or such, and link a G5 and an X86 together.
;-)
Even slicker is to use the old neXt packed binaries and compile for both X86 AND G5. I figure Jobs came up with it, why not use it
And why do this? Best of both worlds. There's a lot of software that is only MS NT X86 binary structure.. this beast could run it.
oh, and this beast could bootstrap all those X86-only pci cards that you cant use in the Mac.
If you're going to pay the premium for a G5, why not enjoy the complete hardware integration and plethora of available software offered by OS X?
If you hate Aqua, don't use it. Apple includes x11 with the OS so take a few seconds to install your window manager of choice and you'll feel right at home.
> Hardly a real victory.
Hence, symbolic victory....
The unofficial
I recently read Colin Charles' blog and came across his announcement of FC3 for PPC is in testing. He notes that "the release is known to not boot on G5's, and we are working on re-building another tree, which we can push out soon", would this new Linux kernel patch help with this?
Digital Citizen
But the obivious question; what are the advantages of running Linux on Mac hardware?
:-)
:)
It's nice hardware, and I got my iBook for a better price than I could find an equivalent x86 laptop for.
I got firewire, long battery life, 12" screen (I wanted something small I could lug around easily), as much RAM and HDD, all for less than the closest x86 laptop. It's also hellishly attractive.
Oh, and the suspend/resume stuff is far faster than on all of the Linux/x86 laptops I've seen.
As far as I've read, Linux can be run on iBooks but the hardware support is seriously lacking, which disables some important functions like power saving..
Only the latest iBooks have "seriously lacking" hardware support, and even that is close to being fixed. (IIRC the latest benh kernels can enable power-saving).
My iBook was bought at the start of last year.
After 12 months on OSX I decided to switch back to Debian, mostly just because I prefer GNOME, and it was what I used everywhere else. It also gave a much-desired speed boost
The only thing that doesn't work is the modem, and that's just because it's a software modem and I don't want to use the (buggy, non-open-source) driver.
Overall, it was worth it, the biggest thing I lost was the ability to use WINE to play Windows games!
well, i have 2 macs on my desk, and have 2 powerbooks current. I run 2 mac clusters and bought another one this week. All currently have os x.
:)
However, there is a good reason to run linux. OS X is (currently) a 32 bit OS. Many of the apps can't see all the memory. PPC linux is 64 bit.
that having been said, I'm only just now finding a need
-- Who is the bigger fool? The fool or the fool who follows him? --
Word docs, etc. open just fine with double-clicking on my Mac.
Look for an app called Start OpenOffice.org that comes with the Mac package. It works great.
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...
The group behind this is legit. They are a bunch of linux vendors and consulting firms designing standards for binary compatability across linux distributions. So in other words: a) This standard has nothing to do with any sort of open source software b) It is deliberately specific to Linux and not designed to be part of the open systems / posix.
What was the last time you used OO on a mac?
Yes, you have to have X11 installed, but all those other steps are long gone. No need for fink, no need to explicitly start X11 etc etc. Double clicking a document to open it also works just fine.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
You can run X11 in two different modes on MacOS X - full-screen or rootless. If you run it full-screen, you can switch from X11 to Aqua and back with a simple keyboard or mouse command. I surf with Safari and use iTunes and the Apple DVD player, but all my work is done purely on the X11 side, which just looks like Linux unless you look quite deeply.
If you run X11 rootless, X11 and Aqua share a single sceen, and applications are running side by side. Apple even gives you a special window manager to make things look and integrate nicely (I'm using blackbox, though ;-).
In my experience, XFree installed via the Fink is more stable and just as fast as X11 from the Panther CDs. But my usage pattern may be atypical.
BTW, when I got my Powerbook in late 2002, I fully planned to install Linux. I still did not get around to it - OS-X with X11 and Fink is UNIX enough for all my needs (and I've been a UNIX guy since SunOS 3.2).
Stephan
As far as I've read, Linux can be run on iBooks but the hardware support is seriously lacking, which disables some important functions like power saving...
This now works with a patch from BenH, probably going into 2.6.11 (not a typo).
I doubt that Apple has yet documents available on controlling G5's fan system, enabling driver writing?
It works since a long time.
blah