Yellow Dog for RS/6000

An anonymous coward wrote in with this gem: "Terra Soft Solutions, makers of Yellow Dog Linux, today announced that they are working with IBM to bring Yellow Dog to selected IBM RS/6000 servers and workstations. Champion Server 1.1 will be the first version to support RS/6000 and will begin shipping next week. " I'm glad to see Yellow Dog becoming more prolific, and that Linux is running on some very nice machines these days.

Comments

LinuxPPC works on RS/6000 also.

[[Rob]]

Quick note: LinuxPPC also runs on PPC based RS/6000 machines. Check this.

Nice tactic to get Linux into enterprise market

[semis]

Think of all the RS6000 servers out there that are sitting idle and out of date. By supporting Linux, these old machines can be given a new lease as a stable mail/news/ftp/nfs/samba/web server.

Think of how handy all those 486's have become with the use of Linux and FreeBSD. The same theory applies to the RS6000. However because these are enterprise server orientated systems, it will give Linux the opportunity to "sneak" into the enterprise market.

It's a good tactic for World Domination! Even if it was not even considered :

AIX

[sql*kitten]

From the article:

The RS/6000 family of computers feature IBM RISC-based microprocessors and run AIX, IBM's UNIX operating system. RS/6000 delivers the industry's most complete UNIX offerings by combining applications with hardware, software, service and support for unmatched high availability, scalability, system management, and performance.

If you can afford RS/6000 in the first place (and they're not cheap) then it's presumably because you need these facilities - and the AIX license (IIRC) travels with the hardware, like SunOS or NeXTStep. Now, I agree that linux has a lot going for it on x86 hardware (it makes a great cheap desktop X terminal for example), but what compelling advantage does it offer that makes it superior to AIX?

IMHO, the linux community needs to guard itself against bandwagonneering. (is that a word?!) Porting to a new platform for it's own sake is cool, but when corporates see linux on RS/6000 and realise how inferior it is to AIX, it will long-term reinforce the view held by many that linux is just a toy.

Now, why is sql*kitten, known anti-open-source advocate saying these things? Simply because strength comes from conflict and competition - nothing would make me happier than for linux to be a serious threat to NT, because the only outcome of that situation is a better NT (or a better AIX or whatever). Linux's push towards the enterprise is premature.

What "Standard Linux Operating System"?

[Tom Christiansen]

Why aren't they using the standard Linux operating system, then? Why use this YellowDog thing instead of RedHat?

There is no such thing as a standard Linux OS, unless you're defining OS==kernel, as many of us do. The geek-to-luser translation table notes that When I say operating system, I mean what you would call kernel, but for you operating system means what I would call kernel + libraries + daemons + tools + GUI. I assume that you mean the latter definition. If so, there is no such "standard Linux operating system". As for the geek definition, yes, there are standard kernels with standard version numbers. But you'll find that many folks who bundle and sell Linux solutions have their own additional drivers and config tools, etc. And these include people whom nearly anyone would consider "the good guys", such as VA. Special kernel patches and/or drivers are not at all uncommon. But that's still a pretty standard kernel.