From: cjs@netcom.com (cjs) To: olbon@dynetics.com (Clay Olbon II) Cc: cypherpunks@toad.com Subject: Re: Linux on the Mac Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 07:26:42 -0800 (PST) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
In the latest PowerPC news it is reported that OSF is porting Linux to the Mac with the support of Apple. Apple has a web site - www.mklinux.apple.com that discusses this and has a link to the OSF site. In my book, this is a GoodThing(tm). Of course, being a huge fan of both the Mac and unix might put me in the minority ;-)
They aren't *really* porting Linux to powermac. They're throwing a little bit of paint on OSF/1 and hiding some stuff in libc.
Looks to me like they are basicly trying to ca$h in on the Linux name and reputation without contributing anything to the cause.
I personally think that Linux International (they still around?) should put out a counter press-release informing the public that the Apple/OSF Linux shares only the name.
Christopher
*Sigh* OSF ported Linux to our microkernel which is derived from Mach 3.0 from CMU. And we have ported our kernel and the Linux server to PPC. Of course some of the functionality that is in Linux was replaced with micro-kernel functionality. That was the point. The Linux server implements the higher level OS functionality like the file system, process management, networking, signals, etc. The paper presented at the Conference on Freely Distributable Software describes some of the technical details. We have also ported OSF/1 to our microkernel. Both servers are layered on top of the same microkernel. Perhaps you are confusing the microkernel with the OSF/1 server? Anyway, you don't have to worry about getting any OSF/1 code. OSF/1 is licensed software. It is illegal to distribute it freely. Franklin Reynolds Open Software Foundation | phone # 617-621-7321 11 Cambridge Center | fax # 617-621-8696 Cambridge, MA 02142 | fdr@osf.org