On Jun 24, 2006, at 22:28, Shane Ambler wrote:

> On 24/6/2006 8:01, "Brian Durant" <globetrotterdk@diplomatic- 
> immunity.dk>
> wrote:
>
>>>
>>
>> Wow, so the situation is even worse than with Linux? I don't really
>> get what the problem is. The argument always seems to be based on the
>> fact that there is such a plethora of different combinations and
>> makes of hardware (cards, motherboards, etc.), but on the PPC
>> platform, Apple has always maintained such a strict control on the
>> hardware. The only time when this policy changed was during the clone
>> period.
>
> The biggest problem comes from custom chips that apple don't  
> release  tech
> specs on how to write drivers for them.
>
>> I haven't been able to get Linux working on either my recently
>> purchased G3 PDQ or my G5 single (PowerMac 9.1) - except for Fedora
>> Core PPC 5 (no sound). I would have thought that the BSDs being more
>> closely related to OS X, the situation would be less problematic.
>> Apple (claims at least, it) is supporting the Open Source community
>> and I assumed that would include opening up for Open Source drivers
>> for Apple gardware.
>>
>> What are the alternatives for the G3 PDQ? Is it possible to strip
>> down Jaguar (OS X 10.2.8) so that it only runs opgradable X Window
>> apps? Many OS X apps have passed the cut off OS (Jaguar) for the PDQ.
>> I know that a modified BootX exists that allows installation of
>> Tiger, but I really just got the PDQ to run a Linux or BSD system on.
>>
>> Any advice would be appreciated.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Brian
>>
>
> I would have said that Yellow Dog Linux has the best Mac linux  
> support that
> I know of but they seem to have disappeared recently.
>
> You can get a copy of darwin (OS X without the gui) and run that  
> with X
> Windows if you wish or leave it as a CLI machine depending on what  
> you want
> to use it for.
> http://www.gnu-darwin.org is putting together a system based on  
> darwin and X
> Windows.
>
> You can download darwin from http://www.opensource.apple.com/ 
> darwinsource/
> and use netBSD pkgsrc to add what you want.
>
>
>
> -- 
>
> Shane Ambler
> 007Marketing.com
> Shane@007Marketing.com

Many thanks Shane. I have a few follow-up questions:

1) Do you know anything about the installer (graphic, text or...)

2) Are netBSD pkgsrc and X Windows already part of Darwin or...?

3) The file is called "darwinppc-602.cdr.gz" The ".gz" I recognize,  
but how does the ".cdr" compare to the ".iso" files that Linux  
distros use?

Cheers,

Brian