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