[1694] in linux-announce channel archive
Linux for Power Mac announced
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lars Wirzenius)
Tue Feb 6 18:37:11 1996
Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 22:08:55 +0200
From: Lars Wirzenius <wirzeniu@cc.helsinki.fi>
To: linux-announce@vger.rutgers.edu
From: das@axle.adp.wisc.edu (Dave Schroeder)
Subject: Linux for Power Mac announced
X-Original-Date: Mon, 05 Feb 1996 19:54:06 -0600
Organization: University of Wisconsin - Madison
Approved: linux-announce@news.ornl.gov (Lars Wirzenius)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.announce
Followup-to: comp.os.linux.misc
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Apple and Open Software Foundation Announce Linux for Power Macintosh
Leading User-Supported Version of UNIX to be Available to Power
Macintosh Users
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts-February 5, 1996-Apple Computer, Inc.
announced today that it is supporting a project with the Open Software
Foundation (OSF) to port Linux, a freely distributed version of UNIX.,
to a variety of Power Macintosh. products. This version of Linux
operates on the OSF Mach microkernel which will be running natively on
the PowerPC microprocessor. The announcement was made at the
Conference on Freely Redistributable Software held in Cambridge. A
demo of an early prototype was shown as part of the announcement.
"This is part of Apple's overall effort to embrace more open industry
standards, particularly those popular in the Internet community," said
Ike Nassi, vice president of Apple system software technologies. "This
software will be particularly popular with Mac users in higher
education as well as the scientific research communities who have
asked for our support of Linux."
"We are pleased to be working with Apple on this important new port of
the Mach microkernel, now hosting the popular Linux environment," said
Ira Goldstein, executive vice president and chief scientist of the
Open Software Foundation. "We have a strong working relationship with
Apple and this is an important result of our cooperation."
Linux is a broadly used version of UNIX supported by a wide community
of programmers. Linux provides UNIX features such as true
multitasking, virtual memory, shared libraries, demand loading, TCP/IP
networking and many other advanced features. Versions of Linux are
being ported to a wide variety of platforms, including other
PowerPC-based computers. This effort marks the first time that Linux
will be hosted on the Mach microkernel. (For more information, visit
the Linux Web site.)
Linux on Power Macintosh will be especially significant in several of
Apple's key markets, particularly the higher education and scientific
communities. With Linux a student will have an extremely low-cost, yet
high-performance PowerPC-based UNIX system for personal use. Advanced
research that requires UNIX applications will now be possible on an
engineer's personal Macintosh..
"As a long time Linux user, I am absolutely delighted about the
announcement of Linux on Power Macintosh," said Professor George
Blumenthal, chair of the astronomy & astrophysics department at Lick
Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz. "Now Macs will have
a dual personality, in the best sense of the word; on the one hand
they will allow users to exploit the ever popular and easy to use
Macintosh software, while on the other hand, they now provide a
platform that appears virtually identical to the UNIX machines that
many of us use daily in our work."
Linux for Power Macintosh adds a new UNIX alternative for PowerPC
systems to existing products such as AIX from IBM and MachTen from
Tenon Intersystems. This gives Macintosh users a range of options from
a free, user supported UNIX implementation up to commercial, mission
critical solutions for large enterprises.
In keeping with the spirit of the Linux community, Apple and OSF will
make the source code for this Linux port freely available. This
includes source code to the Mach microkernel and the required
Macintosh platform driver support. Linux is distributed throughout the
world over the Internet and other means, generally through the GNU
General Public License, which allows people to use it and change it so
long as no further restrictions are imposed and that the source code
is made available.
Apple and OSF expect that the first port of Linux for Power Macintosh
will be available this summer. The system will initially support the
first generation of Power Macintosh computers based on NuBus
expansion, and will later be extended to PCI-based Power Macs as well
as the upcoming PowerPC Platform (formerly CHRP.) Information
regarding this version of Linux is available on the Linux on Power
Macintosh web site. Apple expects to make the software available at
this location as well.
This project is an outcome of Apple's ongoing relationship with OSF,
which includes consulting work for Copland, the next major release of
the Mac OS. The Linux port provides Apple an open environment for OS
research work, as well as enabling an exciting new opportunity for
Power Macintosh users. This port delivers both the Mach 3.0
microkernel (developed by the OSF Research Institute) and Linux as an
OS "personality" on Mach. The OSF microkernel was originally developed
at Carnegie Mellon as Mach and subsequently enhanced extensively by
the OSF Research Institute.
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