Re: Linux on the Mac

[Franklin Reynolds <fdr@osf.org>]

>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
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>
>> 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