A view with screenshots at the first release of Crux-PPC Evolution, a new extended version of the Crux lightweight distribution.
A view at Crux-PPC Evolution
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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Ah the more Linux on PPC the better I say. Interested PPC readers worried about package managers should give Gentoo a go on their PPC. Crux seems even more hands on than Gentoo. Good work! I forsee Pegasos hardware, Linux and OSX on Mac-on-Linux becoming a popular combo soon – if the hardware cost is kept reasonable…
Pegasos hardware is expensive. I was hoping to put together such a system, and was like “ouch.” You really DO get a good deal with the Mac towers.
PPC Linux distros have been a tad too heavy until Crux came along. So when Crux/PPC did come along, it was love at first sight.
Granted, I wouldn’t try to use software with complex dependencies on it because it would be a nightmare to build everything by hand. On the other hand, if you wanted complex software, you would probably be running Debian or Gentoo.
Mr. Goooee – You mention running Linux on PPC w/ Mac on Linux… the only problem with this is that a lot of grat mac hardware (i.e. airport extreme) is not supported under YDL or any of the other newest distros…
Something to consider that I hope gets a lot more attention in the future is FINK or Darwinports. Right now on my iBook, when I click X11 server, I get a fullscreen implemenation of GNOME running. It’s really great because I use Fedora/Gnome (x86) on my office PC, and it feels good to get in the same environment that I have on my office PC through my mobile laptop.
The only problem is that these packages are outdated. Gnome on PPC is version 2.4. If I were a skilled programmer, I’d try and do somethign about it myself, but in reality, i’m not. But to me being able to run Mac OS X and all of its great software natively with full hardware support and then have a KDE/Gnome whatever running on top of it when running X11 is the optimal way to blend Mac OS X and Linux… Like I said, I just wish that there were more packages available and that the ones available were newer.
-Kevin
I just want to see a PPC of Arch Linux!
The gnome packages currently running on my Fink install are all 2.6.
They work great by the way.
PPC Linux distros have been a tad too heavy until Crux came along. So when Crux/PPC did come along, it was love at first sight.
Debian is “heavy”?
Hmmm I just looked online and realized that you can get versions from ‘stable’ fink and ‘unstable’ fink. So yeah I just saw that unstable has 2.6… and the unstable also has KDE 3.3.1… wow these are quite up to date then. I guess we can just hope for more packages. Well i’m off to go installing the newest version of KDE on this system…
-Kevin
Wonder when we’re going to see the end of Gnome screenshots in every distro review… I know what it looks like!;)
But CRUX seems like a great distro. And when it comes to Mac OS X as an alternative to Linux in general and light weight distros like CRUX in particular… get real!!! People use distros like that for a reason, and those reasons doesn’t change when you switch from x86 to PPC.
Gentoo’s portage package manager is available for Mac OS X. Maybe that is more current.
I cannot say that I’m a huge fan of Mac OS X. It is bloated, indeed it is nearly unusuable unless I upgrade my computer’s RAM. By the way, this machine shipped with 10.3. I’m nervous about tweaking settings outside of the GUI, because it seems likely that those settings will be munged. I cannot work without the GUI attached (>console logins are flakey). And of course, every upgrade has a price. I am a bit tired of paying for bugs. I can get those for free from Linux developers, thank-you.
Linux is becoming more usable on my PowerBook all of the time. While sleep mode will probably never work, I can now get it to run cool enough and spin down the hard drive so that it is safe to transport. The minimalist style of the main Crux distribution better suits my style. And MOL is more useful than the crippled Classic support in Mac OS X.
Well, I guess Debian isn’t all that heavy. It does, however, have a nasty tendancy to drop turds all over the system (eg. links to “default” programs, cruft to generate menus for window managers I don’t even use, etc.). Even the package manager is cruft, because I don’t touch package managers these days. It may be more work working around them, but package managers drive me up the walls these days. (Eg. want to install xorg instead of xfree: be prepared to force every package you install in the future, or learn some arcane detail of the package manager to tell it you have installed such and such libraries. I can manage that in my head, thank-you.)
The only quirks I’ve encountered with Crux: the installation works out of the box! And it lacks the eject command (which is important for Apple CD drives).
current version of gnome is 2.8… so fink is a bit behind on that part.
-Kevin
they are good w/ KDE though
DarwinPorts has GNOME 2.8 available.
You’d better be using Slackware!
For ordinary mortal being like myself, I’ve never seen something comparable to dpkg…for me it works just perfectly.
Yes good point on the hardware problem. X on Mac is a top idea as well. I have nothing against OSX – Macs could do worse (OS9,8,7,6…). Look on the bright side, Macs have a smaller amount of hardware to look after than x86 for example so you would think everything should be better supported. Sadly not the case however unless the corporate world make life easier and share info to make the drivers OSrc.
BTW, I have tried fArk linux – there is much pain there.
I am no fan of the rpm/deb famalies. When RPM/DEB’ers have enough of finding packages and solving dependancies progress to the Gentoo world of emerge. And if they are really hardcore live on Slackware where they work hard for their clean and tidy system
for first, thank you to the crux lovers from the cruxppc team
in second, we’re now thinking about the 64bit version of cruxppc, if someone here already has got a 970/g5 cpu and can help us in the development process, please contact us using mail/forum …
… there are new ideas also about the gnome/kde integration, an experimental “cd 2” with the two DE is expected soon
@Gnomaniacal Perlmonger
Maybe I would be happier with Slackware, but the unofficial PPC port was abandoned, the last time I checked.
@Goooee
Yeap, hardware support for the PPC is a problem in some cases. In other cases, the support is quite good. Strangely enough, most of the problem hardware on the PPC seems to correlate with the problem hardware on the x86.
As for disparaging comments about older versions of Mac OS: to each their own. While Mac OS 9 and earlier had its warts, it is the closest thing to a GOOD GUI in my books. Yeah the multitasking, memory protection, and virtual memory are crud, but they are more than sufficient for most end users. I am quite proud to say that my other machines is prehistoric 68k Mac and that it receives a lot of use. This machine is used for stuff which a 68k wouldn’t be never be able to handle.
“in second, we’re now thinking about the 64bit version of cruxppc, if someone here already has got a 970/g5 cpu and can help us in the development process, please contact us using mail/forum … ”
I wish:)
Keep up the good work giulivo!
tried it, liked it (as an x86 slack user)
but then i realized i would have to compile everything under the sun myself.
my 1ghz ibook is fast, but it’s not that fast…and i have a life to live.
on the other hand debian-ppc sarge net installer (lastest snapshot iso) works beautifully.
forget about crux (unless you need the ultra minimalism), and forget about yellowdog.
debian-ppc rocks.
-a slack user
Better suggestion: What about we forget *you* and your pretty lame and useless comment? This thread isn’t about debian, or even gentoo as some seems to think, if you hadn’t noticed.
Crux is for those who want a lean, uncluttered system that they are 100% in control over. If it’s too much for you, by all means use another dist, but how about letting others make up their own minds?
Yes the GUI on MacOS was not to blame. It was built apon a shakey foundation that even Apple was getting nervous about (see Apple OSX dev history on web). As long as you treat the Mac nice it will play nice. But anyway, I think serious Linux tinkerers that have time and a taste for learning the ins and outs of Linux should try Crux/Slack/LFS at least once – it is very rewarding and I wouldn’t say you should repeat the excerise too often – but it gives you a better perspective on the work that goes into making distros humm.