I think it's fair to say that Linux has not made the same impact in the PowerPC world as it has in Wintel. Why this is I can only hazzard a guess, I'm reasonably sure it is not as simple as positing a more astute user base, one that sees an obvious superiority in the Mac OS and that brushes aside the likes of LinuxPPC as an unqualified upstart. This would maybe have some ring of truth if looking at the two OSes in terms of ease of use or in terms of polished GUI, but these are not always considerations for the user who's needs are thought out more in terms of what an OS can do, and how well it can do it. No, I'd suggest it more a matter of advocacy. This, in a nutshell, is this column's prime objective, to cover, as best it can, the various Linux ports for the Macintosh, to offer a look at how those OSes are shaping up, and to advocate their use. Forgive me this introductory digression :P

I would be a poor advocate if what is written here is seen in the context of Linux versus Mac OS. This, to my mind, is the worst kind of advocacy, with the comparisons often being so convoluted that it has little to do with their relative merits and more to do with a kind of sectarianism. I can say, however, that Linux has in its favour things that make it my OS of choice, I might even say, in my opinion, a better OS, but just what do I mean by better, and what exactly are my points of comparison?

Linux, because of how it developed, as an almost 'hobbyist' phenomena, has engineered what might be called a certain ethos, one where users formed a kind of community of mutuality, where openness and willingness to assist others was at a premium. This might seem, on the face of it a romantic idealization, one that doesn't stand up well to close scrutiny, but it would have to be said that this 'human' factor can not be discounted in in the light of Linux's relative success. For a practically unfunded OS to go from being a number of desperate projects to the fully fledged OS that Linux, or GNU/Linux as some like to call it, now is, is no small bag of peanuts.

Basically, what endears me to Linux is not just the OS per se but also other less obvious factors. Having said that, I do not think that Linux is without flaws, it's relatively difficult to learn, in fact it can cut into a whole lot of your free time and drive you crazy if things just don't go right, but whatever problems you run into, from installation to configuration, it's guaranteed someone else has encounterd the same, and that there is help to be had somewhere. Linux users are in most cases generious with their time.

Re-reading the above I'm not sure how apt the term 'hobbyist' is, suggesting as it does a project that never leaves the basement, or one limited to the interest of a small group of people. I can't help but think that one of the reasons for Linux and GNU's success was that it was able to tap into some need, and those same needs had wider social implications. GNU (a recursive acronym for GNU Not Unix), the name given to the Free Software Foundations project to develop free Unix-like tools and programs, is a perfect example of this. GNU's initial idea was an ambitious one, to make a freely distributed operating system that would not only be free but would make its source available to those who had the inclination to tinker. The project was very far sighted in that it was the first to think of an OS in cultural terms, how it was produced, who has access, and the kind of social impact computers would have. So maybe we have somekind of difference here, one where I think other OSes pale, there is something to Linux that always seems to be outside the picture, a moving target that I am hard pressed to place, maybe I would do better to turn my hand to poetics and have done with this excursion into the penguin inhabited permafrost. Enough! Mac users of the world, take to the ice flows, you have nothing to lose but your weekends!

:) -linux- (;

Calum A. Selkirk

Thanks to Tim of Xorsis Software, Ltd. for the suggestions and proof reading.

The next installment will be more practical. For the moment I've compiled a selection of links, most of which are PPC specific.

http://www.linuxppc.org	the home of the LinuxPPC project.
http://www.linuxppc.com	you can order the LinuxPPC distribution on CD from here.
http://www.yellowdoglinux.com/	home page of the Yellowdog Linux distribution for PowerPC's.
http://www.mklinux.org	home of the Mklinux Distribution
http://www.deja.com/bg.xp?level=comp.os.linux	the archive for comps.os.linux.powerpc newsgroup.
http://lists.samba.org/listproc/linux-pmac	the archive for the pmac mailing list.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~jonh/lppc-serve/cache/1.html	Linux on the Power PC faq-o-matic .. interactive FAQ.
http://xenu.phys.uit.no/~alvin/linux/pbg3.html	a page with a lot of helpfull information specific to G3 Powerbooks.
http://w3.one.net/~johnb/imaclinux/	iMac Linux web page.
http://beelers.home.mindspring.com/	very good Linux on PowerPC page
http://www.ibrium.se/linux/mac_on_linux.html	Mac-on-linux is an open source emulator for running Mac OS on top of linuxPPC.
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/~hollis/minifaq.html	home of LinuxPPC mini-FAQ
http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/linux.html	Linux Documentation Project home page.
http://www.slashdot.org	'News for Nerds .. Stuff that Matters' .. lots of Linux releated news and discussion
http://www.gnu.org/home.html	home of the Free Software Foundation's GNU project.
http://www.freshmeat.net/	source for new applications for Linux
http://charter.Linuxberg.com/	very large site with a huge selection of programs and games for Linux