[ale] Mac Linux

[Keith R. Watson]

The following message was forwarded to me. I thought it interesting how
Linux is viewed from a Mac perspective. It also is the only report I have
seen of the new Mac Linux port.

Warning: Wear propaganda protection at all times while reading this. Note
the from & to.

enjoy,
keith


>Date: Fri, 31 May 1996 15:03:36 -0400
>From: MacWay at aol.com
>To: macway at solutions.apple.com
>Subject: Macs make UNIX easier!
>Message-ID: <960531150335_207793426 at emout08.mail.aol.com>
>
>This tidbit is from:
>
><spiegel at media.mit.edu> (Dana Spiegel)
>
>Here at MIT, UNIX is the prevalent platform (all of the computer clusters
>that are available for students are Suns, SGIs, or DECs). As a result,
>many of the students who own computers run MkLinux on their PCs. The
>installation is a long a laborious process (I know, I sat through it).
>Never the less, people get through it, and within a couple of days,
>students have a nice UNIX machine to hook up to the campus net and the
>internet.
>
>A couple of nights ago I downloaded MkLinux from the web, wanting to try
>it out. I suspected the installation would be easier than the PC version,
>although it might very well not be, considering this is a beta release.
>With a little hard drive tinkering (it needs 400MB of space, configured
>in multiple partitions), I double clicked on the installer (which was
>created in CodeWarrior, for those who care), and after I answered a few
>questions as to which partition of my hard drive was which, the installer
>installed MkLinux. It took a little while, but required no interaction.
>Upon completing the install, I rebooted, and when the MacOS startup
>screen came up, a dialog appeared asking which OS to boot (this was a
>noce GRAPHICAL dialog, with buttons and a graphical logo. On the PC all
>you get is a command line question). I clicked MkLinux, and instantly, by
>mac booted a unix machine.
>
>Installing X11, the windowing environment for Unix, (easily the most
>laborous process on the PC side) was as easy as executing a few, albeit
>cryptic, unix commands. Within a few minutes, I was running X, and was
>able to login remotely from another Mac (running eXodus) with no problem.
>
>To be sure, Linux is not for the faint of heart. You only will run linux
>if you know or want to learn unix, something that has limited use. And
>certainly the configuration of your hard drives is slightly technical,
>but if you are going to install linux, then you will have the knowledge
>necessary for this configuration. The point of my story is that not only
>is the MacOS better than Windows, especially in terms of ease of use, but
>the Macintosh platform and it's standardization makes it a much better
>and easier platform than a PC for Unix too.
-------------

Keith R. Watson                        GTRI/AIST
Computer Services Specialist IV        Georgia Institute of Technology
keith.watson at gtri.gatech.edu           Atlanta, GA  30332-0816
404-894-0836