Linux
home search archive about Linux Contents System Administration Hardware Networking Security Software Hardware U. I. 3rd Parties Mac-on-Linux Troubleshooting	.	Linux coverage begins Monday 14 February 2000 I'm very excited to begin writing about Linux. Recent improvements in Linux installers coupled with the emergence of a Mac-on-Linux package make running UNIX on laptops a viable alternative. No longer is one forced to choose between the industry standard operating system (on which I write most of my Internet-based Java/C/Perl software on behalf of my clients) and the easiest to use OS around. Hopefully it'll be possible to run a browser on the Macintosh side which will access a web server on the Linux side... We already have pages written about Linux hardware, system, and network administration, package management, and X Window System management. There's much more to come. I'm documenting such aspects of life with UNIX as Using the Dvorak keymapping for both the text and graphic interfaces Battery and sleep management of PowerBooks under Linux Making the Macintosh file system available to Linux What is LinuxPPC? LinuxPPC is Red Hat Linux for Motorola PowerPC-based computers. I've run it on two Apple PowerBooks, which use the G3, aka the Motorola 750. Ever since the early nineteen-eighties I've been hoping for a laptap UNIX box. While I love the Macintosh operating system for ease-of-use, most of my clients require UNIX-based software. For example, for the last few years I've been writing Java servlets, which can't easily be done under Mac OS. After my time at Sun Microsystems I desired the SPARCbook, but it never became a mainstream option, and I didn't want to have to lose the Mac OS. Even when it became possible to run a UNIX variant on my Macs, it wasn't possible to simultaneously run the Mac OS. Until now. Now I have LinuxPPC running on two of my Apple Macintosh G3 PowerBooks and - I have to say this in a breathy gush - it's better than I imagined! Not only do I have my favorite development environment under my fingertips, so I can be a much more effective technomad in the service of my clientele, but thanks to the magic of Mac-on-Linux I can have both worlds in one hot box. What is Linux? Linux is a free, open source, UNIX-like operating system. It runs on damn near everything (and I do mean everything). Foremost among its advantages are the huge world-wide community of software developers who port Linux to new hardware and write scores of software applications for every conceivable need. Better yet, most of this effort is also free. Money is made by selling consulting expertise in operating system administration, writing custom software, etc. What is Open Source? Open Source is a phrase denoting software whose source code is freely available. Most open source is provided under one of several "copylefts", each of which requires you to provide any source code improvements you've made back to the community at large. In this way does our base of software get better and better. There are dozens of web sites devoted to variants of UNIX and to Linux itself. This site is about my experiences with Linux. It is full of tips and techniques - complete with screen captures - which solve the problems I've encountered. I hope these make your Linux installation a bit easier.   Geek Times copyright information This page is copyrighted 1993-2006 by Geek Times, all rights reserved. Questions and comments? Send email to the Geek Times Webmaster. Web space graciously donated by rawbandwidth.com, an Internet Service Provider in San Francisco. FOO