MkLinux

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MkLinux
Website http://mklinux.org/
Company/
developer		 OSF Research Institute, Apple Computer, MkLinux Developers Association
OS family Linux
Source model Open source
Latest stable release Pre-R2 / 5 August 2002
Supported platforms PowerPC
Kernel type Microkernel
License GNU General Public License
Working state Legacy

MkLinux is an open source computer operating system started by the OSF Research Institute and Apple Computer in February 1996 to port Linux to the PowerPC platform, and Macintosh computers. The effort was spearheaded by Brett Halle at Apple and development split between Michael Burg at Apple in Cupertino (device drivers and distribution), California and Nick Stephen (Mach porting & development) at the OSF in Grenoble, France. Other key individuals to work on the project included François Barbou (OSF), Vicki Brown (Apple) and Gilbert Coville (Apple).

MkLinux was officially announced at The 1996 World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC). A free CD containing a binary distribution of MkLinux was handed out to the attendees.

In the summer of 1998, the community-led MkLinux Developers Association took over development of the operating system. MkLinux is short for "Microkernel Linux," which refers to the project's adaptation of the Linux kernel to run as a server hosted atop the Mach microkernel. MkLinux is based on version 3.0 of Mach.

Contents

[edit] History

MkLinux started as a project sponsored by Apple Computer and OSF Research Institute, to get "Linux on Mach" ported to the Macintosh computer and for Apple to explore alternative kernel technologies on the Mac platform. At the time, there was no officially sponsored PowerPC port of Linux, and none specifically for Macintosh hardware. The OSF Institute, owner of the Mach microkernel and several other Unix-based technologies, was interested in promoting Mach on other platforms. Unlike the much later Mac OS X, MkLinux was specifically meant to take full advantage of the Mach microkernel. OS X instead takes the NextStep approach and runs a hybrid system where the BSD kernel is grafted on top of Mach running in a single kernel address space.

The MkLinux distribution was much too large for casual users to download via POTS, even using 56k modems. However, the official CDs were available in a book from Prime Time Software.[1]

As time went on, and Apple released the Open Firmware-based PowerMacs, an official PowerPC branch of the Linux kernel was created and was spearheaded by the LinuxPPC project. MkLinux and LinuxPPC developers traded a lot of ideas back and forth as both worked on their own ways of running Linux. Both used the "Red Hat Package Manager" RPM file format to distribute programs, and RPM files could even be swapped back and forth directly without necessitating any recompilation. Debian also released a traditional monolithic kernel distribution for PowerPC, as did SUSE, and Terra Soft Solutions with Yellow Dog Linux. When Apple dropped support for MkLinux, the developer community struggled to improve the Mach kernel, and support various Power Macintosh hardware. MkLinux continued to be the only option for Macintosh NuBus computers until June 2000, when PPC/Linux for NuBus Power Macs was released. MkLinux development could theoretically provide Linux compatibilities, such as Executable and Linkable Format "ELF" binaries, with Mac OS X for PowerPC. Microkernels for personal computer Operating systems lost popularity and were not developed, outside of the XNU kernel for the Darwin (operating system), Mach and L4 kernels, for GNU Hurd, and Andrew Tanenbaum's MINIX 3 operating system.

It should also be noted that MkLinux was a first attempt by Apple to support an open source project. Also, the work done with the Mach 3.0 kernel was extremely helpful in bringing up NextStep on the Mac platform which would later become OS X.[2]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Morin, Rich (March 1997). Mklinux: Microkernel Linux for the Power Macintosh (in English). Prime Time Freeware. ISBN 978-1-881957-24-9. 
  2. ^ http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Darwin/Conceptual/KernelProgramming/About/chapter_1_section_5.html

[edit] External links

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