Alternatives to OpenBSD/macppc

OpenBSD is not the only system for macppc machines that resembles Unix. The alternatives include Mac OS X, GNU/Linux, FreeBSD and NetBSD.

Darwin

Apple takes a part of its Mac OS X operating system, and distributes the source code as "Darwin". The source code seems to comprise an entire system, from kernel to X11. The only way to build the source code is to install DarwinBuild on an existing Mac OS X Leopard system. Darwin is not a complete operating system, because it is only part of a system. Therefore, Darwin is not an alternative to other operating systems.

Mac OS X

Apple bundled Mac OS X with the newer macppc machines, but Mac OS X is not a free system, so there are no free upgrades. Mac OS X has the unique Mac desktop environment, which is not like BSD or GNU/Linux. The Mac software is different from the usual software for Unix clones like BSD and GNU/Linux. Mac OS X is a Unix system and can also run the usual software, but with extra difficulties (like installing X11 and Xcode); see for example the Fink instructions or the MacPorts instructions.

GNU/Linux

GNU/Linux is a complete operating system, but it is not a single project. There is one project for the Linux kernel and multiple projects for the other parts of the system. The distribution project combines the other projects into an entire system. The user must pick from one of the many distributions.

Most GNU/Linux distributions do not have a macppc port. Considering distros recommended by the Free Software Foundation, most of them support only i386 or amd64 machines. Of these distros (checked 28 November 2008),

• gNewSense supports i386. There is a project to add amd64.
• Utoto supports i386 and amd64.
• Dynebolic supports i386.
• Musix supports i386.
• BLAG supports i386.
• GNUstep LiveCD supports i386 and amd64 and sparc64. An older version supports macppc.

Considering other distros (not on the list of the FSF), they tend to add and drop macppc support. If you have GNU/Linux for macppc and you try to upgrade, then the feeling is that you must switch distros around every two or three years. The distros that sometimes had macppc support included at least LinuxPPC, Ubuntu, Fedora and openSUSE.

The only GNU/Linux distributions with consistent macppc support are Gentoo and Debian. The Gentoo distribution provides only a small bootsrap system and some scripts to build all packages from source code. Instead consider Debian, which makes simultaneous releases for as many as 11 processor architectures. The macppc support is part of Debian/PowerPC. Because Debian makes infrequent releases, the latest version of Debian tends to contain old versions of software. For users wanting KDE 3, OpenBSD was a better choice than Debian in 2003 and 2004:

Debian does provide KDE packages for more processor achitectures than OpenBSD. Debian accomplished the provision of KDE packages for all 11 processor architectures. (Some of those processors might be too slow to actually run their KDE packages!) OpenBSD only provides KDE packages for a few of the faster processor architectures.

NetBSD

NetBSD is the most portable operating system. Statistics show that NetBSD 4.0.1 supports "51 different machine types" comprising "17 distinct CPU families". The NetBSD motto is, "Of course it runs NetBSD." It seems that NetBSD is the universal alternative operating system.

OpenBSD and NetBSD belong to the same family of operating systems descended from 4.4BSD. This family also includes some other projects like FreeBSD. Many years ago, OpenBSD began as a fork of NetBSD, but the two systems diverged. The relationship between the *BSD projects has the 4.4BSD ancestor, and the fact that the projects continue to take pieces from themselves. For example, NetBSD took CARP, OpenSSH and PF from OpenBSD.

Here is a random list of NetBSD features missing in OpenBSD:

• LFS, the log-structured file system from 4.4BSD; see mount_lfs(8) and new_lfs(8) and lfs.html
• Firewire/IEEE1394 support; see fwohci(4), ieee1394if(4), fwctl(8)
• ofctl(8) command for examining Open Firmware device trees

NetBSD/macppc runs on more models than OpenBSD/macppc, because NetBSD supports "Old World" models and OpenBSD does not (except experimentally).

Both NetBSD and OpenBSD support "New World" models, but OpenBSD/macppc tends to have better device drivers than NetBSD/macppc. The most obvious example is the display driver. The OpenBSD/macppc console appears in white text on black, and scrolls quickly. The NetBSD/macppc console appears in black text on white, and scrolls slowly. Older versions of NetBSD copied the console font from Open Firmware, the macppc BIOS. Newer versions of NetBSD draw the same font as OpenBSD, a larger and better font.

NetBSD makes infrequent releases, but NetBSD pkgsrc makes releases around every three months, to provide access to recent versions of application packages.

NetBSD still includes XFree86 in the installation sets. This has a problem with a certain Radeon card. XFree86 still suffers from XFree86 bug 798 "Radeon Mobility 9600 garbles screen", so XFree86 4.5.0 does not work on a PowerBook 5,4 (Radeon 9600 M10) running NetBSD 3.1. This bug became Xorg bug 311 and Xorg fixed it before Xorg 6.8.2.

FreeBSD

FreeBSD is another operating system in the *BSD family. The FreeBSD/ppc Project supports some macppc machines. FreeBSD/ppc is very new; its first release is FreeBSD 7.0 during year 2008. FreeBSD/ppc holds status as a "Tier 2" platform.

A FreeBSD system provides the most features:

• advanced device configuration things, geom(4) and netgraph(4)
• configurable security things, mac(4) and pam(3)
• jail(8) to separate some processes from the rest of the system
• ipsec(4) or fast_ipsec(4)
• two ways to concatenate a disk, ccdconfig(8) or gconcat(8)
• two ways to encrypt a disk partition, gbde(8) or geli(8)
• three firewall implementations, ipfw(8) and ipf(8) and pfctl(8)

There are times when someone needs one of these features. For example, jail(8) is very useful for servers.

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