Linux on a Mac

Here's a dumb question.
If you want to run Linux on a Mac can you just install and run it in under Bootcamp?
Is there a reason to instal Linux if OSX is Unix-based?

This would be for the purpose of running certain physics-related programs.

 

Fred, there are no dumb questions. Actually, I didn't even know the answer to your first one until a few days ago.

From what I hear from people on the Linux forum, you must run Bootcamp to run Linux. There isn't any other way.

Although OSX is partially based in UNIX, it is still closed source, proprietary and for pay. Those aspects have negative repercussions for quality of product, ease of use, and some other ethical considerations.

Which one? It may be that the program has an OS-X equivalent if you don't want to run Linux just for that one program.

 

Boot Camp only supports Windows, so you will not be able to run Linux through it. There are software that will allow you to run Linux in OS X, however I don't see the point of that because, as you have stated, OS X is UNIX based.
Seeing as all Linux software is open source, you could simply obtain the source code and compile it under OS X.

 

http://www.mathematik.uni-marburg.de/~schmidtm/apple/powerbook.en.php

There are ways to do anything you want with Linux But if you don't know a good reason you want to run Linux, there's not much point. Learn your UNIXy stuff under OSX. You can install the X11 server on OSX and still run a number of open-source programs, and quite probably compile your physics related programs for it.

 

While Bootcamp does not support Linux, Parallels does. I run OS X as my main OS and WIN XP and Linux (Fedora) under VM's

There can be many legitimate reasons you might want to do this. The three main one are:
- Having the three main desktop OS's on your machine allows you to run almost any desktop software
- There may be applications particular to each OS you NEED to run
- You may be developing software you need to test in each OS

My MacBook runs all three OS's simultaneously when it needs to without issue.

 

You may not need to install linux (via VM or otherwise) or compile/port your required apps to run under OS X. If you're lucky, your apps may be available already via Fink or MacPorts.

If you do want to run linux via dual booting, then you do require Bootcamp... at least the BIOS emulation portion. You'll also need to install the rEFIt bootloader.

 

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=198453

Should be all the information you need to get Ubuntu running on the Macbook. The instructions for installation will be similar for the Macbook Pro I'm sure. And while the guide is only for Ubuntu, many oft he steps will no doubt be similar for all distributions, though if you want a different distro, you can google for more info. Here is another great resource.

 

Thanks for the Link. Oh man, it looks like a PITA to install Linux on Macs...my Macbook aspirations have been shot down in a flash.

 

Hey man, sometimes stuff just takes some work. It didn't look like the install process was too bad; install Bootcamp, install Ubuntu, install elilo. It's getting everything else to work; but heck, you could have those problems with a Sony laptop too...

 

Ops. Not quite. First, while Bootcamp does only support Win, it doesn't mean it can't be used to run other OSs. Main problem is EFI compability. Someone has already posted a guide so I guess there is no need, and I haven't done it myself, but it can be done.
Second, not ALL software available for Linux is open source. I am not sure the status of the physics software the original poster wants to run, but even if it is OSS sometimes you can't just recompile things for OS X. Software today depends on a lot of libraries that sometimes just aren't available in the desired version in another OS; sometimes software depends on the OS structure itself, and porting things from Linux to OS X - which does diverge a lot from even typical *BSD system - is not easy. Even when it is feasible, sometimes the user just don't have the knowledge or time available.
In short: if there is an OSX version for the program, OS X will most probably provide you with enough *NIXness that you won't miss Linux - probably. I miss a lot of things from Linux, I can cope with that in OS X, but then I am not a developer and I still have my Linux box. If you need Linux, then you can either go the VM route, or, depending on the requirements, install it under bootcamp with some work.

 

All software unique to the Linux platform is open source, as required by the GNU licence. If you plan to run a non-open source program, chances are it is available on a different platform, so you might as well simply get the version for that other platform if you are planning to run in on a Mac.
And, as Linux libraries are open source, it will be possible to compile linux programs on a *nix system. The only issue would be whether you have sufficient time.

 

Sorry Budding, but there's plenty of closed source software available under linux... the GPL only covers derived works, not all software written for the platform.

Wookie's comments about compiling linux apps under OS X are correct. Porting applications, even between almost identical (which Darwin most definitely is not) *nix implementations, is a non-trivial task. There are more versions of (incompatible) Unix than there are OSs that are not Unix... largely due to the Unix Wars of the late 80's.

Unless you're a coder/developer with the time to DIY, unless someone's already ported your app you're pretty much out of luck...

 

You should probably do some research before you make absolute comments. Not all software unique to the Linux platform is open source. Several Linux games are in fact not open source, and not even every Linux distribution is open source (e.g. SUSE Linux).

That being said, a better way for the OP to get his app working on OS X may be found here.

 

SuSE is Open Source. SuSE Enterprise might not be free (just like RedHat Enterprise), but the OS is open source (as it's using the Linux Kernel, which is licenced under GPL), and obtainable for developers from http://en.opensuse.org/Download

I might be wrong about the all unique software to Linux are open, but surely one would think that the only reason to write a software unique to Linux is to use the Linux libraries, which are licenced under the GPL, and according to the GPL, any program that uses its libraries must also be open source.
So, surely if someone was writing a closed source app for linux and not using any of the Linux libraries, then that someone should release their application for other Operating Systems as well? Because it would just be a matter of re-compiling seeing as they're using their own libraries.

Ok, I might be totally wrong about everything above. If that is indeed the case, please enlighten me, because it would mean that my understanding of everything is totally wrong and my world would come crashing down upon me.

 

Okay, here's the thing. The Linux kernel is open source; that much is true. However, in order for certain things to work (certain hardware, multimedia, etc), non open source 'binary blobs' have to be added to the kernel. These are not part of the kernel (as that would be a violation of the GPL), rather they are modular "attachments" to the kernel. Secondly, not all libraries are open source in Linux. This does not spawn from choice, I can assure you. However, it is what is required. For instance, drivers for graphics cards and wireless cards often use non-free, proprietary libraries that can be relied upon by other applications that use them. Other such instances are media codecs and libraries (such as libdvdcss2), and applications that use them, such as Totem Movie Player.

To counteract this, there is what is known as the LGPL, or the Lesser GPL. This allows software developers to create software that is open source, but can depend on non-free libraries. Such an example is OpenOffice. The actual application is open and free. However, in order to have support for proprietary Microsoft document formats (like .doc, .xls, etc), it has to plug in to non-free library files. If it weren't for the LGPL, then OpenOffice wouldn't be able to be licensed under the GPL, or it wouldn't be able to use Microsoft formats.

 

Actually, I just stumbled upon this. It shows that installing Feisty is actually quite easy on the Macbook, and you really only have to install 915resolution (which is required for any GMA950 notebook) and the madwifi drivers for the wireless card. Looks pretty straightforward if you ask me.