Yellow Dog Crux 7.0

[ACEFOMIQUZ]

I mean if Yellow Dog Linux 7.0 will not come,can the distro be launched all by our community?
If it's possible,could we develop Yellow Dog for OpenPower Architecture not base on CentOS but base on CRUX PPC instead as CRUX PPC is the most high efficiency OpenPower OS which has got the Power.org SOURCE logo?
Yum/rpm will be used in the distro and CellBE architecture will be supported,of course.
If all of these can not be realized,will YDL(I mean the distro for OpenPower) be teminated?
Thanks for your answers!



CRUX PPC Project got Power Source Logo
CRUX PPC
CRUX PPC Forum

For long time I've been wanting to do the combination of Yellow Dog and CRUX PPC.

[ppietro]

I mean if Yellow Dog Linux 7.0 will not come,can the distro be launched all by our community?

Since the core YDL code is open source, you're more than welcome to take a snapshot of the 6.2 tree and launch your own distro. Since it's your distro, you can base it off CentOS packages or Crux or Fedora or Ubuntu or whatever you like.

Conversely, it may be easiest to just fork the Crux PPC code and introduce the PS3/Cell/BE changes from Yellow Dog into it. Possibly extend Crux for official Cell support, if it's not there already.

The actual term Yellow Dog is probably copyrighted by Fixstars and can't be reused. Only Fixstars can release a Yellow Dog Linux - by name. Just like, although CentOS is a direct recompile from the Red Hat Enterprise source code, they can't call it Red Hat, since that's a copyrighted name.

As for whether or not our community - i.e. the folks on this board - will officially launch their own YDL-like distro remains to be seen.

However, I'm guessing for the most part the answer is going to be "no".

There's a lot of work involved in creating and maintaining your own distro. That's why I like YDL - I could contribute to it without being responsible for it. It was closest to a distro I'd create myself without actually creating it.

Also - since Sony has basically nixed Linux for the Cell in current and future PS3s, and, with Apple's switch to Intel, PowerPC Macs are now a finite resource, I don't see an extremely active PowerPC Linux community moving forward. It will probably ebb back to the hobbyist market it was before the release of the PS3.

In all likelihood, most folks here will migrate to Intel-based Linuxes. That's where the current hardware support is the most plentiful and cheap.

Cheers,
Paul

[roshi]

I have used OpenSuse 11 (Intel Version) - I kinda like it. I have installed Fedora 12 for PPC. I have installed YDL 6.2 and I've grown very fond of it. I did download Curx 2.6 for PPC - I don't care too much for it, but I didn't give it much time due to the ease of YDL.

It will probably ebb back to the hobbyist market it was before the release of the PS3.

I don't make my living with a computer. I use them at work; however, I do not create software nor do I digitize flash videos for youtube.com. Suffice to say home computers are for the hobbyist. I enjoy the challenge of learning something new / foreign. When I stop enjoying using my computer, I will put it down and pick up the guitar.

In all likelihood, most folks here will migrate to Intel-based Linuxes. That's where the current hardware support is the most plentiful and cheap.

Cheap refers to quality. Price refers to affordability.

Sure, Apple made a business decision to eliminate power architecture from their line of computers. Now some Intel machines will be advertised "as good as Apple" - and we all know they may be just that. A powerful machine is only useful to the operator who understands it. I don't know about you, but if I knew 1/2 as much about PPC as Paul - I'd feel pretty damn good about myself. And if I used my G5 to 1/2 of its ability, I'd not be a hobbyist.

PPC architecture isn't cheap. Today, it is far less expensive than in 2005 - when it was introduced as a supercomputer (appx. $3,000).

That's why I like YDL - I could contribute to it without being responsible for it. It was closest to a distro I'd create myself without actually creating it.

I thought you did create it!

--roshi

[ppietro]

In all likelihood, most folks here will migrate to Intel-based Linuxes. That's where the current hardware support is the most plentiful and cheap.

Cheap refers to quality. Price refers to affordability.

Yup - exactly. I stand by my wording.

That's why I like YDL - I could contribute to it without being responsible for it. It was closest to a distro I'd create myself without actually creating it.

I thought you did create it!

Nope not me!

But - there are a couple of folks on this board who did. One of them posted for the first time the other day.

By the way - I took a peek at Crux Linux's install technology. Apparently, they are not Red Hat, Debian or Slackware based. In their documentation, it states that they're not based on any of these - that they're custom.

Because of this, it might be tricky to integrate YDL modules into their source tree. I'm not speaking with any in-depth knowledge here - just pointing out that some sort of translation will be necessary. (As opposed to YDL, where I could take existing CentOS Intel SRPMs and generate PowerPC RPMs from them, with no modification of the original SRPM.)

I also see that they mention ports - I wonder if it's similar to Free BSD's ports system. The way you get software in Free BSD is via ports - it's kind of a combination of a repository, source code and an installer. Basically, they store source on a remote server, kind of like YUM. When you pick a package to install, it pulls the source down and builds it locally, including dependencies.

Cheers,
Paul

[aguilarojo]

I mean if Yellow Dog Linux 7.0 will not come,can the distro be launched all by our community?

Since the core YDL code is open source, you're more than welcome to take a snapshot of the 6.2 tree and launch your own distro. Since it's your distro, you can base it off CentOS packages or Crux or Fedora or Ubuntu or whatever you like.

Conversely, it may be easiest to just fork the Crux PPC code and introduce the PS3/Cell/BE changes from Yellow Dog into it. Possibly extend Crux for official Cell support, if it's not there already.

The actual term Yellow Dog is probably copyrighted by Fixstars and can't be reused. Only Fixstars can release a Yellow Dog Linux - by name. Just like, although CentOS is a direct recompile from the Red Hat Enterprise source code, they can't call it Red Hat, since that's a copyrighted name.

As for whether or not our community - i.e. the folks on this board - will officially launch their own YDL-like distro remains to be seen.

However, I'm guessing for the most part the answer is going to be "no".

...

In all likelihood, most folks here will migrate to Intel-based Linuxes. That's where the current hardware support is the most plentiful and cheap.

Cheers,
Paul

The name Yellow Dog Linux, as well as YDEL, and other products of Terra Soft Solutions (TSS) belong to Fixstars as a result of TSS having become acquired. Although TSS no longer exists YDL, YDEL and related products should exist for sometime. As far as Fixstars is concerned it is certain that YDL 6.2 is the terminal version of support for PowerPC systems.

As Paul mentioned there are no really new PowerPC based systems. Also IBM decided, last year, to stop all further development on the Cell applying their attention to hybrid systems which incorporate elements of multiple cores technologies which evolved from working with the Cell but this time integrated with Intel chips as they are easier to program/design. The article in which IBM announced their decision also explained the hybrid chips would be appearing this year, which from deduction could be deciphered as being the i7 which is offered with quad and hex cores which are already available as laptops. The Cell of course, never made it into a laptop format.

Quad core i7s are affordable and should be the new "workbench" for those interested in affordable multicore programming. Fixstars has aimed to be one of a handful of companies which specialize in programming for High Performance Computing systems. It makes sense that they continue the product line which TSS developed and serve a similarly lucrative and extremely narrow market, similar to that of TSS. It is not a market for novices however and perhaps it is just as well that for many the requirements to move further into this area of development and expenditure has reached unreasonable commitments of both time and money.

In any case, although the i7 is not a Cell, it is a hybrid development which IBM promised as available this year. In my view this is quite amazing and something to feel rather good about.

As far as the YDL community is concerned those of us who maintain an interest in this area of high end systems should be able to pursue our respective interests and maybe help everyone else understand and maybe appreciate what all the fun and fascination is all about. Ok... maybe not, but we'll probably continue to associate here because the YDL Board has become an amazing conglomeration of persons.