---------- Original message ---------- Subject: Re: PowerPC speeds and the switch to Intel... Date: Freitag 09 Oktober 2009N From: Dan <dantear...@gmail.com> To: g3-5-list@googlegroups.com
> At 9:20 PM +0200 10/9/2009, Mac User #330250 wrote: > Notice what Apple did: First they went to Intel-x86. Then they > bought PA Semi. I never really understood what that was good for. Maybe just to remove a good CPU completely from the market? P.A.Semi CPUs aren't being used in any embedded devices, are they? > >Now with 10.6 Snow Leopard - and PowerPC support gone for good > > "gone for good". By whoze information do you believe that? If not so, then where can I get 10.6 for my Power Mac G5? > We've seen that the Snow Leopard build released by Apple is Intel-x86 only. > And we've been hammered with all sorts of PR, and news articles based on > said PR. But that's not clear information. Do you honestly believe that > Apple is so stupid they'd just suddenly ditch all that ppc code? No, but what is ppc code? Look at Linux and show me the ppc code. The parts that are ppc specific are so few. A few parts of the kernel for once. The drivers maybe. Some core stuff. Since Xcode is mostly a gcc anyway, the compilation of Mac OS X would theoratically also work on a MIPS. That's why you could easily compile the new Finder from Snow Leopard for the PowerPC. But Apple doesn't do this. Apple doesn't want this. > We know there's a build for ARM. And don't forget that "revelation" > - that OS X was running on x86 all along, as a backup for PowerPC > issues. Because of the BSD background. Don't forget that OS X derived from NeXTStep, which was a BSD Unix system running on m86k, x86, PA-RISC and SPARC. But since BSD was also available for the POWER and its subset PowerPC, there was not that much effort necessary to get it running on a PowerPC architecture. Want to take a look at NeXTStep? http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gnustep.png > Apple has a *proven* track record of keeping their options open. > What are the options, if Intel drops the ball? AMD-x86. POWER. > ARM. ... That's what they got thanks to Steve Jobs when aquiring NeXT and switching from Mac OS Classic to Mac OS X. > - Dan. The main point is, that Mac OS X is one of the innovative operating systems on the market. The point is also that even though Apple has a very adaptable and advanced operating system at hands they decive to give it away for *their hardware* only. And only for the one they decide to support at a specific time. My guess is that a big part in Apples success of selling Apple computers is Mac OS X. People see Mac OS X working and like what they see. The want it and in order to get it they have to buy a Mac. So they automatically support Apples hardware business. If Apple sold Mac OS X for the PC they wouldn't be so successful with their personal computers and laptops. And one part of this mosaic is that Apple wants us to switch to Intel bases Macs. That has at least two advantages for Apple: One, we have to buy new Macs and thus we again support Apples hardware business; and two, future software for Mac OS X will have to support Intel only, thus being cheaper to develop for third party software companies. I repeat my statement: Mac OS X/PPC is *gone for good*. Leopard is the last of its kind. It is good enough to work with on a 64-bit computer but it could be better. Better like Snow Leopard is better: * OpenCL support. * Grand Central Dispatch on a Quad or even a Dual. * all 64-bits if a user decides he/she wants that. (Caution! Third party drivers and OS extensions that are 32-bit, which is 100% of what is available right now, will not work on a 64-bit kernel!) * a reworked Finder. (but a drop in a bucket) What we are left with, is being left behind: * Apple security fixes for a few more years. When 10.7 is here PowerPC users are finally droped concerning fixes. * Universal Binaries will be Intel/32-bit and Intel/64-bit. Univeral PowerPC/Intel will be history, as will be any recent applications running on a Power Mac. Cheers, Andreas. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
