Macs

[Michael Haney]

NOTE:  Dang, someone needs to fix the list settings.  Sorry for
sending that directly to you Liam.  Here's what I sent.

On Tue, Sep 15, 2009 at 2:25 PM, Liam Proven <lproven at gmail.com> wrote:
> Not even slightly, no.
>
> Mac OS X does not use the X Window System as used in most Linux
> systems or all other graphical Unixes; it has its own display layer,
> called Aqua, based around a rendering system called Quartz based on
> PDF. It also includes many layers of Apple software: Core Image, Core
> Data, Core Audio, Core Animation, QuickTime, & a large & extensive set
> of Objective-C class libraries inherited from NeXT Computer.
>
> OS X does include an X server as an optional extra; it runs under
> Aqua. So it's *MUCH* easier to get Linux (or other xNix) apps running
> under OS X than it would be to get OS X apps runningunder xNix.
>
> Saying that, there is a FOSS reimplementation of the original NEXTstep
> libraries and frameworks. It's caled GNUstep:
> http://www.gnustep.org/
>
> If GNUstep got more attention & a bunch of updates, it might be
> possible to recompiled FOSS apps for OS X & run them on Linux.
>
> FWIW, I think it's criminal that there isn't a distro based around
> GNUstep & its NeXT-style GUI.
>

My friend's experience running X Windows apps under Mac OS X is that
even with fast hardware the software runs sluggishly.  Open Office
would indeed run but he constantly complained about it being sluggish
and slow to respond sometimes.  I tried it out and he was right.  You
CAN run some Linux software on the Mac but they don't run smoothly.
Also, the software has to be recompiled in the Elf binary format that
the Mac users.  It won't run native Linux binary format applications
even with the X Server component.

Open Office is now available in native Mac Aqua format.

And, yes, Mac OS X is indeed Unix 03 certified:
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2007/08/mac-os-x-leopard-receives-unix-03-certification.ars


-- 
Michael "TheZorch" Haney
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