UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

FYI, the GCC compiler is available for OS X. This means you can easily compile all the super GCC opensource. You can see the GCC and other
projects <A HREF=http://www.opensource.apple.com//projects/darwin/1.2/projects.html>HERE</A>.<P>

Also, I looked into how OS X handles OS 9 applications. OS 9 runs as a UNIX process (currently called TruBlueEnvironment). I could kill and restart OS 9 from the OS X command line. Truely amazing!!!<P>

When I needed to run <B>ssh</B> into my server, no problem! SSH comes with the standard OS X distro! I'm sold on this idea, the power and stability of the UNIX kernel and great MAC graphics and desktop software!<P>

In fact, I think we will see great things for UNIX thanks to Apple. It will be interesting to see where we are a year from now!!

Neo, does OS X have the potential to be as scalable as other UNIX O/S? I regard the scalability of UNIX as one of it's most outstanding features, or do you think OS X is going to stay in the domestic desktop market? I don't necessarily think that would be a bad thing, a UNIX kernel on top of a nice Apple graphics and the accompanying user interface could mean UNIX finally penetrates (fully) into the market dominated by Mircrosoft.

What do others think about this?

Regards.

Perhaps on the other end of the spectrum...I am a designer who has used a Mac for more than a decade. Building OS X on Unix technology has made learning Unix a little less intimidating for me.

From the little I have already learned, I am sold on Unix for scalability and power, yet I'm still very much an Apple loyalist for graphics. OS X has truly brought together the best of both worlds for me as a web designer/developer: All of the versatility of available GUI software now with the power to integrate with Open Source applications such as Apache server, MySQL, Tomcat, an array of Java development tools etc...and all on my same old Mac!

A couple of things:<P>

First, in OS X, UNIX does not run on top of OS 9 (the legacy Apple OS); UNIX is the core OS of OS X. Apple is planning to port most of their popular legacy OS 9 applications to OS X (UNIX based). <P>
In OS X, OS 9 runs "as a UNIX process" (on top of UNIX). The OS X core is fully scaleable and could be scaled as in any other UNIX if Apple allows for users to rebuild and expand the kernel. It is currently not clear to me if Apple will allow this. (I'm checking into this).<P>

So, if Apple provides the source code, open, for OS X, then OS X will be fully scaleable. If they do not, then there is a problem for UNIX folks that are used to building kernels as required (Linux, BSD, etc.) I hope this is the Apple approach, but I've not yet had the pleasure to build a new OS X kernel and then reboot (as we would on Linux).<P>

Has anyone done this yet?

Neo:

You may be interested in seeing this development support page of Apple's website:

http://developer.apple.com/darwin/

Of particular interest is the section titled "Darwin is an Open Source project" at the bottom of the page.

Although I haven't been able to find it again, Apple had the entire Darwin core available for download including source code and binaries (120MB).

You can download Darwin (including source) here:
http://www.opensource.apple.com/projects/darwin/

It is released under the Apple Public Source License

Yes, the <A HREF=http://www.opensource.apple.com/projects/darwin/faq.html> DARWIN FAQ</A> seems to indicate that OS X functionality can be realized with DARWIN plus toolkits such as COCOA and CARBON. <P>
Would be great to hear from someone who actually has built modified MAC OS X kernels (and still had full OS X 'out of the box' capability).