[arch-ports] Archlinux/PPC suffering

Alexander Baldeck kth5 at archlinuxppc.org
Fri Apr 7 20:34:40 EDT 2006


Matthew G wrote:
> Ok thanks syamajala
>
> On 4/7/06, syamajala at gamebox.net <syamajala at gamebox.net> wrote:
>   
>> On Apr 7, 2006, at 7:43 PM, Matthew G wrote:
>>
>>     
>>> Well I'm not sure what to say so I'll just say whats on my mind.
>>>
>>> It think that a ppc port is becoming useless especially because mac as
>>> switched to the intel chips and in a year or two ppc will be pretty
>>> much of date. Most geeks that want to run ppc linux on there macs will
>>> have a new mactel. It just seems like you guys are trying to put to
>>> much work into something that will end up dying in a year or two.
>>> Arch64 has a better chance because it is much newer techology.
>>>
>>> I hope that I don't sound like a complete jerk.
>>>       
>> Personally, I think nothing could be farther from the truth. I think
>> ppc is going through a renaissance  because apple is leaving. There
>> are new powerpc chips on the way, from quad core to octa-core. IBM is
>> already working on the next gen of powerpc chips too. ppc still owns
>> the embedded market as well. Please do some more reading...
>>
>> - Syamajala
>>
>>     
Wether true or not, there is still some audience of powerpc users. 
Honestly, I would welcome a big group of potential users and a brighter 
future of powerpc on the 08/15 desktop market but I don't care that much 
as it is more like a hobby to me. It's fun, that's all there is to me.

Yes, powerpc is not outdated just because Apple stopped using a 
architecture based around it. Quite the contrary, powerpc never was 
dependent on Apple. IBM still develops POWER and Cell which are basicly 
powerpc compatible, guess what a major part of supercomputers run on? 
Pegasos is building machines for desktop users who prefer a non-x86 
architecture. Amiga is not yet dead either, so are Sony PS3 and Xbox 360 
('wish, the latter never used powerpc). As a matter of fact, OF+PPC is 
in theory way better than the nearly 30 year old 8086 which still lives 
in nowadays i686 or x86_64 to some extend. Apple was the first to 
overcome the obvious problems on the desktop market and a few joined in, 
like Amiga. It's only marketing that made the powerpc fail for desktops. 
Look at what is going on with MS Windows vs. Mac OSX on intel CPUs. 
First time I've heard about CoreDuo in Macs was when somebody claimed to 
have gotten Windows XP to boot with EFI. What's the point? Well, not 
that Mac OSX is outdated, just the crowd having their believes on what 
should be done.

I don't think it's not worth to still support powerpc as you can see, 
it's just that it will stay in a niche on desktops or will be used in 
other sectors, not that it's outdated.  This is reason enough for me to 
continue, fame is not everything.

Cheers!

Alex / kth5




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