On Wed, Jun 3, 2009 at 10:37 PM, Kenneth Miller
<[email protected]> wrote:
> This discussion wasn't that technical before he jumped in about what exactly
> is used by mac between mac and linux or whatever, any of that other stuff.
> it was just about that guy getting his stuff to work with linux. i don't
> even think that his problem has even been solved, but if misinformation was
> the point then he could have clarified the subject without talking about his
> reason for buying a mac. i've already admitted it would be nice to have a
> mac. But hey, i'm not just jabbering my head off about stuff that i don't
> know abosolutely anything about. I'm an amateur entirely-I haven't had a

I'm just here continuing the long tradition of education.  I learned
by saying something false and then promptly was attacked by (I think
it was) Rick Moen in the SVLUG list.  Rick is a freaking brilliant
guy, but his terse messages can be misinterpreted as confrontational
at times.

> single class with computers at ALL ever, besides how to type and yet here i
> am working my way through a lot of problems (been using for three years
> now).
> i had some legitimate suggestions for the guy and some good reasons to
> simply stick with the system some more before simply giving up. I want to
> see the use of linux spread. sometimes things do work out. if they don't, go
> mac. that's fine. but more than anything i know that a lot of people try
> linux and don't like it because of the learning curve. There's lots of
> things to like about the system.
>
> I never meant entirely that Mac was a linux distro. i know for sure that
> macintosh is an operating system all it's own, and i'll explain my reasoning
> behind my statement by telling you where i got the information that i did
> about mac being related to linux/unix whatever specifically.

I think that there's a lot of confusion in general about the
differences between Linux/Mac/UNIX/etc.

UNIX is NOT an operating system.  It is a standard set of
specification that describe how an operating system shall behave in
order to be UNIX-compliant.  An organization called OpenGroup
certifies the UNIX-compliancy of operating systems.

Linux is an operating system kernel that was written in 1991 by Linus
Torvalds of Helsinki, Iceland.  It is a UNIX-like operating system,
but is not a UNIX as is has not been Open Group certified.

GNU (GNU is Not Unix) is a canon of free, open-source software which
runs on UNIX operating systems.  Xorg, KDE, and Gnome are examples of
GNU software.  Due to the popularity of Linux, GNU software is often
modified to be functional on Linux, despite that it is not UNIX.

FreeBSD is an actual, bona-fide UNIX!!!  It uses a different kernel,
but it has Xorg, Gnome, and KDE because it runs the GNU canon of
software.  If you're talking strictly about openness, FreeBSD is
better than Linux because of the legendary BSD license.

Apple OS X is a closed-source proprietary canon of software that runs
on a UNIX-compliant operating system.

Presently Apple OS X is shipped on Darwin, which is a UNIX that was
first built by NeXT Step.  Remember: UNIX used to be a big-time
business, closed-source thing!  SCO used to make software!  They made
a UNIX.

Microsoft Windows is a completely off-the-wall ass-backwards operating
system which uses letters to map drive mount points and makes use of
exclusively proprietary closed-source code which generates binaries
that are suspiciously similar to GNU/UNIX binaries from twenty years
ago.  Windows is NOT a UNIX, it doesn't even pretend to be a UNIX
(like Linux does).  Believe it or not, there are non-UNIX operating
systems out there!  However, because they suck, they are not very
popular.  Windows is extremely popular because of suspicious marketing
and business practices.  Even so, Windows seems to be slowly altering
their core architecture to be more and more UNIX-like all the time.
In twenty years time IBM should be able to sue the Windows-key off of
Microsoft if they maintain their present pattern of "innovation."

HTH.

> i just recently contacted the professor that will be teaching me while i'm
> at school. during a lengthened conversation about multiple operating systems
> and what has been going on with each. when the conversation shifted to
> macintosh, i was informed that there was some relationship between the two
> operating systems, that one had something in common with the other. i don't
> know specifically because the professor referred to something technical that
> i can't remember, but that it was tied to the security of both mac and
> linux. anyway, it has been established that there is some interrelationship
> between the operating systems.

They're both UNIX-like.

-- 
Registered Linux Addict #431495
http://profile.xfire.com/mrstalinman | John 3:16!
http://www.fsdev.net/ | http://www.fsdev.net/~cmiller

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