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Terra Soft Solutions today announced that Yellow Dog Linux, it's PowerPC-based Linux implementation, now supports the Mac mini and iMac G5. The new version features more than 70 updates.
Yellow Dog is a Red Hat-based Linux distribution designed to work with the PowerPC architecture, which is used in the Macintosh. Analysts said the distribution targets a niche market full of opportunity.
"There are white box server vendors and others who could deploy Yellow Dog," Stacey Quandt, senior business analyst and open-source practice leader for the Robert Frances Group, told MacNewsWorld.
New and Improved
"There is an entire market niche for bioinformatics, life sciences and the oil and gas segment where running Linux on a PowerPC platform is a valuable proposition."
Yellow Dog Linux runs on the 2.6.10 kernel and now includes thermal support for the G5s, as well as updated sleep and USB audio features. Security updates and installer bug fixes are also part of the new version.
"YDL version 4.0 was a typical dot-zero release in that it contained all rebuilt RPMs and many new features built upon a vastly changed code base while harboring a few noteworthy bugs," Owen Stampflee,Terra Soft's lead engineer, said.
"Since the 4.0 release early last fall, we have provided several fixes via YDL.net and the public errata. With version 4.0.1, we are pleased to once again unify the improvements and new support into a shipping distribution for a more enjoyable PowerPC experience," Stampflee explained.
Wider Use
Kai Staats, cofounder and CEO of Terra Soft Solutions, explained: "The IBM (NYSE: IBM) 970 CPU was first launched by Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) within the G5 PowerMac and Xserve, followed by IBM's BladeCenter JS20. But use of the 970 does not stop here. Several HPC, TELCO, even embedded OEMs are moving to bring 970-based systems to market. This means that the 970 will help PowerPC break free of its long-standing consumer corner in Apple-only hardware, where the majority of its use was in embedded TELCO, network and military applications."
Staats predicted a broader push in this area. "With IBM's push for Linux on OpenPower, POWER and 970 systems, OSX is by no means the only player in this arena. In fact, Linux will provide the seamless path of migration from vendor to vendor, enabling code developers and cluster managers to rapidly support expanding HPC infrastructures with a diversity of relatively homogeneous 970-based systems. No longer seen as a small niche player in an Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) dominated world, this is very good news for this powerful architecture," he said.
"Terra Soft will, in the coming months, move to support those new 970-based systems that are core to our Y-HPC focus, working with the OEMs to ensure a high quality Linux user experience," Staats said.
While many consumers install Yellow Dog on their Macs at home, Quandt said there are clear advantages to using Yellow Dog Linux within the high performance computing segment.
Noble Dog
"Yellow Dog is a distribution that optimizes for the PowerPC platform," Stampflee said. "That is attractive for organizations or companies that want something that specifically targets the PowerPC platform."
Quandt said Yellow Dog's focus on the PowerPC market is "noble." While other vendors support multiple platforms and have to distribute resources accordingly based on demand, she said, Yellow Dog can pour more resources into PowerPC platforms.
