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Terra Soft Offers Linux-booting iPods, FW Drives

Posted by timothy on Wed Mar 09, 2005 04:41 PM
from the no-no-booting-your-mac dept.
Software Businesses Data Storage Linux Apple
Kai Staats of Terra Soft writes "We are pleased to now offer support for bootable iPods and FireWire drives, enabling a highly portable Linux on PowerPC environment." Note that this is about booting a Macintosh into Linux, not running Linux on the iPod.
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Terra Soft Offers Linux-booting iPods, FW Drives 50 Comments More /

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  • iPods with Front Wheel Drive?

  • Ah, but... (Score:5, Funny)

    by PornMaster (749461) on Wednesday March 09 2005, @04:44PM (#11893722) Homepage
    Is this how Linus boots his Mac?

  • Honest journalism (Score:3, Informative)

    by GrouchoMarx (153170) on Wednesday March 09 2005, @04:44PM (#11893726) Homepage
    At least for a change they're not trying to pretend this is a real article instead of a commercial. They're being very obvious that it's an unpaid advertisement. That's an improvement for Slashdot of late.

    Sad.

      • Re:Honest journalism (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Atzanteol (99067) on Wednesday March 09 2005, @06:28PM (#11894857) Homepage
        Company 'foo' offers new product isn't news? Okay, no more "Apple farts, smells like roses" articles, "Intel releases newest chip" articles, or any new products what-so-ever...

        Do you really want to be stuck with stories only about "I got my X to run Linux!" articles and "How do I search the internet" ask slashdot posts?

  • Woah! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 09 2005, @04:45PM (#11893731)
    "Terra Soft Solutions(R), Inc., the leading developer of integrated PowerPC Linux solutions"

    Woah! Leading developer of integrated PowerPC Linux solutions. That's impressive! I wonder if there is a second place?

    • Re:Woah! (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Jozer99 (693146)
      What about IBM? After all, they are one of the worlds largest companies. Also, they are the leading developer of PowerPC, seeing as they are the designers and one of the only manufacturers of such chips. Don't they use that Linux thingie there too?

  • Honest Question (Score:3, Interesting)

    by American AC in Paris (230456) * on Wednesday March 09 2005, @04:45PM (#11893736) Homepage
    I honestly wish Terra Soft the best of luck with this venture, but I can't help but wonder how large market is going to be.

    Setting aside the "because I can" and "because it's Linux" arguments, what is the benefit of running YDL instead of OS X on one's Mac?

    • Setting aside the "because I can" and "because it's Linux" arguments, what is the benefit of running YDL instead of OS X on one's Mac?

      Oh, I don't know, but not every Linux app is ported to Darwin, and maybe someone only wants to run Linux apps. I know if I had Mac hardware and only wanted to run OpenOffice and Evolution and the GIMP, I'd get rid of OSX and install Linux, just 'cause it's easier to get those working, and the interfaces would be more at home in Gnome than OSX (I like consistency).

      Anyway, t

      • Gimp works fine under OS X. True, it's an X Window application, but it still works fine...and it tries to hide it's root from naive users.

        OTOH, I have a Mac portable that I intend to get properly configured one of these days. (I need to clear a space near an internet connection that has enough headroom to open the case, and get MOL properly set up. Currently it's either Linux OR Mac, I can't boot into Linux and then open a Mac window for a game.)

        And THAT's the reason that I have OSX installed. Games a
        • Unfortunately the lack of an airport driver is the main reason I have not gone with Linux on my Mac. I prefer a 100% open source operating system instead of apple's open source darwin/closed source aqua. That and I can't check homestarrunner.com cause there's no open source flash viewer and macromedia won't release ppc closed source compatible version.
      • Of course, Old world macs aren't firewire bootable either. But YDL is very fast on old world macs compared to OS X via Xpostfacto on old world hardware. (which is still good if not aged hardware) I'm currently running OS X on a G3 upgraded Powercomputing clone (thanks to Xpostfacto). at 420Mhz, it is slow compared to YDL on a Beige G3 266. So it is either OS 9 or YDL on old hardware. It is getting harder to get modern web browser features on OS 9.
    • IDGI either, what's the point of having a Mac-only Linux on ones iPod instead of a boot-anywhere LiveCD so you can boot an otherwise worthless (and much more widely available) Windows box and just use your iPod/Flashdrive as storage?
      • IDGI either, what's the point of having a Mac-only Linux on ones iPod instead of a boot-anywhere LiveCD so you can boot an otherwise worthless (and much more widely available) Windows box and just use your iPod/Flashdrive as storage?

        Terra Soft focuses on the linux on PPC arch. Maybe you think that is pointless but do we really need another live cd that is x86 only? Do you think it's a good idea that no one focuses on linux on other architectures?

    • Re:Honest Question (Score:5, Insightful)

      by javaxman (705658) on Wednesday March 09 2005, @05:30PM (#11894263) Journal
      Setting aside the "because I can" and "because it's Linux" arguments, what is the benefit of running YDL instead of OS X on one's Mac?

      Setting aside those two arguments ( which are fairly compeling, but we'll set them aside since you say so ) there is only one scenario I can think of where I'd run Linux on *my* Mac, but it's entirely likely. I currently use a Mac at home. What if, next month, I get a gig programming in a Linux environment? Am I going to go out and buy a whole new machine, or am I going to install Linux on my existing hardware?

      If I can install Linux on my existing hardware, I'm going to. But I'm not going to want to boot my machine that way all the time, because OS X has a good number of apps that I use ( for non-work purposes ) which don't exist ( really ) under Linux, and I'm not sure the wife and 3-year-old are ready to make the switch ot Linux.

      So doing the external-hard-drive thing would be neat. And using something as tiny as an iPod to carry my entire Linux world around between home and work? Even cooler.

      Instead of buying a new mobo for my outdated PC that's been sitting idle for years now, I can buy an iPod, and maybe even write it off! Super-cool.

      As for the market? It's probably not huge, but does it need to be? I thought OSS was about having options, not about having the biggest install base...

  • Aren't they supposed to make this stuff generally available, when it's based on GPL'd software? It looks like right now the only way to get access to it is to join their ydl.net program.
    • Technically, under the GPL they only have to make the code available to their customers, not anyone else.

      However, they cannot keep their customers from redistributing the code...

      Chris

      • 3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it, under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:

        a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,

        b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three years, to give any third

        • 3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it, under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above

          provided that you also do one of the following:

          a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,

          So, they only have to give it to "members" or whomever they provide binaries to.

          -Peter

  • In a nutshell they turned an iPod into an external hard drive. Then the Macs will treat it as such and boot to it. Basically they turned a $200+ device* into a $29 USB key.

    *unless you get a free one!
    • *unless you get a free one!

      You can get a free iPod ? Really ?? Where???

    • *unless you get a free one!

      Thats easy. Just click on my foe list. about 90% of them are willing to give you a free iPod after they get one first and you pay money (their version of free, not mine) and register for a bunch of spam and other marketing ploys (again, their version of free not mine), and then you are the low man in the pyramid and you have to then sucker others to be the new low people.

      Yes, people, if you have a free anything in your sig that is not free, I will foe you and filter you just

        • Re:Uh, yeah, sure... (Score:3, Funny)

          by Anonymous Coward
          Hippo Linux, the worlds premiere bloatware distro. Their "enhanced" version of Emacs takes up 8 gigs by itself.
        • Phrase it another way: Which USB key allows you to store your whole desktop enviroment, plus ~58.5 gb of data?
        • Some people may be missing the point. This is more than just a way to hold a bootable Linux distribution. This is all of your home, third party applications, databases, everything. Rather than merely keeping some of your documents with you (as many do with small USB drives), this contains everything, simply everything you need to do work on your computer. It is your computer, in essence. On my laptop (running Fedora Core), my home directory weighs in at about 16 gigabytes.
  • About time! I was promised this would be in YDL 4.0 but it didn't make the cut for the shipping CD. Now I can finally REALLY give Linux a try on this iBook, not just some LiveCD. While I am stuck in OS X for some critical apps, with MOL I just might be able to use this full time. Couldn't justify wiping out a production machine that I use everyday just to find out though. Will have to wait a week or so for the new YDL to be freely downloaded, then time's time to whip out the firewire drive. :-D Good s

  • Linus says (Score:3, Funny)

    by jaymzter (452402) on Wednesday March 09 2005, @04:55PM (#11893874) Homepage
    Crap! Wouldn't you know it, right after I just installed Yellow Dog too >:(

  • Don't host from an ipod (Score:3, Funny)

    by acomj (20611) on Wednesday March 09 2005, @04:57PM (#11893890) Homepage
    There is a lesson here.. The quick slashdotting apears to indicate raid works better than an ipod for running your server.

  • Maybe a highly portable Mac (Score:4, Interesting)

    by MBraynard (653724) on Wednesday March 09 2005, @05:01PM (#11893943) Journal
    My flatmates powerbook blew out the harddrive. In order to do it on the cheap and still make the machine useful, he is running OSX from his Ipod.
  • I've been able to do this for the last year or so with Mac OS X - i.e. clone my entire OS and work environment, so I could move it between my G4 tower at work, and laptop at home. Nice to see linux finally get this ability too.

    And for the work I do, I don't see a huge performance hit running off the firewire chain, though I probably would off USB ...

  • So it's commercial. Deal with it. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by 93 Escort Wagon (326346) on Wednesday March 09 2005, @05:21PM (#11894172)
    Sheesh, guys, just because it's a commercial announcement doesn't mean it's not "stuff that matters". This might be useful - or at least interesting - to some of the folks here that actually work for a living.

    Personally I'd rather see more of this on Slashdot and less of the "New Star Wars III fanfict trailer released!".

  • not the only firewire trick with the firmware (Score:5, Informative)

    by moosesocks (264553) on Wednesday March 09 2005, @05:33PM (#11894302) Homepage
    the firmware loaded onto macs nowindays is quite impressive in that it can do all sorts of things with firewire. booting off of a firewire device is one of the more tame 'tricks' it can do.

    OpenFirmware can also make your mac pretend that it's a firewire hard drive. Connect the mac to another machine (another mac or a PC that can read HFS+ partitions), and boot up the machine while holding down the T key. Before the OS loads, the computer enters target disk mode, and every hard drive attached to that computer appears as a normal firewire device to the other computer.

    I don't see why this wouldn't work with an ext3 or ReiserFS partition... it's a VERY useful trick for restoring a trashed system (which in all honsety rarely happens in Mac OS, but is rather common on Windows and Linux if you're compiling your own kernels and such)

  • this will kill iPods (Score:3, Informative)

    by a1291762 (155874) on Wednesday March 09 2005, @05:46PM (#11894430) Homepage
    Their hard drives aren't designed for booting OSes from. Too much seeking will fry them.
  • I left a ham sandwich on my desk today and forgot about it. When I got back three geeks were working to make it boot Linux.

  • External Firewire Drives Too! (Score:3, Informative)

    by ryan_fung (610676) on Wednesday March 09 2005, @10:27PM (#11896367)
    From TFA:
    "Terra Soft has created a hybrid Yellow Dog Linux v4.0.1 #1 Install CD that incorporates the changes required to install to an iPod or FireWire drive from the graphical installer. This hybrid is immediately available through YDL.net Enhanced accounts at www.ydl.net."

    Now I can play around with Linux on PPC without touching my current setup! Great!

    Now the problem becomes: how long before the new ISOs become available to the public?

  • Bad idea... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by andymullins (771850) on Thursday March 10 2005, @02:14AM (#11897501) Homepage
    Does anyone else think this is a bad idea? iPods are intended for short bursts of hard drive activity, and will likely overheat if used for anything more strenuous. Do this at your own risk!

    • Re:Who in their right mind... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by bomb_number_20 (168641) on Wednesday March 09 2005, @05:42PM (#11894389) Homepage
      troll...

      Maybe some people don't like OS X. It is possible, you know. I run deb on my dual 1.8Ghz G5.

      In some ways, OS X is the worst of both worlds.

      It's FreeBSD... but, well, it's not FreeBSD. It has linux ports... but, well, it's not really linux either.

      Another analogy: OS X is to *nix what tofu is to meat.

      It looks great- but is missing some fundamental stuff that 'just works' under linux. The end result is that I have a great looking operating system that doesn't really run much that I like or do what i want it to do. Here are some quick examples off the top of my head:

      * Finding a free FLAC player takes some work (MacAmp) whereas, under linux I have several choices.

      * Apple's Java is seriously broken and I don't really have much of a choice. Under linux, I can use IBMs Java.

      * Multiple Desktops would be nice under OS X.

      * File browsing with Konquerer is unmatched. Period.

      * Lack of decent Office packages under OS X. MS Office? Well, I said decent. Appleworks? sorry. With the exception of Openoffice.org, the rest are overpriced (Mariner Write etc.). Openoffice under OS X simply blows. IIRC, their OS X project was cancelled.

      In short, linux is much more usable for me than OS X is. Besides, i just plain like it.

      That being said, some downsides to linux on ppc include: broken sound on newer G5s and 3d support non-existent with nothing in sight.

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