FreeBSD and MacOS

[Bruce Cran]

On 3 Jul 2004, at 10:05, Eitarou Kamo wrote:

> Hi John and all,
>
> John Von Essen wrote:
>
>>
>> Since OPENSTEP kernel had an x86 port, its not to far off to conclude 
>> that darwin could be run on x86 - but I think all the x86 talk was 
>> just hypothetical - would only happen in real life if some hardcore 
>> coders had alot of spare time on their hands...
>
> Apple will not invest it, I wonder.....
>

No, Apple _does_ invest the money and time to create an x86 port: 
http://www.opensource.apple.com/darwinsource/
That is only the kernel and command-line utilities, there's no GUI 
included.   http://www.kernelthread.com/mac/osx/arch_xnu.html provides 
a good overview of the kernel.   Apple did have a port of MacOS X to 
x86 
(http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/09/02/apples_x86_os_named_sized/), I 
would guess they were waiting to see which CPU they were going to use 
after the G3, since Motorola were being a little slow in making faster 
PowerPC CPUs.   They were considering switching to an Intel-based line; 
  in the end they went with IBM and their PPC970, so I would think it's 
fairly unlikely we'll now ever see a version (of the GUI) for x86.

--
Bruce Cran