Linux/UNIX Applications on OS X

kshaffer · 10-25-2004, 09:51 AM

I will be purchasing a laptop soon, and I am leaning towards a Mac PowerBook. I currently have a desktop PC with SuSE 9.1 and Windows, and there are a few key applications that I would like to use on Mac OS X if possible.

With OS X's UNIX-base, can Linux apps be installed directly from source in the terminal? Or does something special need to be done with them? (I'm also considering a dual boot with Yellow Dog Linux, but I want to know all my options with the Mac OS first.) Any insights (or links to helpful websites) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks much.

Kris

WhiteChedda · 10-25-2004, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by kshaffer
I will be purchasing a laptop soon, and I am leaning towards a Mac PowerBook. I currently have a desktop PC with SuSE 9.1 and Windows, and there are a few key applications that I would like to use on Mac OS X if possible.

With OS X's UNIX-base, can Linux apps be installed directly from source in the terminal? Or does something special need to be done with them? (I'm also considering a dual boot with Yellow Dog Linux, but I want to know all my options with the Mac OS first.) Any insights (or links to helpful websites) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks much.

Kris

OSX is based on BSD. What apps are you wanting though? They might be ported already for you.
You should be able to extract the tar's and compile them using make, but the source might not be 100% portable in all cases. Also BSD has a linux compatability system that might work. Too hard to guess though.