From: memphis AT macconnect DOT com (Garry Roseman) Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp Subject: Re: Can I port my code to a Mac? Date: Fri, 15 Aug 1997 15:42:47 -0500 Organization: Writer & Freelance Programmer Lines: 76 Message-ID: <199708151542471175211@pool-207-205-91-236.dlls.grid.net> References: <1 DOT 5 DOT 4 DOT 32 DOT 19970814131241 DOT 00696a88 AT dce03 DOT ipt DOT br> To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com DJ-Gateway: from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp Precedence: bulk Cesar Scarpini Rabak wrote: > At 14:41 10/08/97 -0700, Stephen DOT Bint AT virgin DOT net wrote: > >How much of DJGPP can be ported straight to a Mac without changing the > >source code? > > > >Are there any screen functions, like clear screen, which I can rely on > >working the same way on a Mac? > > Just for the records, from Emacs FAQ: > > "88: Where can I get Emacs for my Apple computer? > > The FSF is a participant in a boycott of Apple because of Apple's "look > and feel" copyright suits. See the file etc/APPLE for more details. > Because of this boycott, the FSF doesn't include support in GNU software > for Apple computers such as the Macintosh. > > Please don't help people port or develop software for Apple computers." > > I feel GCC falls in this category. A final word would have to come from RMS. > All of the GNU tools that are used with djgpp are also available on Power Macs under the MkLinux operating system. Porting GNU software to the MacOS is much more difficult and not often done. An old Emacs and gcc is available and Perl 5.002 is available. A few GNU build tools are available under MPW (Macintosh Programmers Workshop for MacOS). The MPW port of gcc2.3.3, and a workable but not self-compiling binary of gcc2.7.2, is available from cygnus: The boycott you mentioned was lifted by the FSF a long time ago. I believe it was early '96 that it ended. Apple has been more cooperative with the free software community, for example they have sponsored the development of a freely distributable Linux that is built on the Mach 3 microkernel (MkLinux, "microkernel Linux") and runs on Apple and clone hardware. MkLinux is presently at "developer" release 2.1 update 4 and runs on many of the PowerPC 604 machines. I have it running on a PowerMac 7600. I understand that MkLinux is also available for Intel cpu's. The PowerPC version of MkLinux is available from or and on CDROM for $20 from Prime Time Freeware There is also a port of the monolithic Linux to the Apple/IBM/Motorola PowerPC: and By the way, the look and feel copyright suits are not only settled but Apple now has a technology exchange agreement with Microsoft. You're behind. Times have changed. :) Open software on the PowerPC processors has some advantage because the cpu has higher possible clock rates, _much_ lower power consumption at any given clock rate, and better performance (much better floating point performance) at any given clock rate. The currently shipping high-end computers from Apple, Power Computing, and Motorola are based on the 250 MHz 604e cpu and low-end PowerPC machines based on the 180 MHz 603e cpu are available from UMAX and Motorola for as little as $949. (MkLinux presently runs only on the 604 cpu; PowerPC 603 support and PowerBook 3400 support is probably a few months off). So, please do help people port and develop software for PowerPC computers. We need a more truly cross-platform, and more inclusive, culture of freely distributable software. Open and freely distributable software is going to be a lot of fun on the new 350 MHz PowerPC computers from Apple, Power Computing and Motorola. The 350 MHz machines were demo'd at the recent MacWorld Expo and will be in the market in the fall. I would love to see the HURD running on a 350 MHz PowerPC! Maybe they were made for each other? -- Garry Roseman Writer & Freelance Programmer Memphis TN USA