[P1] OS X on a PC? [forward from a different list]

[Mike Beede]

On Sunday, Jan 26, 2003, at 17:37 US/Central, Jack Rodgers wrote:

> On Sunday, January 26, 2003, at 03:30  PM, Charles Martin wrote:
>
>> When thinking about the idea of OS X on Intel-compatible hardware, 
>> one has to remember something very fundamental. Even if Apple *did* 
>> have a complete version of OS X running in Intel-compatible hardware, 
>> *every* program for it would have to be *extensively* re-written to 
>> run on the new chip.
>
> Apple handled rewrites when moving to PPC from 68K. Almost ALL 
> software ran smoothly on the new OS. True, it was on a similar chip 
> but it does leave one wondering why Apple couldn't handle the 
> differences in software and eliminate the rewrite. The key word in my 
> post is 'wondering'.

I don't know what Charles was getting at when he referred to "extensive
rewriting."  Perhaps he meant "recompilation."  Certainly there is no
need to rewrite for a new CPU -- that's the compiler's job.  Some 
low-level
portions of the OS would have to be recoded, and libraries that might be
written in assembler for efficiency.

I run stuff all the time that was written to run on Linux on a Pentium 
or
Heptium or whatever they're calling it this week.

Regards,

	Mike