Re: New subscriber - howdy...

David Walker wrote:
> Heya peeps,

Welcome aboard!

> When I consider this a question occurs.
> I know that I can get the source for 386 and compile my own kernel - in my
> dreams.
> I know that the binary is for 386 and ppc - suitable for newbs :]
> I have seen this referred to as 'fat', presumably as it must contain
> duplicate code.
> Is it true that the layers on top of the kernel are ported for the 2
> architectures?
> That is, the current version of XFree86 (4.4.0) listed at opendarwin -
> will it run on top of binary 7.2.1 on either ppc or intel?
> Is this a factor when using a DM? And even other apps?

If you have a kernel for a particular architecture, you will be able to 
run most of the applications for that kernel by doing a simple source 
recompile, at least in theory.  In practice that will all depend on what
sort of application you are trying to run.  If you are using something
that is hardware dependent, say mpg123 or something like that, then you
might run into some problems, but nothing that you could not fix.

> I am thinking about a web browser, etc. Is there more than one version of
> Lynx for OD dependent on hardware? Clearing this up would be cool.
> A blanket statement about only the kernel being architecture dependent would
> be good to hear.

The kernel is most definatley architecture dependent.  Lynx will not be
architecture dependent.  Most probably, neither will Afterstep (I 
haven't worked with Afterstep for a long long long time so I don't know).


> When I visit http://www.xfree86.org/ I get the impression one source runs on
> multiple Unix based OS's on different architectures. Is this
> correct?
>

Yes that would be correct.  You get the source from xfree86.org, compile
it for OD on ppc, then compile it for OD on i386.  Just like you do with
the kernel, or any other application for that matter.


> I also note that the XFree86 files are src - source?
> I will need to compile them. According to my glance at the excellent
> http://darwinports.opendarwin.org/docs/ (Section II.4 Building the Sources)
> is it really that simple? Will I need to contemplate harder gymnastics to
> get some apps going?
>

Some apps will require more gymnastics then others.  If you can get
through compiling say X11, GNU Emacs, etc.  you should be fine with
most other apps.


> Finally, I understand that OD may not install.
> If it does, maybe that's all I'll get.
> That's ok.
>

If you get OD to install and get the shell, you still have a workable 
machine that can act as your FTP, WWW, SMTP, server, as well as a 
machine to do some programming on, albeit without a GUI.


> Best Wishes,
> David Walker
> 

cheers,

      mehul