| Michael Leone on Fri, 4 Jan 2002 00:02:06 -0500 |
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On Thu, 2002-01-03 at 16:49, gabriel rosenkoetter wrote: > > Substitute "Dell" for "Apple", and "Intel-based" for "PowerPC-based"; you > > wouldn't call a system built from generic Intel-based parts a Dell machine, > > would you? Aren't ALL PCs based on pretty much open standards such as PCI, > > USB, etc? The BIOS may not be, however. > > IA32 is most definitely NOT an open standard. It happens to be > pretty well cloned, though, to the extent that binaries built on > my AMD Athlon Thunderbird system work just fine on this old Pentium > 133 laptop. (AMD still must reverse engineer new Intel chips in > order to mimic their functionality, last I heard.) > > PowerPC most definitely IS an open standard. Last time I checked, > if you have the chip fabrication facilities, you are welcome to > press your own. (And both IBM and Motorola have.) If you want to > sell them, of course, you may need to give various corporations some > money. What - don't we ALL have our own chip fabrication plants? :-) Actually, I was referring to many different motherboard manufacturers, available from many sources; more than 1 Intel-style CPUs (Intel, AMD, those Cyrix chips); etc. But more importantly ... an Apple is much more than just a collection of off-the-shelf PowerPC-based hardware. What makes it an *Apple* is their proprietary stuff - the OS. Ditto a Dell - I can use the same basic parts as they do (Intel CPU and motherboard, MAxtor drive, etc); but what I don't have is what they offer (in terms of support, accessories, etc. So I can't really refer to my home system as a "Dell", even tho I built it to just about the same specs as my work PC that actually IS a Dell. So if you're not gonna use any of the things that make an Apple more than just another PowerPC-based system, is it really an *Apple*? Doubtful. Without the specific firmware and OS, it might as well be an IBM RS6000, or some other system based on the same hardware specs. My opinion. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------ Michael J. Leone Registered Linux user #201348 <mailto:turgon@mike-leone.com> ICQ: 50453890 AIM: MikeLeone PGP Fingerprint: 0AA8 DC47 CB63 AE3F C739 6BF9 9AB4 1EF6 5AA5 BCDF PGP public key: <http://www.mike-leone.com/~turgon/turgon-public-key.gpg> Foreman, roving paving crew, Dept. of Roads, Hades. Attachment:
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