This article reviews tips for porting 32-bit software from Linux IA32 to Linux PowerPC. Linux PowerPC also provides a platform for the development and deployment of 32 bit applications that would benefit from a 64 bit environment. This article shares the best practices for porting Intel applications to 64 bit Linux on power. In both casses, PowerPC derived chips offers industry leading performance and provides a world class hardware platform for the deployment and migration of Intel 32 bit and 64 bit apps to the Linux PowerPC environment.
Tips on porting Intel apps to 32 bit and 64 bit Linux on POWER
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
19 Comments
2004-09-17 8:55 am
2004-09-17 10:44 am
Anonymous
I thought I read an article about cheap powerpc workstations that run linux in 64 bit mode from IBM. I guess the only 64 bit powerpc chip that’s even remotely affordable for home use is the G5. The cheapest entry level server or workstation that ibm sells directly with 64 bit powerpc architecture is about $5000.
I’m not extremely satisfied with G5 performance. The deep and wide pipeline seems to just allow the G5’s to clock better than G4’s so as to keep pace with amd and intel, however, the architecture is not on par with the power4+ series that IBM has had way before the 970’s.
I’d much rather have an SMP 1.0Ghz Power4+ than an SMP G5 2.5Ghz for linux. Of course if you’re going to run Mac OS X, it doesn’t run on a Power4+, or does it 
2004-09-17 11:14 am
I wonder what Linux gaming would be like on IBM hardware. Than again isn’t xbox and PS2 IBM hardware?
xbox is Intel Pentium III 750 Mhz with an NVidia graphics card. So, no – it’s not IBM.
The PS2 uses some chip by Motorola IIRC (maybe IBM).
PS2 uses two CPUs designed and manufactured by Toshiba and Sony. Both are MIPS architecture, not PowerPC architecture. The PS3 and XBox2 will use PowerPC architecture CPUs.
Okay, so doesn’t that mean that Xbox2 and PS3 games will be able to be ported to Linux on POWER?
1) “PS3_OS” or “XBox2_OS” != Linux. (Although Linux ran on PS2. XBox ran a modified Win2k version.)
2) The games are proprietary. Only a small # of chosen fews are able to port proprietary software.
But… perhaps with a WINE-like ’emulator’. You’re already on POWER or PowerPC so you don’t have to emulate hardware.
Who is going to pick up the pieces of Windows?
Come one, whether it’s proprietary or not, what’s going to stop me from playing these games on Linux on POWER? Who is to know?
You’ll be stopped from playing the games because they’re proprietary and I highly doubt they’ll distribute the source code on the DVD somehow….
So if one tiny little thing needs changing in order to port the game, you’re buggered.
I am serioulsy contemplating switching to the PPC arch for workstation use. I’m just hesitant about the quality of drivers and Linux applications that work well on it today. Maybe in another 2 years, I’ll be bold enough to take the plunge.
I’ll probably purchase a cheap ibook to see how well Linux runs on it before I make the big switch. And then the whole 32-bit 64-bit thing is just confusing. Is Linux 32-bit or 64-bit on the PPC today?
I read a little about the POWER architecture, it is highly portable across the POWER product line, something to do with the older instruction set being a subset in the new one. I don’t think it would be a problem to run these games, that’s all I’m saying. At the level of the instruction set binary, it’s all the same.
No market until nVidia release drivers for PPC:
http://www.petitiononline.com/nvppclin/petition.html
The article mentions blackdown’s JVM. It’s stuck at version 1.3.1
While IBM have their JDK 1.4.x, It would be nice if blackdown could release PPC Java when they release new versions for sparc and x86.
That way, PPC users could use the latest Sun JVM without waiting for IBM and Apple to catch up. And yes, there will be a lag, given that a major release is expected at the end of the month.
The technical limitation for blackdown is that while much of the JVM and libraries are written in C/C++, the Hotspot JIT isn’t readily portable.
Unfortunately, no-one outside of IBM and Apple has the expertise with the G5 and each has a vested interest in not assisting blackdown.
If this problem and my preceding comment about graphics chips were solved, an iMac G5 would seem like a good development environment.
Otherwise with Java 5.0 (JDK 1.5) available real soon, an x86 notebook is the go…
Unfortunately, no-one outside of IBM and Apple has the expertise with the G5 and each has a vested interest in not assisting blackdown.
That is unfortunate, but it isn’t insurmountable. IBM and Motorola have been pretty good about releasing their PRMs for their PPC processors. If Linux can boot and run on these platforms, there are certainly people in the “community” who have enough knowledge to competently perform G5 PPC optimizations for JIT or anything else. In fact, I’m sure it’s not even particular to Linux kernel developers. Anyone willing to devote some time and experimentation could assist.
http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn/tn2086.html
Have at it. You know you could always develop/code on OSX and then compile on Linux if you wanted to target that too. OSX Uses GCC 3.3, so you are using the same compiler.
No market until nVidia release drivers for PPC: