I’ve said it once and I will say it again: Why would I want to run Linux on the Mac? People buy those machines because of the OS, not to run two other OS’!

Momentum is building, albeit unevenly, to bring alternate operating systems to the Intel-based Macintosh computers that Apple Computer recently released. Despite a lack of encouragement from Apple, operating system vendors and enthusiasts are working to make Linux or Windows run with the Mac OS X already installed on the latest Apple iMacs and MacBook Pro laptops. The iMacs are available now; the new laptops are due out later this month. Both of the “Mactel” lines sport Core Duo processors from Intel.

Mandriva, the third-largest Linux distributor, said its version of Linux is already compatible with the 32-bit dual-core Centrino processors, which are also used in conventional Linux and Windows PCs. While technical issues, for now at least, prevent booting Mandriva on Apple hardware, a fully compatible version of Mandriva Linux “could appear sometime in the second quarter of 2006,” according to David Barth, vice-president of engineering at the Paris-based company. [Read the rest]

[tags]mandriva,mac os x,centrino processors,imacs[/tags]