Does Unix & Linux software run on Mac OS X?

[firstyearprof]

HI all,

I'm a mac newbie. Sick of windows, so my macbook pro is on the way. But I have to admit to suffering some buyer's remorse/anxiety. I'm an academic researcher in genetics and several important software packages only run on windows or linux/unix. My question is, in general, do programs written for linux or unix run on Mac OS X? How does one do that... using X11 or is there an even more integrated way to do it? Am I worrying myself for nothing?

In addition to my questions, if anyone has any words of wisdom about running unix programs in Mac OS X, I would really appreciate the help. Thanks in advance.

 

[Fearless Leader]

the source code can be compiled on the computer to run, fink or my favorite darwinports, ports the libraries and the apps over to os x. real simple.

some apps might be a pain, involving some rewritting of the code, to port it over, but anything of much value will be installable through fink or darwinports.
just google them.

 

[clevin]

HI all,

I'm a mac newbie. Sick of windows, so my macbook pro is on the way. But I have to admit to suffering some buyer's remorse/anxiety. I'm an academic researcher in genetics and several important software packages only run on windows or linux/unix. My question is, in general, do programs written for linux or unix run on Mac OS X? How does one do that... using X11 or is there an even more integrated way to do it? Am I worrying myself for nothing?

In addition to my questions, if anyone has any words of wisdom about running unix programs in Mac OS X, I would really appreciate the help. Thanks in advance.

U need to use FINK or MacPort to run linux apps on OSX, and since you are using special apps, you probably need to compile it by yourself since it has very little chance to be pre-compiled by FINK/MacPort team.

There will be a app called openLina, supposed to be able to run linux apps under windows/osx, but so far looks like it will be very slow.

My suggestion? if u need linux, get a linux installed.

 

[tutubibi]

My suggestion? if u need linux, get a linux installed.

I agree, if you already know that app is running on Linux just install Linux.
Switching to OS X is not the only option to get away from Windows. If you just need to run some apps it may be too much trouble rebuliding everything.

 

[JasonElise1983]

yeah, you could always install Parallels and run your favorite version of Linux/UNIX side by side. Just a thought. I personally have Parallels installed just to run Ubuntu. I love it, and when not preaching the mac gospel, i'm preaching the OpenSource gospel. Anywho...just my 2¢.

-JE

 

[firstyearprof]

Thanks for everyone's replies. I can try to port the programs I suppose - not sure if they'll work or not, but time will tell. I have considered running parallels, but the programs I'd be using on linux require a lot of CPU. I assume that there would be a performance hit in running two OS's side by side. Is that correct?

I think that I will probably install a unix OS under bootcamp. It's my understanding that you have to reboot to switch between OS's though, is that right?

Thanks again...

 

[clevin]

Thanks for everyone's replies. I can try to port the programs I suppose - not sure if they'll work or not, but time will tell. I have considered running parallels, but the programs I'd be using on linux require a lot of CPU. I assume that there would be a performance hit in running two OS's side by side. Is that correct?

I think that I will probably install a unix OS under bootcamp. It's my understanding that you have to reboot to switch between OS's though, is that right?

Thanks again...

yes and yes

 

[SC68Cal]

Compile from source. Don't need to boot into a seperate OS or any of that junk.

 

[firstyearprof]

Hi sc68cal -

I'm willing to try compiling things from source but have no clue how to do it. Can you recommend any websites or books, esp that are geared for Mac users, that go over how to do it and when its possible?

 

[SC68Cal]

Hi sc68cal -

I'm willing to try compiling things from source but have no clue how to do it. Can you recommend any websites or books, esp that are geared for Mac users, that go over how to do it and when its possible?

I'd reccomend "Learning UNIX for Mac OS X Tiger" by Dave Taylor

Or check out my lecture that I did on it, at my website. It's under "Recent Work"

 

[live4ever]

What are the exact apps and do you have links to their websites? I could try to see if they compile.

 

[firstyearprof]

Hi live4ever -

(nice pic). Anyway, here's an example of the type of program I'm talking about:
http://mathstat.helsinki.fi/openbugs/

 

[yellow]

I think that I will probably install a unix OS under bootcamp. It's my understanding that you have to reboot to switch between OS's though, is that right?

I just want to be sure that you know OS X is Aqua GUI running on Darwin, which is an apple bastardizaion of FreeBSD. It's hard to get more UNIX-like than that.

I don't see the need to install a separate partition with "a unix OS". Or maybe I'm missing something? Do you mean Linux?

Compiling on a Mac is (more or less) the same as any other UNIX/UNIX-like OS. Except... you will need to download the latest version of XCode so you can install GCC3/4 to compile. You can get it at http://developer.apple.com for free.