CRUX PPC

CRUX PPC is an open source Linux kernel-based operating system, a port of the CRUX distribution designed for the PowerPC architecture. It’s a Linux distro for advanced users and includes extended hardware support, server tools, as well as support for laptop-specific functions.

It’s usable on PPC and PPC64 hardware platforms

The CRUX PPC operating system has been engineered to support both the 32-bit (PPC) and 64-bit (PPC64) PowerPC architectures and runs well on Apple PowerPC hardware, YDL Powerstation, ACube Sam440ep, IBM RS/6000 CHRP and pSeries servers, as well as Genesi Pegasos II and EFIKA platforms.

The latest version is distributed as source archives

The latest version of CRUX PPC is distributed as two tar.xz archives, one for each of the aforementioned PPC architectures, which contain over 100 binary packages.

Features BSD-style initialization scripts

Just like the x86 flavor or CRUX, the PPC edition features BSD-style initialization scripts,  a simple tar.xz-based package system, as well as a very small collection of software.

CRUX is targeted at a specific audience

The primary goal of CRUX PPC is to be as simple as possible. It doesn't aim to become the most popular distribution of Linux, but to deliver a streamlined operating system targeted at a specific audience.

It was previously distributed as ISO images

Until version 2.7, the CRUX PPC operating system was distributed as installable-only ISO images, allowing the user to easily install the distribution on the local drive of a computer.

Contains some of the best open-source tools

Among the included software packages, we can mention binutils, automake, ALSA, bc, bindutils, Bison, Bash, autoconf, btrfs-progs, bzip2, cdrkit, CMake, coreutils, dhcpcd, Ed, Cpio, Curl, db, dialog, diffutils, eLinks, Expat, dcron, Exim, e2fsprogs, fetchmail, file, fakeroot, GCC, gettext, findutils, Flex, Gawk, Glib, grep, iptables, iprutils, iproute, kmod, less, man, make and ncurses.

What is new in this release:

• It works on Apple 32bit "NewWorld" G3/G4 and Apple 64bit G5, Genesi PegasosII and Efika, Acube Sam440ep, YDL Powerstation, IBM Intellistation POWER and IBM Power Systems servers.

What is new in version 2.6:

• It works on Apple 32bit "NewWorld" G3/G4 and Apple 64bit G5, Genesi PegasosII and Efika, Acube Sam440ep, IBM RS/6000 CHRP (604e), YDL Powerstation, IBM Intellistation POWER, and IBM pSeries RS64/POWERn.
• CRUX PPC 2.6 is, as usual, released via two different installation ISO: 32bit and 64bit. The 32bit version is based on a single lib toolchain instead the 64bit one comes with a multilib toolchain. These two versions share the same ports tree.