From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Dec 8 23:43:56 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7DA1F106564A for ; Wed, 8 Dec 2010 23:43:56 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from emailrob@emailrob.com) Received: from mx01.dls.net (mx01.dls.net [216.145.245.197]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 516E28FC13 for ; Wed, 8 Dec 2010 23:43:55 +0000 (UTC) Received: from [216.145.235.76] (helo=emailrob.com) by mx01.dls.net with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1PQTfr-0006YJ-Ft; Wed, 08 Dec 2010 17:43:53 -0600 Message-ID: <4D00183E.5010109@emailrob.com> Date: Wed, 08 Dec 2010 23:43:58 +0000 From: spellberg_robert User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.0.2) Gecko/20030208 Netscape/7.02 X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Chuck Swiger , fbsd_questions References: <4CFFE698.5000900@emailrob.com> <07D5C58D-F23D-4AF9-B927-36BFF0697AF5@mac.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: Subject: Re: [fbsd_questions] mac and windoze formats - a X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 08 Dec 2010 23:43:56 -0000 chuck --- thank you. your clarity is warmly appreciated. fyi, would that these --were-- pdfs. regrettably, these are not computer people; they are print_the_magazine_on_paper_and_sell_the_paper people. the usual approach is to install a binary on the box that, at the least, requires the presence of the optical_disc in the drive to operate. well, that's what happens when one charges money for something that is easily duplicated. their loss; i didn't include this item in today's order for some single_issues. ciao. rob Chuck Swiger wrote: > On Dec 8, 2010, at 12:12 PM, spellberg_robert wrote: > >>premise: >> >>i was looking at a retail site that is offering >> a dvd_archive of every issue of a particular magazine back to its beginning, many decades ago >> [ these have become popular, lately ]. > > > If the archive contains this magazine in a common format like PDF, you can view such under nearly any platform (including FreeBSD). > > >>usually, i put these things on my windoze_box, until it was no longer new enough. >>then, i looked for linux [ aka, "elf" ] compatability, which also works. > > > ELF is a binary file format. It's used by Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, and other platforms. > > >>research: >> >>now, freebsd handles all sorts of elf; but, >> mac is not elf, it is derived from mach [ a long_unused word from my youth ]. > > > Yes, MacOS X uses the Mach kernel from CMU, also used by NEXTSTEP. The binary file format for the Mac is called MachO. > > >>so, this question is about "emulation". >>i found the section in the faq and in the handbook on elf, but, >> there is no mention of mac, osx, mach or anything else that is not elf, not even wine. >>i found a recent _questions post that suggested that there is no current ability to run a mach-o binary. because no one challenged this assertion, i take it as true. > > > It is. > > >> q: where do things stand regarding >> the future ability to run either a windoze or mac binary >> [ as these are the general_public's notion of a "computer" ] ? > > > You can use emulation software like VMWare 3 to run a Windows environment under FreeBSD; however, that won't let you run MacOS X or Mac programs. > > Regards,