My first article for Free Software Magazine becomes freely available online. Here’s the intro:

When you think of the PowerPC processor, chances are you’ll think of just two platforms and, by association, two operating systems. Apple’s Mac OS X, which runs on Apple’s own hardware, and the AIX Unix operating system from IBM, which runs on their own PowerPC platform systems. In reality, there is a wide choice of potential operating systems that work on a wide range of PowerPC platforms. If you want a Unix-like alternative to AIX, particularly a free software one, then Linux seems the obvious choice, but there are others. BSD provides a Unix operating system, but with a heritage that goes back a lot further than Linux. If you chose to go down the BSD route, what solutions are available for the PowerPC platform? And, are they as good as Linux and proprietary alternatives?

Read on for more.