ARCHIVED: For Mac OS, what is MachTen?
Developed by Tenon Intersystems, MachTen is an implementation of BSD Unix on a Mach microkernel. Unlike other Unix-like operating systems for Macintosh-compatible computers, MachTen is not a stand-alone OS. Instead, it runs as a regular Mac OS application. This arrangement has both advantages and drawbacks. It is a fully functional Unix, and the code it runs is native; in other words, it does not perform hardware emulation. Unix applications that run inside MachTen perform as well as or better than their Mac OS counterparts. On the other hand, because Mac OS does not have protected memory, MachTen has nowhere near the level of stability that characterizes most Unix implementations. Its main advantage is that it gives users of Mac OS computers Unix without sacrificing their ability to simultaneously run Mac OS. It will also work on all but the oldest models.
For more information, visit Tenon's MachTen page at: http://www.tenon.com/products/machten/
Note: MachTen is not intended for use in Mac OS X, which runs its own version of Unix.
Last modified on March 31, 2010.
