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Yellow Dog Linux
A screenshot of Yellow Dog Linux 5.0
Website	www.yellowdoglinux.com
Company/ developer	Terra Soft Solutions
OS family	Linux
Source model	Open source
Latest stable release	5.0.2 / 7 July 2007
Supported platforms	Power Architecture, Cell
Kernel type	Monolithic kernel
License	GPL
Working state	Current

Yellow Dog Linux (often abbreviated YDL) is a free software, open-source Linux distribution for Power Architecture hardware. It was first released in 1999 for the Apple Inc. Macintosh. Yellow Dog Linux is a product of Terra Soft Solutions, a Colorado (USA)-based software company specializing in Linux on the Power Architecture.

Yellow Dog Linux is primarily targeted at Apple Macintosh computers, IBM BladeCenter JS2x and Series p5 servers, Mercury XR9, Sony PlayStation 3^[1], and several other systems and platforms built around Power Architecture.

Yellow Dog Linux includes well-known GNU/Linux components such as the Linux kernel proper, GCC, and the GNU C Library, as well as other free/open-source technologies such as Apache, PostgreSQL, Python, Webmin, and XFree86. The distribution also includes user applications, such as the Mozilla Firefox Web browser, OpenOffice.org, Evolution, Rhythmbox, MPlayer, Pidgin, and GIMP.

Yellow Dog Linux is a derivative of Fedora Core and relies on the RPM package manager. Through successive versions of Yellow Dog Linux, Terra Soft Solutions has invested heavily in implementing support specifically for Apple and IBM hardware. As a result, Yellow Dog Linux supports accelerated graphics and audio hardware out of the box, although some other hardware components such as AirPort Extreme (Apple's 802.11g wireless cards) on Apple PowerBooks and iBooks will not function properly without modifications to the kernel.

Since v5.0, Yellow Dog Linux defaults to an Enlightenment window manager desktop, although other desktop environments such as KDE, GNOME and Xfce are also provided and supported.

Distributed on eight CDs (four install CDs and four source CDs), YDL 4.1 comprises over 1000 packages.

Yellow Dog Linux 5.0 was one of the first Linux distributions to run on Sony's PlayStation 3 platform. ^[2] It is designed specifically for HDTV so users with SDTV will have to use the commands 'installtext' and 'ydl480i' to be able to install and run.[1]

Yellow Dog Linux is available in several editions ranging in price from $30 to $90 — boxed with printed manual, support, and T-shirt; boxed with printed manual but without support; and a “geek edition” with CDs only (no documentation). The proceeds from these boxed distributions partly fund the development of the operating system. Their packaging is designed to match the white polycarbonate coating of the last PowerPC iMacs and iBooks, computers on which the desktop version is likely to be run.

As with most Linux distributions, Terra Soft Solutions also makes Yellow Dog Linux available as a free download from public FTP mirrors.

• Official Yellow Dog Linux homepage
• YDL.net, Yellow Dog Linux user community and value-added services

• GNU/Linux on Power Mac site
• Yellow Dog Linux Message Board Community
• “Yellow Dog Linux on the iMac” (Linux Journal)