Clueless: What's an PowerPC anyway?

[peterwiehe]

Okay, now I am thinking if I might switch from x86 (PC) to PowerPC.

But on the net (US and de. Newsgroups, google, apple.com) I didn't find any basic info, what a PowerPC actually IS!?
I thought PowerPc means MOtorola 68k Processor, but can use PC hardware. Is that correct?

Can I replace my x86 mainboard by a PPC mainbaord and then
- reuse my VGA card, modem, etc.?
- run Mac OS X?

Kind regards
Peter Wiehe

[peterwiehe]

Thanks for all the useful links!

Okay, 680x0 instead of 68k (with different chipset/bus/everything of course).
(I guess incompatible like XT and 386+.)

Okay, I will forget about MacOS. It's not so cool anyway. There're a lot of other PPC OSs for OS adventurers.

Interesting to read in that article on OSNews (that was mentioned by ksk), that the x86 CPU is a sort of crappy coating around a cool RISC core!
Like a ferrari motor in a Chinese car! [Sorry to Chinese carmakers for the insult:) ]

Fine, I know a lot more now.

Kind regards
Peter Wiehe