Installing and configuring Unix is never a pleasant experience. MachTen isn't yet available on CD, so we had to plow through 14 high-density floppies, then log on and let it finish the installation itself. Compatibility with Mac applications was very good in both cases. We tested all of the most popular Macintosh applications from Microsoft, Claris, and Adobe, and everything worked just fine. We used several standard performance benchmarks, and both systems compiled and executed both C code and some moderately complex shell scripts without a hitch.
Hardware compatibility is another story.
Because MachTen runs under MacOS, it will work on any Macintosh with enough memory and hard disk - even a PowerBook. Tenon plans a release of MachTen later this year to remedy this problem. Table two gives an idea of how fast each performs. Tenon's X software package includes client, server, and Motif licenses. They include White Pine's Exodus X server, which runs as a Macintosh application, and demonstrated very slow X performance.