Back when Apple was a PowerPC platform I worked for a company that ported Linux to their devices (Yellow Dog Linux). It made sense because the PowerPC was a cheap RISC alternative so it was great for scientific applications that didn't want to pay out the nose for full-blown RISC hardware. At the time Apple saw this as putting an ugly, buggy OS on their awesome sexy hardware and it damaged their brand. Many people in Apple saw the benefit of selling more hardware but most weren't incredibly helpful because we were diluting their brand. We were allowed to do it, but Apple wasn't exactly psyched about it.
During the early years, most MkLinux development occurred either at Apple or at The Open Group Research Institute in Grenoble, France. MkLinux Developer Release 1 (DR1) was released in early 1996.
