Thread

Running Linux on PPC Mac

68kMLA PowerPC 22 posts Jan 15, 2010 to Jan 27, 2010

#1 Fri, 15 Jan 2010 - 20:34 68kMLA

I am wanting to use linux on one for my power macs for a while, what would a good version to run?

Machine Specs:

G4 Processor running a 450 mhz

12gb hd

1gb of ram

#2 Fri, 15 Jan 2010 - 20:39 68kMLA

I am wanting to use linux on one for my power macs for a while, what would a good version to run?
Machine Specs:

G4 Processor running a 450 mhz

12gb hd

1gb of ram

Many distributions now have PPC ports. The oldest is the dedicated-PPC port YellowDog. Ubuntu and Debian both have good PPC ports as well.

#3 Fri, 15 Jan 2010 - 20:55 68kMLA

Many distributions now have PPC ports. The oldest is the dedicated-PPC port YellowDog. Ubuntu and Debian both have good PPC ports as well.

Many have PPC ports but, in many cases, the port is performed by the community rather than by the main body. (Ubuntu has been in this status for some time.) OpenSUSE dropped PPC support with the latest release.

Personally, depending on your level of experience with Linux, I'd go with either Ubuntu or Debian... possibly Fedora.

#4 Fri, 15 Jan 2010 - 21:25 68kMLA

eww the F word :-/

actually that was a very biased comment, I havent used fedora since 2k4 and THEN gcc & rpms were borked so you couldnt do much of anything with it, I am sure its just fine at this time

#5 Sat, 16 Jan 2010 - 00:04 68kMLA

Fedora is my choice for Linux Distros. It's pretty good IMHO.

#6 Sat, 16 Jan 2010 - 00:53 68kMLA

Never used Fedora. Ubuntu is easy to get up running assuming you have a decent internet connection.

#7 Sat, 16 Jan 2010 - 01:12 68kMLA

I think ubuntu is almost as easy to setup as windows, but fresh off the disk it can be heavy, maybe the server disk where you have to install your own guI or something like fluxbuntu (sp?) which uses ubuntu but with the fluxbox wm would be better suited to a 450mhz cpu

#8 Sat, 16 Jan 2010 - 05:28 68kMLA

What do you want to use it for? For instance, are you planning to use it for development, GUI stuff, server stuff, other?

I'm curious because I haven't seen any GNU/Linux distros which are kept up to date for PowerPC, so I'm interested in hearing your results.

#9 Sat, 16 Jan 2010 - 13:46 68kMLA

I'm wanting to use linux for GUI stuff............i haven't played around with linux in a long time.......

#10 Sat, 16 Jan 2010 - 13:50 68kMLA

my Power mac dosen't have a CD burner in it.........ist there a way to burn bootable HFS cds under windows?

#11 Sat, 16 Jan 2010 - 20:14 68kMLA

Yeah, an ISO is an ISO. It doesn't matter what you burn it with.

#12 Sun, 17 Jan 2010 - 15:19 68kMLA

I haven't seen any GNU/Linux distros which are kept up to date for PowerPC

Ubuntu is, AFAIK. YellowDog hasn't been updated for a while though I don't think.

#13 Sun, 17 Jan 2010 - 18:41 68kMLA

http://distrowatch.com/search.php?category=Desktop&origin=All&basedon=All&desktop=All&architecture=powerpc&status=Active

#14 Mon, 18 Jan 2010 - 16:02 68kMLA

I've been using Yellow Dog since 2.1 (i.e. around 2002 or so). Been happy with it. They've been doing the PowerPC thing longer than any of the other players. It's basically a Fedora port, so if you're inclined toward RPMs rather than DEBs, that's how'd I'd go.

#15 Tue, 19 Jan 2010 - 21:54 68kMLA

well THAT was a challenge......finally got Ubuntu 6.10 installed on a hard drive that i had laying around and stuck it into my Sawtooth so this is what i have running on it:

Mac OS 9.2.2

Mac OS 10.1.3

Ubuntu 6.10

#16 Tue, 19 Jan 2010 - 22:56 68kMLA

your almost complete, now you just need windows vista on there (runs away)

#17 Wed, 20 Jan 2010 - 01:43 68kMLA

Gross. You could install 9.10 on it. It's not officially supported, so it's a bit harder to find.

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/9.10/release/

Watch out though, I've had terrible experience with 9.10 before, and apparently others have too, but I haven't run it on PowerPC.

#18 Wed, 20 Jan 2010 - 16:23 68kMLA

Gross. You could install 9.10 on it. It's not officially supported, so it's a bit harder to find.http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/9.10/release/

Watch out though, I've had terrible experience with 9.10 before, and apparently others have too, but I haven't run it on PowerPC.

Ubuntu 9.10 runs fantastic on all the PCs I've loaded it on, but I've also used the Alternate Installation disc and not the Live CD they default you to. I've always had problems with that version when I used it years ago and have avoided it since.

Also, if you're very fluent in Linux, then you might want to look at the PPC port of Arch Linux. I've considered running this myself in place of Ubuntu, but you have to know what you're doing.

I have 9.10 running on my iMac G5 and it's fast, if not faster, than Tiger on the same system. The only issue you'll have with running Linux/ppc is the lack of Adobe Flash for websites. If you don't care about that, then you'll be fine. Incidentally, "Gordon" which implements a Flash player through Javascript, might make this problem a thing of the past. I hope that it actually takes off.

http://paulirish.com/work/gordon/demos/

Oh, and "DEATH TO MING!"

#19 Thu, 21 Jan 2010 - 17:02 68kMLA

OpenSUSE 11 was pretty decent on my G4 when I tried it. It seemed a little quicker then Ubuntu was.

#20 Fri, 22 Jan 2010 - 17:20 68kMLA

your almost complete, now you just need windows vista on there (runs away)

while were at it lets try snow leopard too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#21 Wed, 27 Jan 2010 - 21:00 68kMLA

Many distributions now have PPC ports. The oldest is the dedicated-PPC port YellowDog. Ubuntu and Debian both have good PPC ports as well.

Click to expand...

For this old goofer what does PPC ports mean ?

#22 Wed, 27 Jan 2010 - 21:18 68kMLA

it means someone sat down and re-wrote the code so it would run properly (or at all) on a Power PC cpu