*nix and the Mac

I have a beige G3 running as a server with Gentoo Linux, I wanted to try NetBSD but the guide said something "this model is notoriously difficult to boot", so I went for Linux.
I also have it on a rev. A G3 iMac, because xubuntu refused to work, but I still haven't installed the graphical environment.

I'd also like to have a Quadra 950 to try A/UX, but that doesn't belong here
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So this is how PowerPC dies... with thunderous applause

I'm pretty confident that with what you have there and with the Powerbook 100..and any others like that. is from Some kind of physical Trauma at one point.

It's some sort of mould/fungal bloom I reckon - I don't think it can be cleaned off either by separating the sublayers of the LCD, but you could try.  Seems more common on passive LCDs - like uni I've only ever come across it on a couple of PB100s.

I've had YDL 2.3 running on an ANS for several years now and really liked it (I ran several Red Hat 4.x - 7.x servers in the past, so I was already familiar with RPM installers etc). Have to keep it powered down now - the ANS with two external DEC RAID arrays was using too much power in the house.

I've got YDL 4 running on a Wallstreet and G4 Cube but don't play with them much - OSX is so much nicer.

I've got an ANS with AIX installed, but haven't had much chance to break into it (it came installed and configured with old forgotten passwords). It's GUI certainly looks easy enough to drive.

Also got an ANS with NetBSD on it which I haven't played with much. My experience with it on a Quadra 700 wasn't much fun - but I digress.

While I really liked using YDL as a server and would run it again if necessary, but now that I have an Xserve with OSX 10.4 Server I am really happy!

Other than for network applications (ie SSH terminal, web, email), I never really used YDL as a workstation - always preferred OS9 or X.

Kind regards,

Macdownunder

That is damage from a micro fissure and the LCD liquid leaking out into the in-between layers of glass in the display panel by capillary action. It is caused by impact damage hitting the screen at the middle of the largest blob. The damage itself was not apparent at first as was not big enough to leak out immediately but when the display was shut down and closed up, the liquid started to spread out from the micro-fissure. It is a very slow process that looks like the LCD is rotting away.

I have seen this on many LCD display systems on Macs, PCs, Palm Pilots, Watches and a few calculators. Even one of my Yaseu hand-held radios had this happen to it.

I would the closest I've come has been with Linux. I run Debian on my Powermac G3 every so often, and I did run SuSE 10.2 on the PowerBook G3 once.

I was relatively pleased with Debian on the G3 as a server, but SuSE was not that great, the interface was too big and everything took too long compared to Mac OS X, which has been doing well.

I did like YDL, and long ago I did run like, Mandrake 8.2 on my b/w, which was fun, but in general, I suppose I prefer Mac OS on Mac hardware.
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I plan on maybe putting Linux on my Power Macintosh 4400. It always seemed so hard, though. What distribution of Linux PPC is the easiest to install?

The Powerbook 1xx series has a few models that are very prone to this particular issue and it seems to be as Elfen and Uni say, either a weak spot when it was made that finally gave way due to age and use, or a small trauma to the screen that with age finally caused the scree to give, but either way, you have a screen that is not repairable. For some it seems to continue to spread (just a guess but I would imagine it has to do with the magnitude of the defect/damage that precipitated the problem), but for some it seems to stay contained. It's very difficult to predict which path it will take for a given screen. It's more of a wait/see situation. Your only hope is to replace the screen.

Ever since New World Macs came out, the Linux distros have been harder to install on Old World hardware. There is less attention paid to these Macs because they are less common and they are harder to work with at boot time.

I don't know about the 4400, but I could see the CHRP heritage being harder to get working than the average Old World Mac. On the other hand, an old Linux like YDL 2 or 3 might be ideal for a system that is as RAM limited as the 4400...

The installation of Linux on Old World systems is all pretty much the same: Partition the hard drive, install Mac OS on one partition, and use BootX to boot the Linux kernel. Once you are in Linux, the installers are different. YDL and Mandrake have graphical installers. I don't have any experience with Gentoo, Debian, or any of the other major distros nor of *BSD. Nevertheless, they should all be pretty much point-and-click installations even if the installer's interface isn't pretty.

Peace,
Drew
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Power to the PowerPC!

I noticed this on my duo 230 a few days ago, as well. Almost center of the screen.

I have PPC Mandriva 2005 disks. Maybe I'll install them someday

pintodave said:

I noticed this on my duo 230 a few days ago, as well. Almost center of the screen.

Click to expand...

That really sucks, PintoDave. Something hit the screen at the center of the blob.

Or in one of my PBs (an iBook G3), I closed the screen, forgetting that there was a small case screw from another repair job on the keyboard. It was enough to wreck the screen. The screens for newer G3/G4 PB's & iB's are easy to get. Harder for the older PBs and Duos.

I need a screen for a 280, either in B/W/Grey Scale or Color myself. Preferably in B/W/Grey Scale since I already have a 280c and the one in need of a screen is B/W/Grey Scale - it completes the collection. Only ones missing to complete is a 260 & 270.

What happens alot is pens, etc end up on top of the laptop/keyboard and someone shuts the lid not paying attention. Creating pressure marks in the LCD which turn into this. 

The first PPC Linux I've used was Yellow Dog Linux 2.1 on a Power Mac 8550. I had it running with GNOME 1.x at the time and it ran decently. Since then, I've installed numerous distros on various Power Macs. I installed Debian Sarge on my old StarMax 4000. While I managed to get Ubuntu Warty to install at the time (despite not being supported), it was just a bit too much for that clone compared to Sarge. Since then, I've installed Edgy on my iMac G5 and it's really fast. I plan on putting Feisty on the iMac G5 really soon.

Ahhh ha!

Hey Everybody! This is just a quick update to say that I'm running Gentoo 2007.0 on my PowerBook G3! It's a Pismo (500MHz, 512mb/30gig/combo) and everything is going great! I have yet to configure wireless, or find out if there is some kind of battery monitor, but I'll make note of the package names once I do.

I compiled the kernel and all of the packages myself, it was actually quite easy, which makes me happy.

It is actually running quite well, other than my annoyance at the trackpad, which also happens with Mac OS, so there isn't much I can do I suppose.

If I can get it to rip CDs and copy files from my digital camera (it's a temporary storage spot while I'm on trips) then this would be a realistic mobile setup for me. I am pleased with how well xfce4 and OpenOffice.ORG 2 respond. However, I think I might need to find an even lighter-weight word processor, we'll see.
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[Insert Cool Signature here!]

I would rather to see OpenSolaris on Macs (Polaris project).
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To Be Continued...

Elfen said:

That really sucks, PintoDave. Something hit the screen at the center of the blob.

Or in one of my PBs (an iBook G3), I closed the screen, forgetting that there was a small case screw from another repair job on the keyboard. It was enough to wreck the screen. The screens for newer G3/G4 PB's & iB's are easy to get. Harder for the older PBs and Duos.

I need a screen for a 280, either in B/W/Grey Scale or Color myself. Preferably in B/W/Grey Scale since I already have a 280c and the one in need of a screen is B/W/Grey Scale - it completes the collection. Only ones missing to complete is a 260 & 270.

Click to expand...

260? What spec is that?  I only knew of 210, 230, 250, 270, and 280 plus the 2300.

I'm guessing that was a typo, there is no 260

The Duo 220's, 240's and 260's are the rarest of the Duos out there! They use the former inviso "clear" cases, making them invisible!

lol - yeah, its a typo.

i use Debian 6.0 Squeeze (testing) on an eMac G4 as a server

I'm very tempted to try Squeeze on my StarMax now that I have it back in my possession. My iMac G5 is dead due to the caps being blown, but eventually that might see a repair if I'm feeling up to it (maybe I'll do that during the Spring Break I have next week).

Fedora dropped PPC but I hear it's coming back in 15. There's also CRUX. Arch, and I also heard about a Linux Mint port to PowerPC called MintPPC. That might be a better alternative to Ubuntu since they're going full-on with Unity as the DE.

http://mintppc.org/

My 230 was in a box in storage for the longest time, I'm assuming I must have placed a heavy box on top of it at some point in time and messed it all up. That's what I get for being sloppy with my computer storage in the past. I'm much more careful with things now!

You're as guilty as I in the storage issues. The problem lies in that the keyboard of the Duos does rub up against the screens, as in a few Powerbooks. More so when the rubber pads on the screen that contact the rest of the PB wears down flat.