Hi
Does anyone have any experience with Linux on PowerPC Macs.
Im a long term Mac user and have an iBook G3 which might not be the fastest machine in the world - a 500Mhz G3 with 640MB RAM, but compared to my ThinkPad which is a 300Mhz P2 with 296MB RAM it is a speed demon.
I know officially Ubuntu stopped PPC ports in version 7, but community ports are still going strong. There is a PowerPC version of 10.04 although I havent tried it yet. I did try version 5 a while ago and it was pretty good.
I also know there is no official support for Flash - although some claim to have it working and a lot of software that is for Ubuntu will only work with x86 devices and not PPC.
PowerPC Linux is very thin on the ground, Ubuntu and Xubuntu seemingly the biggest two. Yellow Dog is another and there might be a Suse or Mandriva if I remember correctly.
Is it worth pursuing? Is PPC Linux any good? Or should I ditch my iBook and my ThinkPad and get faster P2 or P3 machine.
In the mean time I am going to try Ubuntu 10.04 for PowerPC on my iBook.
Any help and advice would be appreciated.
Simon
Simon Royal
--- Twitter: http://twitter.com/SimonRoyal - LowEndMac: http://tinyurl.com/macspectrum - Skype: Simon-Royal. --- IBM ThinkPad 600 running Ubuntu 10.04 & Apple iBook G3 running OSX 10.4.
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** Simon Royal simonroyal@live.co.uk [2010-05-28 22:23]:
Does anyone have any experience with Linux on PowerPC Macs.
Im a long term Mac user and have an iBook G3 which might not be the fastest machine in the world - a 500Mhz G3 with 640MB RAM, but compared to my ThinkPad which is a 300Mhz P2 with 296MB RAM it is a speed demon.
I know officially Ubuntu stopped PPC ports in version 7, but community ports are still going strong. There is a PowerPC version of 10.04 although I havent tried it yet. I did try version 5 a while ago and it was pretty good.
I also know there is no official support for Flash - although some claim to have it working and a lot of software that is for Ubuntu will only work with x86 devices and not PPC.
PowerPC Linux is very thin on the ground, Ubuntu and Xubuntu seemingly the biggest two. Yellow Dog is another and there might be a Suse or Mandriva if I remember correctly.
Is it worth pursuing? Is PPC Linux any good? Or should I ditch my iBook and my ThinkPad and get faster P2 or P3 machine.
In the mean time I am going to try Ubuntu 10.04 for PowerPC on my iBook.
Any help and advice would be appreciated.
** end quote [Simon Royal]
I've not tried putting a PPC Linux on any of my Macs yet, but why not take a look at the Debian port:
http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/5.0.4/powerpc/iso-cd/
I have a definate Debian/Ubuntu bias, based on my personal experience and history, but I intend to take a look at Debian when I finally get my G4 up and running - although the primary reason for having it is to finally take a look at OSX. I just need to get some memory and drives in it and I can see about getting it working.
On 29/05/10 23:15, Paul Tansom wrote:
I have a definate Debian/Ubuntu bias, based on my personal experience and history, but I intend to take a look at Debian when I finally get my G4 up and running - although the primary reason for having it is to finally take a look at OSX. I just need to get some memory and drives in it and I can see about getting it working.
What do you need, I have just scrapped a G4 power mac quicksilver and have the following parts available
Case Mainboard CPU daughterboard (733MHZ G4) ATI Raedon 32MB PCI card (suitable for a 2nd head display I don't think quicksilvers can Boot without an AGP card as the primary display) 128MB Ram 120GB HDD (maxtor not an apple original) Fans, fixing hardware, leads etc Apple supported DVD-RW Drive (you need either patched drive firmware or a patch to OSX to burn CD's on a non apple supported drive because Apple are awesome like that)
** Wayne Stallwood ALUGlist@digimatic.co.uk [2010-05-30 09:43]:
On 29/05/10 23:15, Paul Tansom wrote:
I have a definate Debian/Ubuntu bias, based on my personal experience and history, but I intend to take a look at Debian when I finally get my G4 up and running - although the primary reason for having it is to finally take a look at OSX. I just need to get some memory and drives in it and I can see about getting it working.
What do you need, I have just scrapped a G4 power mac quicksilver and have the following parts available
Case Mainboard CPU daughterboard (733MHZ G4) ATI Raedon 32MB PCI card (suitable for a 2nd head display I don't think quicksilvers can Boot without an AGP card as the primary display) 128MB Ram 120GB HDD (maxtor not an apple original) Fans, fixing hardware, leads etc Apple supported DVD-RW Drive (you need either patched drive firmware or a patch to OSX to burn CD's on a non apple supported drive because Apple are awesome like that)
** end quote [Wayne Stallwood]
I'll have to take a look and power it up. From memory it is 'simply' memory, HD, DVD/CD, and possibly a graphics card. I wasn't aware of the need for an Apple supported DVD-RW on these machines (earlier SCSI ones yes). I've got spare AGP graphics cards, so long as they don't require specific firmware too. I know the old Matrox cards needed patching to work - and have a couple of those kicking around too! I can't remember what CPU it had in, it is currently stacked under a part built box ready to be a new Linux server for my DMZ, once I've cleared and rebuilt the the second of my existing boxes!
On 31/05/10 12:57, Paul Tansom wrote:
I wasn't aware of the need for an Apple supported DVD-RW on these machines (earlier SCSI ones yes). I've got spare AGP graphics cards, so long as they don't require specific firmware too.
Non supported optical drives will work (except for burning where apple "to protect the consumer from a negative experience" disable write support)
I do believe that PPC machines need specific GFX card firmware (at least that was the case on earlier machines)
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Paul Tansom -
Simon Royal -
Wayne Stallwood