robocz033 0 Report post Posted September 5, 2007 a couple simple questions...1. what distros of linux work on macs running ppc g4?2. how do i install it on an external hard drive without deleting 50gb of music and stuff. (hard drive is a Seagate FreeAgent Pro 320gb external)any answers will be of great help! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rvalkass 5 Report post Posted September 5, 2007 Most distributions offer Power PC versions to download. The latest Ubuntu release, 7.04, has CDs available for PPC and even for the PS3. You can get them from here. There are far too many distros to list that work on PPC, but often the links are hidden or tucked away somewhere. Find a distro you like, and if you can't find a PPC release, ask in their forums or something and ask if there is one, and if not, why not?For the second point, you can partition the external hard drive to create a section on it just for Linux. This means it wont affect the data already on it, and can be treated just like a separate drive. There are various utilities out there for partitioning drives, or you can do it from within the installer of some distros. Again, have a look around for a free one, or one may have come with either your PC or the external drive. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
robocz033 0 Report post Posted September 5, 2007 ok. im downloading ubuntu. but with that dl, do i need a cd to install or can i install it from my external hard drive? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
galexcd 0 Report post Posted September 5, 2007 (edited) The problem with the partitioner that comes with mac, disk copy (found in /applications/utilities) is it forces you to format the HD to partition it. If you know what you're doing in the terminal you can partition your external from there but I don't recommend it. If you check versiontracker.com they have alot of great free little utilities that can do this kind of thing. Find one that you can partition your disk without erasing it. I actually did the same thing with my mac, I installed ubuntu on a partition on my external and it runs great. Just make sure do download the ppc version. Make sure to partition your HD as FREE SPACE! Best way of installing after partitioning your harddrive it is to burn it onto a cd (if I recall the ppc version is a disk image that you can just use disc copy to duplicate onto a cd) , and restart your mac either holding the C key to boot off the cd, or the option key, and click on the picture of the cd as your mac boots up. The ubuntu installer is very user friendly and should find your free space and confirm you want to install there. Just press Ok and it should start installing. Edited September 5, 2007 by alex7h3pr0gr4m3r (see edit history) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
