Query: Which Distribution Of Linux For... Mac (PPC) user discussion

[Fractured.Logic 0]

So the computer that I'll be hooking up when my room is finished will be my older machine. I chose this machine for two reasons:

 

1. My PC needs a new screen :XD:

 

2. My Mac is my graphics machine, with the full Adobe CS2, and has more of my art.

 

Currently, my top choices for distributions are Ubuntu or Yellow Dog.

 

I've had my eye on Yellow Dog because it is based on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux/CentOS core. My first experience with Linux was Red Hat 9, and I fell in love with the OS because of that distribution. It would probably be less of a learning curve for me to go with something related to Red Hat.

 

I've also been very interested in Ubuntu, however, because I've heard so many good things about it: functionality, usability and ease-of-installation (among many other things).

 

I have briefly played around with Gentoo, but, since it is reputed as the gamer's Linux, I wanted to save my next experience with that for partitioning on my PC later (which was built to be a gaming machine).

 

I am open to hearing & learning about other distributions that any of you would recommend.

 

-----

 

I'll edit this post later with the hardware specs, which I forgot to write down before coming into the Center today. But, to give you an idea, the computer is about 8 or 9 years old, and a G4 currently running Mac OS X.3 (Panther). Please keep in mind, when replying, that I don't want to lose my programs and previous works of art and I'd like to partition the HD to run Linux. I have never tried to partition on a Mac, but I am assuming (until proven otherwise) that it is likely to be quite different than partitioning on a PC.

 

All right, that about sums it up! Let the discussion begin!

 

[Baniboy 3]

Ubuntu is a great start.I don't think it'll be hard to partition the mac, since hard drives are under the same standards(I think).If you decide to go with Ubuntu, you can partition it with the partitioning program that comes with the LiveCD.It's also a good idea to try a few popular distributions before sticking with one.I'm not sure how the partitioning software and the boot-loader (which is GRUB boot-loader for ubuntu) will work with mac computers, I have no experience with mac. I would also suggest ubuntu, because it is the most used one, so you will probably get your questions answered a bit quicker than for example Yellow dog(which I have never even heard of... )As for the gaming part, I really have no experience, I have never played anything else than flash games on linux. If you like graphics and such, you can also try ubuntu studio, which has more professional tools for editing and creating multimedia. It's also a good idea to try out those you mentioned, just to see if you like them more. You could also post more information about the computer you're going to install linux on, maybe some of us could provide more information about distros for the system you have.

[Fractured.Logic 0]

Ubuntu is a great start.

 

I don't think it'll be hard to partition the mac, since hard drives are under the same standards(I think).

 

If you decide to go with Ubuntu, you can partition it with the partitioning program that comes with the LiveCD.

It's also a good idea to try a few popular distributions before sticking with one.

 

I'm not sure how the partitioning software and the boot-loader (which is GRUB boot-loader for ubuntu) will work with mac computers, I have no experience with mac.

So then I am going to want to know more about this boot-loader, and it's compatibility with Mac. If anyone knows about this, please speak up! I'll research it in the meanwhile.

 

If you like graphics and such, you can also try ubuntu studio, which has more professional tools for editing and creating multimedia. It's also a good idea to try out those you mentioned, just to see if you like them more.

I'm skeptical that I'd find a program I love more than GIMP! But I will definitely look into it. It sounds interesting, and I trust your input very much!

 

You could also post more information about the computer you're going to install linux on, maybe some of us could provide more information about distros for the system you have.

Fully planning on that, but I won't be able to get you any hardware specs until tomorrow.

[truefusion 3]

Ubuntu would be a good choice if your Mac had an Intel processor inside. Ubuntu stopped building for the PPC architecture, so unless you have a Mac with an Intel chip inside, or unless you find an older version of Ubuntu when it did support PPC, i would say Ubuntu may be out of the question. I'm not sure if you mind maintaining the system yourself or not, but Gentoo, being a source-based distribution, requires you to be aware of the changes to your system. Back when i was using Gentoo i learned a lot about how Linux works, how to configure the system, and whatnot. But after a while the maintenance started getting in the way of my productivity, so i switched back to Ubuntu.

 

I don't own a Mac, so i don't know of many distributions that run on a Mac, but if your Mac has an Intel chip, then you'd have a larger array to choose from.

 

So then I am going to want to know more about this boot-loader, and it's compatibility with Mac. If anyone knows about this, please speak up! I'll research it in the meanwhile.

The popular boot-loaders are GRUB and LILO. You are likely to see these for most distributions. They're sure to work on a Mac, since they are open source boot loaders.

 

Please keep in mind, when replying, that I don't want to lose my programs and previous works of art and I'd like to partition the HD to run Linux. I have never tried to partition on a Mac, but I am assuming (until proven otherwise) that it is likely to be quite different than partitioning on a PC.

In that case, why not just get another HDD (even if it's an external) and use that one for Linux instead?

[jlhaslip 4]

You may wish to wait for a reply from galexcd. He is on a Mac and is Triple-Booted, I think.Also, he works at an Apple store, so he would be a good member to hear from.

[Fractured.Logic 0]

Thank you for the information about Ubuntu, truefusion. To my best knowledge, my PPC is older than the ones built with the Intel chip. I also forgot to write down the hardware specs, again. *sigh* I'm a scattertwit, on my best days!

 

I had a lot of fun with Gentoo when I played with it before (remotely installing it on a PS3), even with the errors that frequently presented themselves in the process. I think, though, that the constant maintenance would be more than I personally have time for at this point in my life... so I will definitely put my interest in that distribution on hold.

 

The concept of getting another HDD would, in essence, be fine. However, I have no way to afford anything like that (now, or for quite a while), nor do I know the first thing about tinkering with Mac hardware. I only ever taught myself to tinker with a PC tower. That's definitely not an option, although it would be something I'd be interested in looking more into when () my financial situation changes for the better.

 

--

 

Jim: Thanks! It's a great deal of weight off of my shoulders knowing that there's someone around here that has such a level of expertise in the area of my situation. Hopefully I will attract his attention, or I'll happily hunt him down :XD:

 

[galexcd 0]

Well hello there, much information has already been shared in this topic but since you are so eager to hear from me, I suppose I'll share some information that I know. So a while back I attempted dual booting Ubuntu with Leopard on my PPC machine and believe when I say: it was a nightmare. Finding any kind of drivers for my graphics and sound cards that could run on a PPC build of linux was impossible, even with my google-fu. In the end, I gave up on that machine and waited until I could afford a brand new MacBook Pro. With it, as Jlhaslip said, I was able to successfully get a triple boot working with Mac os X, Windows XP, and Ubuntu. I even made a topic about how to do it, (it's somewhere buried in these forums).

So I'll address your first question first:
For Linux distro's, Ubuntu is my favorite, but if you are familiar with Red Hat, I would actually recommend looking into Fedora (preferably with the gnome desktop environment). It has the feel of Red Hat, but with the style and ease of use of Ubuntu. I have never tried Yellow Dog, but if you can't decide try running some of the different distro's from the live CD. It should give you a taste of how the operating system will look and feel.

As far as a boot loader goes, Grub works fine on intel macs, but I have not tried it on a PPC so I'm not quite sure if that would be supported. However, all apple computers have a bootloader built into their firmware that activates when you hold down the "Option" (or "Alt") key at boot. That doesn't quite do it for me so I use one called rEFIt. Unfortunately, that bootloader is for Intel machines only, however I managed to find one for PPC named yaboot. I have never tried this so if you decide to use it you'll be on your own.

After re-reading my post it does sound like I am being quite pessimistic about running linux on a PPC mac, but don't let that make you give up. I had some pretty bad experiences attempting to get it to work on my machine, however I have read many forum posts on the specific distro's websites of users who have successfully gotten linux to work well on PPC machines. I appreciate your dedication and I would be happy to answer (to the best of my abilities), any other questions you may have.

Edited May 29, 2009 by galexcd (see edit history)

[Fractured.Logic 0]

Well hello there, much information has already been shared in this topic but since you are so eager to hear from me, I suppose I'll share some information that I know.

Hello :XD: Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my topic! *Glee*

 

So a while back I attempted dual booting Ubuntu with Leopard on my PPC machine and believe when I say: it was a nightmare. Finding any kind of drivers for my graphics and sound cards that could run on a PPC build of linux was impossible, even with my google-fu. In the end, I gave up on that machine and waited until I could afford a brand new MacBook Pro. With it, as Jlhaslip said, I was able to successfully get a triple boot working with Mac os X, Windows XP, and Ubuntu. I even made a topic about how to do it, (it's somewhere buried in these forums).

Mildly daunting... but I shall prevail! Yahr!

 

I shall look for that topic

 

For Linux distro's, Ubuntu is my favorite, but if you are familiar with Red Hat, I would actually recommend looking into Fedora (preferably with the gnome desktop environment). It has the feel of Red Hat, but with the style and ease of use of Ubuntu. I have never tried Yellow Dog, but if you can't decide try running some of the different distro's from the live CD. It should give you a taste of how the operating system will look and feel.

Thanks so much for the input and advice! I'd heard about Red Hat becoming Fedora, but I'd been under the impression it was for servers only, or something of that nature. It's been a while! That's my excuse, yep...

 

As far as a boot loader goes, Grub works fine on intel macs, but I have not tried it on a PPC so I'm not quite sure if that would be supported. However, all apple computers have a bootloader built into their firmware that activates when you hold down the "Option" (or "Alt") key at boot. That doesn't quite do it for me so I use one called rEFIt. Unfortunately, that bootloader is for Intel machines only, however I managed to find one for PPC named yaboot. I have never tried this so if you decide to use it you'll be on your own.

Good to know; thanks so much for the helpful information! I shall keep an eye out for articles on the pros and cons on GRUB & LILO & yaboot (although I will have to research that later... this weekend is going to be packed with things to do )

 

After re-reading my post it does sound like I am being quite pessimistic about running linux on a PPC mac, but don't let that make you give up.

Nah, you weren't being a pessimist... realist, perhaps

 

I'm a stubborn wretch when it comes to getting an idea in my head that I have to accomplish... so good luck shaking me off

 

I had some pretty bad experiences attempting to get it to work on my machine, however I have read many forum posts on the specific distro's websites of users who have successfully gotten linux to work well on PPC machines. I appreciate your dedication and I would be happy to answer (to the best of my abilities), any other questions you may have.

I, too, have read articles professing the awesomeness of Linux on the Mac PPC, and I have determined that this is going to work, come *bleep* or high water. X)

 

I appreciate your awesomeness and knowledge! Thanks so much for the wealth of information, as well as the offer to be there if I need any other assistance. You've earned a loyal and adoring friend/fan. See you around!