---------- Original message ---------- Subject: Re: Goodbye Power Macs! Or: Linux on Power Macs Date: Mittwoch 14 Juli 2010N From: "Michael G.M." <michaelgm717...@gmail.com> To: "G-Group" <g3-5-list@googlegroups.com>
> Andreas, > Big congrats on getting your new Linux Box running well!! Thanks. Since amd64 (x86-64) is so well supported this was not at all hard to accomplish. > I take it you built your own System? Sounds nice and very fast. What > GPU did you use? I use Gentoo which has a very well documentation of what to do to get it running. What was really really fast was compiling all the programs (which Gentoo's portage system does for you, basically) – for which the G5 Dual-Core 2.0 GHz had me watch for about 4 days compile all the stuff needed to get to a decent desktop. With this Phenom II X6 it took me only about 24 hours – amazing! The GPU is –for now– an older Radeon X1800GTO PCIe. It is very very well supported in Linux – on x86/amd64. I tried a Radeon X1900 Mac Edition on my G5 Dual-Core (ppc64, but also ppc) and it was/is not at all supported. The reason being that the driver under Linux requires the PC-AtomBIOS to work correctly, which is missing on OpenFirmware and, for that matter: on EFI-based graphics cards. I'm planning on using a Radeon HD5770 with 1 GB of video RAM. > Also, How did you migrate your data to Linux? and any suggestions on > how to do so? I think you got me wrong here. I used Linux all the way. I started off on a PC running Gentoo Linux. I then migrated to a newer PC. Then I got the first G4 Mac and got Gentoo Linux running on it as well and migrated all my data to this G4 (on Gentoo Linux!). Then it was the G5 Dual-Core, and now it is the Phenom II X6. My point was: imagine such a transition (x86 platfrom to PowerPC platform to PowerPC 64-bit platfrom and finally to x86-64 platform) with any other operating system… And for Linux that's not even the limit: arm, mips and so on is also an alternative. As long as you have a supported graphics card nothing will hinder you to run you desktop on a non-mainstream platform. Only you will most likely experience more problems than with mainstream platforms… (Like I did with my G5.) Cheers, Andreas aka Mac User #330250 -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
