On Dec 25, 2010, at 4:40 PM, Brian Boothe wrote:
> What requirements do i need on a Powermac G3 to run linux , a few years back
> i burned yellowdog linux but never could get it to boot from CD, can
> anyone help me
Technically this should properly be on the G3/4/5 list. But the answer applies
to G3 iMacs as well so...
I have several G3s and G4s I've put Linux on.
Debian 5 seems to be the overall best choice, it has the broadest range of
support and available applications. It takes some of the least fiddling to get
it working.
Yellowdog 5 took some fiddling to get it to work (most linux installs take some
fiddling with the Xorg configuration file to get it to work). The updates
don't seem to work anymore. It's possibly the most crash prone Linux I've
tried.
SUSE 10 or 11 was, IIRC the only one to install without a hitch. I haven't
really tried this one out much.
Fedora 9 had about the normal difficulties during install. It always seems to
be coming up with some security hitch or other.
Ubuntu 9.10 is the most useful I've found. It did need fiddling with the
Xorg.conf file but once done it seemed to work quite well.
All of these distros had a hick-up with sound, it seems like the proper driver
("PowerMac") is installed but not active, you have to tweak it to use the right
driver. Also you none of these distros have software for playing .MP3 files,
it's a licensing issue. There are directions on the net for installing it.
As far as requirements, you can probably get by on 512Mb but I'd recommend 1Gb.
10Gb of HD space should be fine unless you want to load a large amount of
media files (music for example).
I've installed the above distros on PM G3s, PM G4s, a Wallstreet, Pismo, 3400,
G3 PowerBook, G3 iMac and perhaps others.
I've done this to learn things and, in theory, to run software not available
under Mac OS. Among other things I've learned the best ways to bang my head on
a wall. :) After installing Mac OS (X or earlier) you get used to just
running the installer and not having to do anything to make things work. Linux
always seems to need something tweaked.
Clark Martin
Redwood City, CA, USA
Macintosh / Internet Consulting
"I'm a designated driver on the Information Super Highway"
--
You received this message because you are a member of the iMac Group, a group
for those using Apple iMacs and eMacs.
The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/imac/list.shtml and our netiquette
guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To leave this group, send email to [email protected]
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/imaclist
