Ubuntu Live on 12" G4 Powerbook - most hardware not recognised

[Seamus]

Hi All,

I have been looking for a "usable" version of linux to run on my G4 Powerbook - whilst OS X is nice, I miss a lot of the functionality from my Fedora Core 3 desktop.

Anyways, I have heard great reviews of Ubuntu do downloaded the latest Live version from here (http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/hoary/array-3.5-live/hoary-live-powerpc.iso) and ran it up.

Got a working X environment, but stuck on 640x480 res, and didn't seem to recognise the ethernet card as well (NIC settings all correct, but no 'net connection).

Considering most G4 Powerbooks would be running identical hardware, I would have thought getting the drivers sorted out on the Live Disk should have been relatively straightforward process.

Anyway, can anyone provide any assistance with this install, to try and get a better working version (links to drivers, or FAQ, tutorials etc).

IF I can get the Live CD working sufficiently, I will definitely look at installing it so I can dual boot.

Appreciate the help in advance,

[Seamus]

Hi All,

I have been looking for a "usable" version of linux to run on my G4 Powerbook - whilst OS X is nice, I miss a lot of the functionality from my Fedora Core 3 desktop.

Anyways, I have heard great reviews of Ubuntu do downloaded the latest Live version from here (http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/hoary/array-3.5-live/hoary-live-powerpc.iso) and ran it up.

Got a working X environment, but stuck on 640x480 res, and didn't seem to recognise the ethernet card as well (NIC settings all correct, but no 'net connection).

Considering most G4 Powerbooks would be running identical hardware, I would have thought getting the drivers sorted out on the Live Disk should have been relatively straightforward process.

Anyway, can anyone provide any assistance with this install, to try and get a better working version (links to drivers, or FAQ, tutorials etc).

IF I can get the Live CD working sufficiently, I will definitely look at installing it so I can dual boot.

Appreciate the help in advance,
ok some feedback on the above, I now have the NIC working, and can browse the 'net, but at 640x480 it is not pretty.... once I get the resolution sorted out I should be sweet....

[panickedthumb]

At this point, the LiveCDs for mac are a work in progress. I'd suggest setting up about 5 gigs for Ubuntu and installing it to see if it works better when you install it. I was also stuck in 640x480 when I tried the PPC live cd on my G3 iMac, but it works very well with Warty and Hoary installed.

[Seamus]

At this point, the LiveCDs for mac are a work in progress. I'd suggest setting up about 5 gigs for Ubuntu and installing it to see if it works better when you install it. I was also stuck in 640x480 when I tried the PPC live cd on my G3 iMac, but it works very well with Warty and Hoary installed.

OK thanks for the feedback.... I will give this a go, but what I was hoping to get around was a "live" repartition of the HD on my laptop (done this a few times on x86, but never on PPC, and not exactly confident of doing it successfully)

Does Ubuntu have any step by step installs for installing on PPC like Gentoo does (http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-ppc.xml) ?

Thanks for your help.

[Viro]

The ubuntu installation is pretty straight forward, like Fedora's only it uses a text based GUI instead. I think you will cope well as you have used Linux before.

[Seamus]

The ubuntu installation is pretty straight forward, like Fedora's only it uses a text based GUI instead. I think you will cope well as you have used Linux before.
yeah, thanks it is more the partitioning frustrations I don't want to face. Frankly, the backup of all data is a bit of a pain right now (am in between shifting houses!) - is there an equivalent of PartitionMagic on the PPC?