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Thread: Best os for a imac g3

  1. #1
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    Best os for a imac g3

    Hello everyone that will listen to my problems.

    Ok, so i am trading my brother a old laptop for a imac g3. that isn't the problem though. the problem is that i don't know weather to keep os 8 on it or switch it to a Linux. if i do switch it, it as to be an original operating system. I would like it to have a different feel from everything else. Like not look like Ubuntu, or osX, or windows. it has to be different.

    So i am asking what the best and most original operating system there is that will work for this model of imac. now keep in mind that it doesn't have WiFi and i don't know what the specs are on it.

    I also know that this is the wrong forum. But this will give me the most diversity.
    Last edited by joco1500; January 1st, 2013 at 01:12 AM.

  2. #2
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    Re: Best os for a imac g3

    Thread moved to Other OS/Distro Talk.


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  3. #3
    Join Date
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    Re: Best os for a imac g3

    You should learn how to ask questions properly first.
    What do your words "an original operating system" "best and most original operating system" and "a different feel from everything else" mean?
    Best for what (or in what) ?

    If you need only different "look", change wall paper
    You can change the apperance and usage by using different desktop environment and different window manager.
    Desktop environment: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_environment
    Window manager: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Window_manager
    If you need different panel, use "openbox" or tiling window managers; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiling_window_manager
    If you do not need GUI, use CLI (TUI); http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command-line_interface
    or
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_user_interface
    If you need different system, you need not stick to linux. You can use BSD, although Mac OS X is derivative (?) of BSD. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkele...e_Distribution
    FreeBSD: http://www.freebsd.org/platforms/ppc.html
    NetBSD: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetBSD

    The following link may help you to select available linux distributions for powerpc (ppc):
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compari...ecture_support
    although I am not sure if imac G3 is powerpc or not.
    Last edited by kiyop; January 1st, 2013 at 05:45 AM.
    OpenBox: Debian Wheezy, Sid, Snowlinux, Aptosid, Siduction, Crunchbang, Ubuntu, Mint, ZorinOS, OS4, Arch, Manjaro, Mageia, Fedora, CentOS, OpenSuSE, PCLinuxOS, Sabayon, Slackware, Win XP/7
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  4. #4
    Join Date
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    Re: Best os for a imac g3

    http://mac.linux.be/content/apple-powerpc-wiki

    Scroll down a bit and pick one from the list on the left...

    Also see http://distrowatch.com/search.php?architecture=powerpc

  5. #5
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    Re: Best os for a imac g3

    Quote Originally Posted by mips View Post
    http://mac.linux.be/content/apple-powerpc-wiki

    Scroll down a bit and pick one from the list on the left...

    Also see http://distrowatch.com/search.php?architecture=powerpc
    I say go with arch ppc. You can literally have it look like a computer that came out of the matrix. A lot of different DEs/wms included in arch repos
    Whoever came up with the phrase "There is no such thing as a stupid question" obviously never had the internet.

  6. #6
    Join Date
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    Ubuntu 22.04 Jammy Jellyfish

    Re: Best os for a imac g3

    Quote Originally Posted by joco1500 View Post
    ...trading ...for a imac g3.
    ...best and most original operating system there is that will work for this model of imac.
    First, that is ancient - legacy hardware.

    Second, I am not sure what you would consider best and most original, but I would try Yellow Dog Linux - dig in the repos for a legacy release.

    And Third, might be able to use that machine as a server, whether it be a bastion host to protect a network, or a small file server

  7. #7
    Join Date
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    Re: Best os for a imac g3

    If you want something that just *looks* different, put any mainstream linux distro with a PPC port (Debian or Arch, e.g.) and experiment with window managers until you find something that floats your boat.

    AFAICT Linux, BSD, and (naturally) MacOS are about your only options. If it was a G4 you could try MorphOS (Amiga-OS clone), but it seems they don't support G3.

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