PPC users need to wake up and let your voices be heard now!

[RoadTripDK]

It may be time for all Ubuntu PPC users to wake up. I just spotted the following as refered to by DistroWatch:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPCReview

This isn't the first time some Ubuntu developers have been mumbling about bailing from the PPC platform, but here we have the pros and cons as seen (at least by some) here at Ubuntu.

Man the barricades!

[RoadTripDK]

I just wanted to add that Ubuntu seems to suffer from a total lack of self criticism. It is noted in the review that PPC users are a declining percent of Ubuntu users, but there is no mention of how the thermal control debacle (problems getting the thermal controls implemented properly on G5's and iMac G5's) have effected the use of and downloading of the distro.

As of today (Edgy), we only have a manual solution to the problem and a final solution has first been promised with "Feisty Fawn". Maybe if the will to solve these issues with thermal control were there from the beginning, Ubuntu users/fans wouldn't be voting with their feet. As it is, reviewing the issue of support for PPC users based only on downloads is fallacious at best.

Mac users are in general quite loyal. Start showing more support for the PPC platform by solving the outstanding issues and the amount of users will increase.

[stmiller]

After talking to the ubuntu kernel dev team, I get the firm impression that they could care less about PPC Linux. The fact that ubuntu kernel images do not work on G5 machines does not seem to matter to them.

Even with Fedora, there is not much PPC love either. The only PPC friendly distro is Gentoo- but that is not everyone's cup of tea.

Linux runs EXTREMELY well on the powerpc chip. It flies on the G5, in particular. More efficient that OS X. Most people using G5 Xserves in a server situation use Linux. That's why the Terrasoft company has really taken off.
If you read the Linux kernel change logs, there are tons of people making great advances for running Linux on the chip. I think developers and coders see the technical advantages of the PPC chip, but for ubuntu: a friendly desktop is goal #1. And this is difficult right now for ppc
(no good flash (yet), java (just recently work okay), codecs have been problematic, no 3D drivers, small userbase, etc.).


Hopefully ubuntu will improve ppc support. But if not, gentoo ppc support is strong as another option.

[stmiller]

I just read over that page. Very depressing. I hate to admit it, but this is what Mandrake/Mandriva did. Turned PPC over to the community. It lasted about 10 months before the project was canned.

[seatea]

I found the post on the wiki to be a little cryptic. Does this mean that Dapper is be the only Ubuntu release that ppc users can rely on?

[DirtDawg]

Originally Posted by stmiller Even with Fedora, there is not much PPC love either. The only PPC friendly distro is Gentoo- but that is not everyone's cup of tea.

That's not true. There's also Yellow Dawg.

Anyway, the reason I started using Ubuntu in the first place was their support for ppc. That being said, I can't say I really blame them for bailing on ppc. I don't like it, but I can see where they're coming from.

The people I really feel sorry for are anyone who has spent $1000+ on an Apple in the last year or so. I can't imagine Apple will continue supporting the ppc arch for more than a few years once they make the switch to Intel chips.

One thing's for sure, using ppc has really forced me to learn how to A)compile from source and B)live without lots of cool stuff(Flash, Java, Windows codecs, etc, etc, etc).

[dpny]

Originally Posted by DirtDawg That's not true. There's also Yellow Dawg.

One of the reasons I chose Ubuntu over Yellow Dog was Ubuntu's far more frequent updates. Yellow Dog seems to value stability over all else.

I would be very upset to see Ubuntu abandon PPC. I'm typing right now on my six year old Pismo, which runs Ubuntu really well. I am also planning on putting Linux on my G5 in a few years when I replace it with an Intel-powered desktop.

[Torrance]

As much as I like the Gentoo philosophy, I'm not prepared to wait all that time for compiling from source. Of course, as well as Gentoo (and Yellow Dog if you don't mind old software), there is Debian which certainly is not going to ditch PPC for a long while yet, and requires no learning curve for those coming from Ubuntu.

[timbobsteve]

Please god, don't let this happen. I just bought an ibook and a mac mini, both PPC. I use ubuntu exclusively on them. To only get LTS versions would be a shame indeed. Ubuntu Devs, if you are listening... please don't kill Ubuntu PPC.... please?

NOTE: Having only just joined the Ubuntu community I am not really down with how you guys test new releases, but I am willing to learn and would be more than happy to devote time to test new releases of Ubuntu PPC on my hardware. Just show me how to "test" a new release and I will do it!

Please don't leave us PPC users out to dry. Please!!!!

[kellogs]

when apple switched to intel the first thing i did was whipe out completely macosx. Its not it is a bad system at all, it works ok with the hardware, but there will be a time that there will not exist universal binaries any more, and ppc hardware will be ditched from apple.

That is the reason I started using ubuntu on my G5 machine. I've got a pentium 3 right here next to the mac that I don't use, because on the mac I work very well with ubuntu and I havent had the need to power-on the intel machine yet. I Honestly expect that ubuntu devs dont dicht totally ppc hardware, as it seems they dont care about it lately. I've been looking at launchpad recently trying to fix all the problems on programs in ubuntu ppc I could, helping others to compile programs that do not work or versions that are not available even in edgy ie: Gnash, maxima(recently had very severe problems in ubuntu), wacom xorg functionality, Clisp (on ppc it has severe problems too), etc.

I look forward for the ubuntu devs to continue working on ppc as they have been doing, please dont ditch ubuntu. There are lots of users out there with mac pcc hardware with a hope in ubuntu in the long term, apple will ditch ppc macs, please look at all the mac hardware you have there with your heart, dont let it die.

cheers.