"ideal" OS for old G4??

**dfreem** · August 7th, 2008

Hi!
What would be the best non-Apple OS to put on a (12/1999) Mac G4, 450 Mhz, 512MB RAM system?? I am about to give up on OS 9.2.2 and may head toward a Ubuntu, Ku, Xu, Ed, Go, ect--, though, the only one I have ever used is Ubuntu.

Thanks for your time and patience!!!

new newbie, dan

**jimv** · August 7th, 2008

Ubuntu will run just fine on that machine.

**dfreem** · August 7th, 2008

Thanks!

Am I not limited to an older version of Ubuntu--like 6.xx ??

best ones!
dan

**employeeno5** · August 7th, 2008

Recently on 500MHz G3 (also with only 512MB RAM) I had the PPC version of Hardy working surprisingly fast. In fact it seemed to work much faster than when I had tried Fiesty on the the same machine.

I was originally going to install Xubuntu, but I couldn't find a PPC build for Hardy yet. Ubuntu worked out just fine though.

However, to keep things nimble I eventually ended up doing a server installation.
Then I installed xorg and Fluxbox and Xfce. I usually just use Fluxbox on it's own, but Xfce runs very well on it, even with some basic composting effects enabled.

**stream303** · August 8th, 2008

Originally Posted by dfreem

Am I not limited to an older version of Ubuntu--like 6.xx ??

Not at all! Take your pic of the latest community-supported versions you can download here:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPCDownloads

Normally I suggest the "alternate" installer (full gui after install, but text-only during).

**dfreem** · August 8th, 2008

BIG Thanks, ALL!!

dan

**mikjp** · August 9th, 2008

What about Debian or Slackintosh? I use Debian on my iBook with 600 MHz & 384 MB RAM. Works OK. Ubuntu's CD did not even boot on that laptop.

NetBSD would also run on that one.

Greetings,

mikko

**krucz36** · August 15th, 2008

Originally Posted by mikjp

What about Debian or Slackintosh? I use Debian on my iBook with 600 MHz & 384 MB RAM. Works OK. Ubuntu's CD did not even boot on that laptop.

NetBSD would also run on that one.

Greetings,

mikko

i had a post listing the install process for 7.01 on a ppc iBook yesterday, before i registered, and now i can't find it! yargh. i'll post it here if i do. there's a couple tricks necessary. it was like 19 steps one user had posted, plus an amended version by a user who went through with it and noticed some issues...anyone else seen that?