Hello. I'm new here and to Linux; I hope I've chosen the right forum.
A couple of days ago, Google decided that with OS X 10.4.11 (iBook G4 PPC), not being able to update Firefox or run Chrome, I might as well be banned. I can't load any Google-related pages or watch videos on Youtube (the YT website does load). At first, google.com gave me a page asking me to download Chrome (even though I couldn't and it knew I couldn't). Now the browser just loads a blank or nothing at all. I tried TenFourFox but nothing.
I didn't think there was any update or workaround on OS X I could try (I know it's off-topic, but I wouldn't mind if you told me different). I'd never tried Linux (on pc or Mac) but the only thing that came to mind was that if I installed Linux on a partition I could solve my problem. I can do all I want on OS X 10.4.11, and Lubuntu (see below) is comparatively rudimentary (at least for me), so I meant to use Linux only for surfing the web (especially accessing Gmail and getting Youtube videos to run).
My Mac is as follows:
iBook G4
PowerPC G4 933 MHz
1.12 GB DDR SDRAM (I expanded it myself some time ago)
HD 160 GB
Ubuntu itself seemed out of the question. Xubuntu doesn't seem to be available for PowerPC in a nice ISO file, so for the moment I decided to download Lubuntu, burn it on a cd and try it live (I didn't even know it was possible).
Now I can indeed load Google and watch Youtube videos on Lubuntu, but I have three or four problems. For the moment, I'd be happy if I could solve this one:
- my touchpad (or trackpad—the in-built thing below the space bar) does work for dragging the cursor, but I can't click on it (left- or right-click). I haven't found any specific threads dealing with this: either the pad is not recognized or the trouble is only right-clicking. My problem is different.
I can click with the button below the pad, but I shouldn't because of a hardware issue: if I click enough times, the cursor starts jumping around (the iBook is obviously old). A mouse works, and sometimes ctrl+F11 works, but I'd like to be able to click on the pad. I don't see how I could retrieve the driver for the touchpad, for instance, and Lubuntu doesn't seem to have a "touchpad panel" in the preferences.
- Secondly, given the above specs of my IBook G4, if I did decide to make a small Linux partition, would it be worth it to go for Xubuntu rather than Lubuntu? Would it run smoothly, and with no crashes (I think, for instance, that OS X 10.4 runs well enough on my machine), and would I have a relatively easier time?
Also, how big should the partition be? I know the minimum requirements: I'd like to leave Xubuntu/Lubuntu enough space to run well without stealing unnecessary space from OS X 10.4, which is rather more demanding and which is where I have my media and such.
I've run on a bit, but I thought I should make myself clear. Again, I hope I'm in the right forum. I'll be grateful to anyone who can help me.
bgriffinn
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