Where to download Ubuntu for PowerPC and other frequently asked questions

[Leslie Viljoen]

I'm really not sure about AGP, but I have had Ubuntu/Debian running on my MacMini G4 without the problem you describe. The MacMini has a Radeon card.

I think solving your problem could help a lot of people, and then we could improve the wiki too. When the screen freezes, can you get to a command prompt using ctrl-alt-f1? Have you tried "video=ofonly" at the boot: prompt before startup? If you can get to a command line before everything freezes you might also be able to try the "fbdev" driver for XWindows that often works when other XWindows drivers fail.

This post might interest you: http://www.ppclinux.info/boards/1/topics/show/38

If none of those ideas get you anywhere, can you please repost your request in the main forum? It is much more likely to get attention from someone who has the same machine as you if it has a useful subject line.

[vijaym]

i never managed to get ubuntu hardy working on my g3 ibook. so moved to debian etch and it worked excellently.

[Jammy4041]

Some good operating systems for the PowerPC arcitecture are:

Debian - has supported PowerPC since 1997, with LXDE, and XFCE. Use Squeeze "Testing".

Yellow Dog - good support for G4s and over, sells PS3 with YDL preinstalled but has outdated packages

Ferdora- Bang up to date with packages, I think that it's also hidden, though.

FreeBSD- Not a linux distro, but essentially uses the same tools. e.g. Firefox etc, and I would think that it is lighter as well, especially if it has XFCE.

Personally, I'll go with a Debian/ GNU Linux combination, if you have a G3, which I do.
If you have a G4 and higher, and want the extra support, go with ydl.
If you are interesting in trying something new, try FreeBSD

[Jammy4041]

Here's where you download those operating systems. (assuming you want CD-sized disks)

Debian: http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/...owerpc/iso-cd/

YDL: http://us.fixstars.com/support/downloads/

Fedora is only go if you have a DVD-ROM drive in your computer, and is supplied on DVD only.

SuSE, is another great PPC Distro. How could I not have mentioned it in the last post???
It comes on a nice net-install CD, so you will need a worki8ng internet connection when you install.
http://download.opensuse.org/distrib....1-NET-ppc.iso

FreeBSD: ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/re...erpc-disc1.iso

I do reccommend that you have a look at each distro, before settling on one choice. There are more, but these, I think, are the ones that stand out.

[pxwpxw]

PowerPC - Installing Intrepid (8.10) - No common CD-ROM drive was detected
tiresia

The ubuntu-8.10-alternate-powerpc Installer-CD failes to detect the CD-ROM Drive.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=964904

[Geshman]

I have read this entire thread and I am still quite confused. Is it possible to get a graphical linux operating system for a G3 Power PC iMac? If so where do I find it?

[pxwpxw]

I have read this entire thread and I am still quite confused. Is it possible to get a graphical linux operating system for a G3 Power PC iMac? If so where do I find it?

Live cd - may be too much for imac g3
Xubuntu & Kubuntu Jaunty (9.04) Beta LiveCD for PowerPC
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1117130

Alternate cd install - text base installer does full desktop install
As listed on post #1, the cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/ for all ppc versions
Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/rele...repid/release/

Dont know where you get live cd versions for intrepid or earlier.
you could also ask ppclinux.info.

[Tommy]

Live cd - may be too much for imac g3
Xubuntu & Kubuntu Jaunty (9.04) Beta LiveCD for PowerPC
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1117130

Alternate cd install - text base installer does full desktop install
As listed on post #1, the cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/ for all ppc versions
Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/rele...repid/release/

Dont know where you get live cd versions for intrepid or earlier.
you could also ask ppclinux.info.

you don't have to go far... just go up the file tree at the URL you gave: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/

You can get the current Jaunty 9.04 and all the other currently-supported releases back to Dapper.

I'm still seeing the security updates on my Dapper 6.06.1 PPC installation, so I really appreciate the effort to keep it working so long. (Since it's an Apple Wallstreet II circa 1998 -- an "oldworld" machine -- it's been harder and harder to install new releases.)

[Jammy4041]

Having Tried out Xubuntu 9.04 on my laptop, I think I may now have to ditch Debian and get Xubuntu. Ubuntu's implementation of XFCE is far, far better (at default) then Debian's, The only thing lacking is the support, which is why I went to Debian in the first place. So is the community support good enough?

[Tommy]

Having Tried out Xubuntu 9.04 on my laptop, I think I may now have to ditch Debian and get Xubuntu. Ubuntu's implementation of XFCE is far, far better (at default) then Debian's, The only thing lacking is the support, which is why I went to Debian in the first place. So is the community support good enough?

Obviously the best way to gauge that is to try each for awhile. You will have to gauge for yourself whether the Ubuntu support (or lack thereof) suits you better than the Debian support (or lack thereof).

I see from your .sig that you have a 350Mhz iMac G3. My sense is that there are always a few packages that don't properly support the G3 processor slipping through the cracks, and it takes awhile to get them fixed. Apparently it is difficult to write fast code that runs well on Altivec and non-Altivec processors (roughly speaking, Apple's G4 & G5 processors included Altivec, the earlier ones did not).

I think bug fixes might come faster wherever most of the PowerPC developers are. Unfortunately I believe there are fewer all the time.