Linux on PPC Macintosh
Anyway, I am thinking that most modern Linux distributions got bloated. I use
Gentoo Linux, and I decided to go with KDE, but this is a no-go on a Power Mac
with 400 MHz. It will feel even worse than Leopard.
So I found this:
http://justaguythinkingblog.blogspot.co.at/2012/04/alternative-os-for-older-
powerpc-macs.html
And I can second that. I’d go for a lightweight Linux (more precisely: Window
Manager, like: KDE, Gnome, Xfce, LXDE, …) on an older Power Mac, just like I
would prefer Tiger over Leopard.
Other links, that may be of interest:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-pmac/index.html
http://penguinppc.org/
http://mac.linux.be/content/apple-powerpc-wiki
So, my advice: “Forget Lion, Give MintPPC Linux a Try” (scoll down a bit):
http://lowendmac.com/misc/11mr/mb0516.html#6
Get it:
http://www.mintppc.org/
Although, I have to admit: I didn’t try MintPPC.
Instead, I tried Gentoo:
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-ppc.xml
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-ppc-faq.xml
http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Apple_Power_Mac_G4_Quicksilver_(M8493)
You can even boot a live system from a USB pen drive:
http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/LiveUSB_on_PPC
But first, you need to get into “command line editing”, and get Gentoo there:
http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/where.xml
Cheers,
Andreas aka Mac User #330250
p.s. Forget that I even mentioned Gentoo Linux. Go for MintPPC! (No command
line editing there!)
If it really must be Ubuntu, use the 10.04 LTS (i.e. long time support)
version, that will be supported until April 2013 or 12.04 LTS until April
2017. You see the problem with 10.04?
And I advice a slimmer Window Manager (i.e. GUI), like Gnome 2 (Mint uses
this) or Xfce (Xubuntu) or LXDE (Lubuntu).
Also, be adviced that PPC support for Ubuntu is not official!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_(operating_system)