Click to See Complete Forum and Search --> : Booting a Mac with a Linux Live CD


Fu Manchu
04-20-2006, 05:38 PM
Greetings!

I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong, but I see no threads at all in this branch of the Forum. If I'm right, and I'm the first, I apologise for asking an off-base question that might not be of much interest to others.

Background: I was reading a detective novel, and in it the main character is faced with a situation where he needs to get into his associate's computer. The associate has disappeared, and perhaps a recent file on her HD will tell him what he needs to know to proceed in finding her.

Uh-oh! The boot-up, login PASSWORD!!! problem. Try her dog's name, her boyfriends name, her SS#, etc. No good.

Meanwhile **I** am thinking, "WTF? pop in SimplyMepis Live, or Knoppix. . . Read all the text files you want!"

BUT, the plot thickens as it is revealed that the computer in question is a Mac G4.

My humble question to you is:
Can a Linux Live CD boot a Mac G4?

I realize it is a different architecture/processor from the machines I normally associate with the Unix/Linux OS's. On the other hand, I've heard OS X is somewhat based on BSD.

Whatever. I have NO experience with Macs. And the question doesn't affect me personally --it's just curiosity.

Anybody have any experience that could clue me in? I'd be grateful.

Of course my gratitude and a dime would buy you a cup of. . .

[Crap! How many guys here can remember when coffee cost 10 cents?? Get with it, Fu!]

StarKnight83
04-20-2006, 05:58 PM
There is a ver. of knoppix that is PPC (remember the diff processor) and any of the ppc gentoo disks would work

Icarus
04-20-2006, 06:14 PM
Looks like there are several versions that will boot on a G4
http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php
Sort that to PPC systems and you'll get a good list of 8 that should work.

You can still get coffe for 5 cents at Al's Oasis (http://www.alsoasis.com/index.html) in chamberlain, SD! (my parents are from there and grandparents still live there) It's a good stop when on a road trip to Wall Drug (http://www.walldrug.com/)!! :D