Click to See Complete Forum and Search --> : Which linux distro for Macs?
Tempus77
12-10-2002, 05:50 AM
Just got myself a new apple G4 powerbook as a gift from a friend recently, and have been thinking of installing linux on it. Got RH 8.0 running on my desktop, but not sure about Macs though.
Can i get some suggestions on suitable or nice distros to install on a powerbook, that'll be easy to use for a newbie like me?
Linux's way up there in the cool factor........:D
JohnT
12-10-2002, 06:12 AM
http://www.edmunds-enterprises.com/linux/cart.php?ba=plst&category=8
PPC and Power PC
mrBen
12-10-2002, 07:26 AM
You can get versions of Mandrake, SuSE and Debian for PPC, plus there's YellowDog which is PPC only.
I'm sure there are others, but these are the 4 main one, IIRC.
Screenless
12-11-2002, 06:54 PM
Originally posted by mrBen
You can get versions of Mandrake, SuSE and Debian for PPC, plus there's YellowDog which is PPC only.
I'm sure there are others, but these are the 4 main one, IIRC.
YellowDog is just Redhat ported to Mac except for the installer. ( I know one of the developers.) :p
Tempus77
12-13-2002, 02:40 AM
went to YDL's website.........it does seem like an ok distro......how does it compare against Mandrake, SuSe, Debian, etc?
z0mbix
12-13-2002, 05:51 AM
Originally posted by Tempus77
went to YDL's website.........it does seem like an ok distro......how does it compare against Mandrake, SuSe, Debian, etc?
How can anything compare with Debian ;) j/k, I've heard great reports of all three on mac, again, the usual questions will have to be asked when choosing a distro, regardless of platform. If you like your RedHat box and how that works then try Mandrake or SuSE, both are very easy to install and have similar tools.
Tempus77
12-14-2002, 03:41 AM
thanks, cheeky_zombie. maybe i will give Debian a try, it's about time anyway.
cheers. :D
z0mbix
12-14-2002, 03:15 PM
Originally posted by Tempus77
thanks, cheeky_zombie. maybe i will give Debian a try, it's about time anyway.
cheers. :D
No problem, but just remember that Installing Debian will be quite alot harder than installing the other two. I've also hear Yellow Dog is great too, Solo probably knows more, I believe he's used most of the above on Macs.
Tempus77
12-15-2002, 09:00 PM
downloaded both Debian and YDL over the weekend.....will try them out this week....if i can find some time off work. :p
Yeah... I'd agree that those are the two best PPC distros available right now (but that could change next week ;) ). I like YDL for it's complete content and I like Debian for the reason most people like Debian... Apt-get :) . Configuration schemes are more centralized in Debian as well, so there aren't so many little config files to hunt around for and edit.
As I've recently learned however, one can still break their system with Debian, but some things are far more forgiving too, like X configuration. As has been mentioned; the installation isn't as newbie friendly as YDL's (which is one of the best I've seen for PPC Linux).
Oh, one more thing... Become familiar with YaBoot configuration, and also with holding down the Option key after the Mac's startup chimes (in case the YaBoot routine gets hosed, the Option key is the Mac's built-in bootloader... Very slow, but works great in OS X.2).
Tempus77
12-16-2002, 12:10 AM
Wow.......a reply from the PPC guru. Thanks, Solo........now i will definitely make some free time this week to try them out.
cheers. :D
Heh... A guru I'm not ;) . I'll do what I can to help. Please let us know how it goes :) .
Tempus77
12-23-2002, 03:16 AM
sigh, was about to set some time aside for installing YDL last week, but my brother has hijacked my Powerbook for his Flash design assignments.....looks like i'm going to have to wait till he's done to try out YDL.
will keep this thread updated when i managed to wrestle my powerbook back from my evil brother.
cheers. :)
Merry holidays! And May the new year bring u all much happiness.
adikgede
12-24-2002, 11:32 AM
There is also Gentoo www.gentoo.org
If you are planning on trying debian you might want to give FINK (http://fink.sourceforge.net) a go on OS X for awhile. The reason I say this is because FINK uses debians apt as a package manager and this would get you used to using apt-get and dselect first.
johnno
02-03-2003, 12:35 PM
As I run a pc, I haven't personal experience of the Mac port of Gentoo, but I can say that from my experiences on a pc, it's a bit of a pain to get set up, but once there, the easiest to maintain o/s I've used, bar none.
Hitchhiker
02-03-2003, 05:13 PM
there is a web site; --
http://www.tuxppc.org/
One of many web sites regarding Linux for PowerPC.
Google it! There are plenty.
Tempus77
02-10-2003, 03:55 AM
there is a web site; --
http://www.tuxppc.org/
One of many web sites regarding Linux for PowerPC.
Google it! There are plenty.
nice site..........:)
anyway, after a couple of months, i finally got YDL running on my powerbook, but it feels way too familiar to my RH box.......so, i'm gonna get rid of it, and try Gentoo.......if i have the time of course.
cheers.