Linux for mac powerpc g4

Getting the revival on for your powerpc mac running linux. My current powerbook g4 has been my main laptop for a few months and i am pretty happy with debian on it right now. Most systems use this kernel flavour, which supports the powerpc 601, 603, 604, 740, 750, and 7400 processors. Getting ubuntu linux up and running on a powerpc mac. With linux on the machine it felt much more powerful than it should have. History talk 0 distros that run on the powerpc architecture.

The powerpc64 port provides a 64bit kernel and userland, and is supported on all 64bit cpus. I am wondering if anyone has installed linux on a similar machine, i would like to know more before i try it. Gentoo linux 48 gentoo linux is a versatile and fast, completely free linux distribution geared towards developers and. Does software that requires an adbbased dongle work with the power mac g4. Even worse, powerpc linux is poorly supported and doesnt have some of the uber lightweight options that x86 does. Revive a powerpc mac running linux the mac observer. The powerpc version of mint hasnt been updated in years, but heres a link to the communitymaintained ubuntu powerpc port. An inexpensive, readily available powerpc system in a small, quiet and attractive chassis.

For g3, g4, and g5 machines there is the option of gentoo. Powerpc g4 is a designation used by apple computer and eyetech to describe a fourth generation of 32bit powerpc microprocessors. Powerpc and the closely related ibm power is the processor architecture used in computers such as. Now i just need to figure out how to get an os onto the system. The ubuntu community is already considering dropping powerpc for lubuntu and ubuntumate. Debian, which is the upstream source for probably the majority of desktop linux distributions, officially shot its powerpc port. Getting ubuntu linux up and running on a powerpc mac leaman crews 2005. We are limited to debian or ubuntu with a lightweight window manager.

For complete details regarding supported and unsupported functions, please refer to the appropriate website. Revive your old mac g3, g4, or g5 with linux ghacks tech. If you want to watch the hangout meeting where this is discussed you can see it here. Im not experienced at all with anything linux, but have seen recommendations that ubuntu, debian, yellow dog and mint ppc would be my workable options. I almost bought a g4 mac last summer because i worked as a help desk support technician with both pcsmacs and running linuxmacosx on the same machine gave me a woody. But this is secondary to simply getting linux to run on the ppc mac. Dualprocessor and dualcore power mac g5s are competent performers, and the faster dualprocessor power mac g4 machines are solid workhorses as well with decent amounts of power. Did you know that old dinosaur could make a great server or desktop with the help of everyones favorite open source operating system linux. The project began its life as an ubuntu remix, but starting with version 15. We reported how to run upcoming lubuntu desktop lxqt in xenial xerus on a raspberry pi 2 and now, thanks to tester herminio hernandez, jr. Best supported linux for a sawtooth g4 powerpc macrumors. I have been recommended that linux mint lxde is the right os for me. Some people defend their favorite os to death and theyre so passionate that its hard to talk about it without offending someone. Motorola and freescales proper name of this family of processors is powerpc 74xx.

Once it boots up, which could take some time, simply follow the instructions to get your powerpc mac up and running using linux. My optical drive has been dead for 10 years or so, and i dont have an. Complete technical specifications for every apple mac using the powerpc g4 processor are listed below for your convenience. Yellowdog offers a distribution of linux that is largely compatible with the power mac g4. A lot had been said lately about running linux on powerpc and it reminds me a lot about the argument of pcs vs mac. Ubuntu only mentions g4 and g5 on their front page, but ive read.

At the time the g4 was launched, motorola categorized all their powerpc models former, current and future according to what generation they adhered to, even renaming the older 603e core g2. The person who sent it actually hadnt used it in a long time and had forgotten their password so i was left with a bootable but unusable ibook. If you have a g5 machine then you also have the options of fedora, and opensuse. Motorola and apple liked the moniker and used the term g4 for the 7400 family introduced in 1998 and the power mac g4 in 1999. I know this is possible if i boot from a macosx system, however i reformatted my system from the original macosx for ppc with a. What you need to get started depends on what type of optical drive you have in your g4 or g5based powerbook or mac. The riscbased powerpc chips are found on hardware from apple, motorola, and. Apples first generation mac mini is something which a lot of linux users have been waiting for. Which linux version works perfectly with my powerbook g4. Linux and bsd unix are free, open source operating.

No lxle, no puppy, no antix, no connachaetos, no delicate. I am wanting to install linux on my sawtooth powerpc g4. So where does that leave us who want to keep our powerpc machines running a modern secure operating system. Hi all, fyi i have a powermac g4 dual proccessor with mirror drive doors. A popular port of the linux operating system is the powerpc version of linux. There is still an attempt to save powerpc in debain. What is likely to be the best supported linux that is available. The so called newworld powermacs are any powermacs in translucent colored plastic cases, all imacs, ibooks, g4 and g5 systems.

Here is a list of powerpc machines which should work with debian. The powerbook g4 uses a powerpc chip, which limits your choices a lot in addition to the limited system memory. I would love to put mint on all my powerpc machines. Getting ubuntu linux up and running on a powerpc mac low. When you install ubuntu onto a newworld apple macintosh powerpc g3, g4 or g5 computer you can choose to boot between two or more operating systems. Its not particularly easy to create a bootable usb flash drive so you can try running linux on a powerpc mac. Macs by series, mac clones, by year, by case type and currently shipping. All apple power macintosh systems up to and including the g4 use processors supported by this kernel.

From this point on, you should read mac mini as g4 mac mini. I wouldnt want to use a power mac below 800 mhz or so with tiger or leopard, but dual 733 mhz or. I managed to get the lubuntu installer to boot from the hard drive in my mac mini g4. If you have a dvd drive, you can simply burn the iso image of lubuntu 16. I have built a static version of curl with both compilers that segfaults when run on this 2.

However i have not heard discussions of dropping powerpc. A direct download link not sure if i have to get a certain version due to the ibooks age would be greatly. How to install ubuntu mate remix on a powerpc computer. I would like to remove the startup sound of my mac mini g4 powerpc. Those familiar with powerpc will know that yaboot is the default bootloader, and that remains so here, but ive also added grub to make booting. In last weeks column, i outlined the requirements for setting up a useful and fast powerpc ppc linux desktop, and im going to start with what i consider the best of the bunch. It took me a couple weeks of research, asking questions of our linux on powerpc macs group on facebook, and experimenting before i could finally boot into linux 14. In this tutorial ill show how you can put ubuntu linux on a powerbook g4 and resurrect one of these durable old laptops from the dead.

Do you have an old mac g3 or g4 lying around doing nothing. If youre looking for a truly modern build of linux for your g5 you dont have very many choices anymore. This is an englishlanguage usertouser support group. Powerpc was an officially supported architecture for ubuntu between versions 4. This page lists linux equivalents for popular mac os x software. Modern versions of java are available through ibm java and openjdk.

Apple macintosh between about 1994 and 2006 some ibm servers and work stations. For other processors, please refer to the main by processor page also see. I wonder what people on this forum think about this. How to install linux mint on a powerpc mac youtube. I wont go into the finer details of partitioning the disk, since. In this video, we will take a look at installing linux mint on a powerbook g4.

So i have been wanting another powerpc machine to some more testing of different linux distros on. There is no further discussion of the intel based mac minis on this page. Do you want to breathe life back into your old powerbook or powerpc machine. What recent version of linux would run in my g5 and. Os x from the same era as the machine will always run better, be easier to install, give you less headaches. Users of 32bit cpus apple g3g4 must use the 32bit powerpc platform, users of 64bit cpus that support 32bit operating systems apple g5 have a choice, and users of 64bit cpus that do not must use powerpc64. We wrote this article with it, so we know the answer.

Most people dont realize there are linux ports for ppc. Does the powerpcbased mac mini g4 make a useful daily driver in 2019. I test various features, dvd, wireless, bluetooth, networking, printing, etc. Ever considered linux as an alternative to your aging os x version. A key resource for powerpc linux development is penguinppc, which also includes a hardware compatibility list.