A Live Linux ISO for the Mac? 74
An anonymous reader asks: "My iBook is the strongest of my laptops, but it's not running my favorite OS. Knoppix and the various other live ISOs are nice for x86 machines, but (though OS X is nice, and I'm not disparaging it) it would be nice to have all the apps that come with KDE and GNOME, and to have them all available through a nice fluxbox or windowmaker desktop). I've seen smart people nearly cry trying to install Debian on their Macs, but then I've seen smart people nearly cry trying to install Debian in the first place. Knoppix has certainly made it easier to put Debian on x86 machines, but does such a thing exist for Macs? Mac OS X is a very pretty thing, and Apple has supported some great free software projects through it, it's just that on an older iBook (and older iMacs, even more so), a low-key GNU/Linux desktop moves more responsively, and has everything I need. If I could easily run a nice GNU system on them, old iMacs would be worth a lot more to me.".
Is installing really that hard? (Score:4, Informative)
Most of the problems I see people still having has to do with repartitioning a dual-boot sytem.
Yellow Dog Linux. (Score:4, Informative)
There really are no problems running Linux on Mac hardware.
It's possible- there used to be one! (Score:5, Informative)
If you want all the KDE and Gnome apps, (Score:5, Informative)
All you need is Fink [sourceforge.net].
Re:This isn't too intelligent (Score:2, Informative)
Debian has come a long way. (Score:5, Informative)
-sonic
Re:If you want all the KDE and Gnome apps, (Score:5, Informative)
Re:If you want all the KDE and Gnome apps, (Score:5, Informative)
Re:If you want all the KDE and Gnome apps, (Score:3, Informative)
Scott
Think this would do the trick? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:If you want all the KDE and Gnome apps, (Score:5, Informative)
KDE and GNOME (Score:3, Informative)
Re:OS X on a G3 (Score:4, Informative)
According to Everymac.com [everymac.com] your Powerbook is an original Powerbook G3 (see bolded quote below) and therefore isn't supported in OS 10.2. However, you might try checking with XLR8yourmac.com [xlr8yourmac.com] because there are "hacks" available that enable "unsupported" Macs (old clones/beige, etc.) to run OS 10.2.
From Apple's OS X Requirements Page [apple.com] Quoted here: As with processor upgrades cards, this particular Powerbook, while officially unsupported, can probably be made to run OS 10.2 with a little ingeniunity and research. This page [216.239.39.100] (cached, since the site seems to be down right now) might help you out.
Also you might want to upgrade the processor to a G4 in that Powerbook and gain OS 10.2 support, not to mention an extreme increase in speed (+Altivec support!) by buying one of these Crescendo G3 or G4 upgrade cards [sonnettech.com]. I've personally bought stuff from Sonnet and can very much recommend them. I buy all my Mac stuff generally from the fantastic (and fast/cheap/honest) Macsales.com [macsales.com] but you can find Sonnet Mac upgrade peripherals at just about any Mac reseller. If you do upgrade the Powerbook, be sure to pick up some RAM (I'd max it out to 512 megs if I were you) while you're at it. OWC/Macsales have very reliable and extremely cheap RAM. Just make sure to get the right kind by checking with one of the sites I provided.
Good luck.
Gentoo? (Score:5, Informative)
Here is some info [gentoo.org]
Here are the ISO's [ibiblio.org]
Wallstreet is 2nd PBG3 (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Gentoo? (Score:3, Informative)
I documented my install [desertsol.com]
Re:Gentoo? (Score:4, Informative)
I ditched OSX on my iBook in favor of Gentoo about 6 months ago and haven't looked back. Gentoo does a lot of stuff with the Live CD's on x86, and I really don't know why, but the interest just doesn't seem to be there. Hit the various #gentoo (especially #gentoo-ppc)forums on Freenode and try to rustle up some people. I'm sure they will have good answers as to why it hasn't really been done, but I expect most of them will be along the lines of "Nobody wants to".
Re:This isn't too intelligent (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Gentoo? (Score:1, Informative)
Pieter, PPC gentoo team lead
Not hard at all (Score:2, Informative)
Install Debian, grab the latest benh kernel if your ibook is less than a year old (I don't know whether older ones need it too), compile with the
If you fail to get it right, a question on the debian-powerpc list is bound to get an answer within a few hours; the ibook is one of the most used ppc computers it seems.
Re:Think this would do the trick? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Debian has come a long way. (Score:3, Informative)
Bug 1: The installer used a 2.2 kernel, whereas the system I installed used a 2.4 kernel, which meant that software IDE RAID was interpreting the drive names differently (hda versus hdc). This mean a lot of (dis/en)abling drives in the bios and screwing with some grub file to make it all work. The trivial solution was to use a current 2.4 kernel in the install.
Bug 2: I use a realtek ethernet card, which was enabled via a kernel module, which required me to change some text file so that the system would load the module on boot. In fact, every single time I upgrade the kernel, that file needs to be edited. I don't know if that's Debian's fault of Linux's fault, though.
Re:If you want all the KDE and Gnome apps, (Score:2, Informative)
sudo apt-get install koffice
will install all necessary KDE components and then you are up and running. Takes about 25 minutes.
Re:Wallstreet is 2nd PBG3 (Score:2, Informative)
But certainly you would need to upgrade the RAM from 64 MB for OS X...
Re:If you want all the KDE and Gnome apps, (Score:3, Informative)
Works beautifully. I use it on my development box for web based image manipulation, using PHP. The PHP code is totally portable to the production Solaris box, too.
Enjoy
Re:If you want all the KDE and Gnome apps, (Score:3, Informative)
2) Make sure to do the compiles piecemeal. If a program is going to require 40 dependendts then break the whole thing down into steps.
3) As for hellish I've seen very few of their compiles fail and those that do usually work by the next update.
4) Why aren't you just using the binary fink?