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LinuxPPC Live 4.0 44

Posted by Hemos from the c'mon-get-it dept.
LinuxPPC has posted LinuxPPC Live 4.0, which boots Linux from HFS-formatted (not HFS+) drives. The Windows-equivalent has been Slackware's ZipSlack, which boots Linux from FAT32-formatted drives.
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LinuxPPC Live 4.0 More

LinuxPPC Live 4.0

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  • LinuxPPC Live 4.0 (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Thank you. HFS-formatted harddisk booting is nice. Is there any development for CD boot? All new PowerPC based machines sold by Apple is HFS+ formatted. If you get it working with HFS+ formatted drives, maybe Apple will offer `LinuxPPC Live 4.0' add-on optional with BTO. Apple is going to release Rhapsody as Mac OS X Server, with no going offer below $999... so at this point Apple could just advertise Linux+GNUstep to support hardware sales for scientific user, students..

  • mirror please (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The ftp server has been down (clogged) ever since they announced this. Does anyone have a clean mirror of this distribution?

    -Ben
  • status update from mozilla.org [mozilla.org] says that it has "achieved the main goal of the milestone which was to remove the major roadblocks to development work on Linux and Mac. These two platforms have seen some dramatic improvements in stability and functionally thanks to a number of great contributions. "

    download the sources, memorize, hack, build .

  • USB (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Does anyone know when USB will be supported? I'm trying to moce my neighbor to Linux, but he just got a new 400mhz Yosemite box, and needs USB for sophisticated things like his keyboard. Anyone know where I can find info on this?
    -luge

  • USB (Score:1)

    by HoserHead ( 599 )
    USB will be supported in LinuxPPC 5.0 - you can find information about it here [fis.ucm.es]. The skinny on it is that support is an ongoing project, but progressing rapidly (with people like Alan Cox helping out, even!)
  • Posted by Since EBCDIC:

    Since I'm running on an HFS+ drive I hoped to be able to create a PGPdisk volume (which is HFS) and boot LinuxPPC 4.0 from that, but no go. Sigh.

    Since all modern Apple PowerPCs are shipped with HFS+ drives I really hope this is the next hack du jour.

    Other than this oversight, Linux without partitioning is a fantastic idea!

  • Posted by ChristianC:

    I downloaded LinuxPPC Live from a Hotline server about 3 hours ago. I followed all the (sparse) instructions and all i got was, halfway thru the booting, the message 'I can't seem to find the Live filesystem. Sorry :('.

    I tried various combinations of settings in the 'Boot LinuxPPC' before nearly giving up. Finally, i burnt the LinuxPPC folder to a CD and tried to boot it. It worked, but it took over 20 minutes to boot! While i was running it any disk activity took fucking ages. I'd launch an app and it would pop-up five mins later. LinuxPPC live includes Gimp, various minor apps and games, and Netscape (though this was pointless because the required networking utilities weren't included)

    My first impressions of Linux are:
    the interface is laughably bad. Its ironic how much it looks and feels like Windows considering the amount of animosity many Linux users feel towards Microsoft. Visually, it seems to have been designed by programmers not designers. And its messy and inconsistant. The 'browser-type' file-navigation is shit.
    i was impressessed by Gimp, though in its current state its useless for publishing work
    i liked having multiple desktops. i could see this could have its uses. Will OS X implement this?
  • Have you even used a Mac??
    The start menu?!?!?!
    Have you ever seen the Apple menu? Much easier to add to it and customize it that the "Start" menu. Also, it looks more like a button than a menu.
  • This is no more of a "hack" than the rest of the Linux distribution world... it is different in that it uses a non-Linux oriented filesystem, but as Linux now supports 30+ filesystems in the kernel, its not even that exotic.

    I wonder how it deals with the shorter filename space in HFS (31 char max), and whether it is able to perform filesystem repairs on HFS... since ive got LinuxPPC on a seperate drive I have little need for it, but Im sure you wont be stuck if you ever wanna move to a more traditional setup.
  • Crapple? Please. I'm a viscious Mac-defender and I've done better Apple insults than that. My girlfriend, who's by her own admission less of a techie than any of us (though she prefers Macs but due to circumstances beyond her control has to use a Win98 box) has done better than that.

    My personal favorite: "Lemon Computer." Never heard anyone on /. use it before, though.
  • I've visited the school recently. Today most of those PowerMacs are gone. History, because of the Mac OS.

    Doubtful. More likely because of M$ FUD, which plagues Mac and Linux alike (in fact, thanks to the fact that M$ doesn't really take Linux seriously yet, the linux community has been spared much of the FUD that's hit MacOS, and yes I do know how much FUD is heaped on both OS's on a daily basis).

    I think overall Windows has a much better interface than Mac OS. And most people agree.

    Most people where? Even among Windows users, every last person I've ever talked to about the issue has perferred the Mac interface hands-down. Even the Windows developers I've talked to (and I've talked to more than you might think) prefer MacOS almost unanimously, developing for Windoze only because that's where the money is.

    Linux... well, I don't know about Linux. I use it myself, and admittedly you can get the interface to the point where it far exceeds Windows and approaches MacOS (after a great deal of hassle) but it still has more than a little work to do. The rest prefer some other operating system.
  • Cool...I can't wait for 5.0 to come out. I've run into that deal (again) where KDE-MkLinux stops responding to kpanel commands for non-root users. I figure, instead of wrestling with it, I'll wait and just reinstall. I just have to remember to keep a terminal open when I log out...

    BTW, does Linuxppc have that thing where making a kppp connection blanks out your screen? I'd be happy to be rid of that.
  • I can't repartition with something like Partition Magic, because no Macintosh Equvilant exists. Or does it?

    SilverLining will allow you to resize partitions non-destructively, and also makes A/UX partitions so you don't have to mess with pdisk. Unfortunately, it replaces the original driver. And you have to pay for it.

    A Mac version of FIPS would be great.
  • Yeah that's it. I happen to LOVE the MacOS interface. Sure MacOS itself is technologically crap, but its interface rocks. It's amazingly consistant, easy to use, and very slick. Sure there are quite a few limitations like the fact that it's not designed for multitasking, but you get over them quicly when you see how easy it is to configure the whole box.

    By the same token, it's sad really how unreliable MacOS is. It has (had?) such promise but it doesn't manage to stay running very long. I remember using a PM 7100 with an early version of OpenTransport.. yikes that thing was crash happy. But at least it was easy to use (and I love the MacOS 8 Icons..). Installing stuff like system enablers (OS patches of sorts) rocked.. the whole extensions modle where you drag 'n' drop drivers was very slick. Win95 is such a hack in comparison. And oh yea the ejectable floppy is amazing. I'm really sad Windows doesn't have that software (Although I've seen some software.. FastTrack for DOS I think it was that does auto detection of floppy disks..).

    I am glad to be rid of Win95/98/NT. If I could run MacOS on my computer natively....
  • HFS is awful as a Unix filesystem... large allocation blocks (Unix uses lots of little files as opposed to a few big ones in MacOS), no file permission information, short filenames...
    Hmmm... there is probably worse out there. The only feasible problem I see (besides for the large allocation blocks) is that an HFS filesystem tends to get corrupted when used under linux. But I guess if you don't mind folders vanishing from under your mouse, go ahead. :-)
  • You can make a disk image that would be ext2 on top of the HFS filesystem. Saves you from all of the chances of filesystem corruption too (the HFS support in linux is still experimental).
  • I'm not sure if there is an utility to convert HFS+ disks back to HFS (I know PlusMaker [alsoft.com] lets you go the other way, but the site doesn't mention HFS+ -> HFS). However, when you erase a disk you have the choice of the format. If you don't have a program that lets you partition non-destructively, then you just have to back up, and then repartition.
  • Sorry if there was a message without a body.

    My friend whose a major linux user on the intel side says that this is hack, like MonekeyLinux, a version of linux that will run on FAT32 drives, but will take a performance hit, but otherwise will be a fully functional version of linux, but no one uses it anymore because they can get Partition Magic, and MonkeyLinux is slow, and is "a hack".

    What I want to know is this: Is this just a demo? Can I actually make this usuable, in the sense that I make the HD really big (it mentions a requirement of 105+ Megs) like a 500MB partition? Can I use swap? How functional is this? And does anyone know if LinuxPPC will supoort these "Live" versions? Some of us can't/won't repartition for an OS, even if the want/need it. For example, I share my computer with other people, and currently, 60% of all the documents are theirs. I can't repartition with something like Partition Magic, because no Macintosh Equvilant exists. Or does it? I am planning on getting this, because I like to program for linux (its easy to learn, and such a powerful development environment) and willing to live with the performance hit if I can just have LinuxPPC use a big HD image on my HFS Hard Drive. Does anyone know if they are planning on keeping this alive? And making it usable? It is either this, or re-installing Virtual PC and then installing linux over windoze95, and believe me, the performance hit of VirtualPC is big...while Linux (native code) wouldn't be.

    I don't want to clog up slashdot with your replys. Reply to the fake email address above, but take out the "nospam" part. Thanks for any/all info.

    --
    Mac-Head? Me? Why Thank you!

  • usb support will be included with linuxppc 5.0 but afaik not even 5.0 will run on the yosemites.
  • I am just a newbie, but maybe I can offer suggestions.

    First, I noticed that the vmlinux file was downloading as text. I switched to an FTP program and made sure that I wasn't downloading text.

    Second, did the unzip of livefilesystem.gz go through alright? Mine expanded to a generic 100MB document. Also, vmlinux downloaded as a 2.2MB generic doc.

    Third, does Boot LinuxPPC show up with the icon as an application? and does the BootX Settings file show up as a Boot LinuxPPC document?

    Lastly, make sure that the folder is named LinuxPPC and is at the root level of your startup disk.

    Also, after I logout of Linux, I get a smiley face on reboot, but no boot sequence. I booted from CD, reset the startup disk in the control panel, and rebooted. Mac OS came up no problem.
  • As I mentioned earlier, I am just a #%&* Linux Newbie, but let me say, that this is not a Linux interface, but a KDE interface. As I understand it, different destop managers act and look different(ly). I thought the interface was preety cool. As a Mac fan, I was feeling my way around, but I could sense the power of Linux and I know that I am getting hooked.

    Booting from the CD is not recommended, I will repost some thoughts that I gave earlier:

    First, I noticed that the vmlinux file was downloading as text. I switched to an FTP program and made sure that I wasn't downloading text.

    Second, did the unzip of livefilesystem.gz go through alright? Mine expanded to a generic 100MB document. Also, vmlinux downloaded as a 2.2MB generic doc.

    Third, does Boot LinuxPPC show up with the icon as an application? and does the BootX Settings file show up as a Boot LinuxPPC document?

    Lastly, make sure that the folder is named LinuxPPC and is at the root level of your startup disk.

    Also, after I logout of Linux, I get a smiley face on reboot, but no boot sequence. I booted from CD, reset the startup disk in the control panel, and rebooted. Mac OS came up no problem.
  • Admittedly, this is a LinuxPPC question more than anything, but this release is what tempted me to try the thing out.

    My system:
    Power Mac 8500 with a dual 200 MHz processor upgrade
    64 MB RAM
    Linux PPC Live file system on an external Jaz drive

    Linux has successfully booted and KDE has completely launched.

    I can run programs from the command line to my heart's content, launch
    additional X windows & use the keyboard to switch among them.

    BUT, after a certain amount of mouse movement, KDE will freeze solid and I
    have to power cycle to get anywhere. (Unless there's a magic KDE server
    restart key sequence that I don't know.)

    I've done a fair amount of work with i386 Linux and none at all with
    LinuxPPC or KDE. It's unclear from http://www.linuxppc.org/hardware/ whether
    dual processors are supported or not. It's also unclear to me whether this
    freeze has anything to do with that.

    Additional datum: switching from a high-resolution (Mouse Systems ADB Little
    Mouse) to a regular Apple mouse caused the freeze to take longer to occur.

    Anybody have any thoughts on this?
  • This finally give mac users acess to linux without reformatting thier hard drive. Now some not so linux-savvy mac users can give linux a shot! Good work linuxPPC people!
  • I heard there is a mirror of LinuxPPC Live on the hotline site: 5500.avara.net. I dunno what your talking about when you say a clean mirror.
  • well, this is just regarding one of your points...

    KDE looks like win95. that doesn't mean that *Linux*
    looks like win95. check out http://www.windowmaker.org or
    http://www.enlightenment.org. the fact that linux
    can be configured to look like pretty much anything
    (including win95) is one of its strengths. :)

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