Linux

[dualburn001]

I'm thinking of installing Linux on my g4 imac, just to experiment w/ it. Since I am a Linux newb i need help. I need a couple of things:
1) Suggestions on what Linux OS to use.
2)Where to find the OS
3) How to install the OS
Thans, im sure one of you can help me out!

[Choppaface]

well there's LinuxPPC and there's also yellow dog or ...well there are tons of them out there

here's a place to start:http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Software/Operating_Systems/Linux/Platforms/PowerPC/?tc=1

I think my friend told me that LinuxPPC was popular..


you know you can do a lot of stuff in OS X that you can in linux

[sparkleytone]

if you are a linux newb get a PPC distro of mandrake. it will be the easiest for you to use, and will take you as far as you want to go.

[mmmdreg]

People I have spoken to say Mandrake and RedHat are for Newbies...one guy even said (ho uses Slackware) that its for people who don't want to know what the real linux is like!..but yeah...go mandrake for a beginner...

[Beej]

Mandrake *shudder*

Had to reinstall my whole system after attempting that. Ugly. Never again. I can do everything Linuxy I ever want to do in OS X.

[awulf]

I use Yellow Dog Linux. You can download the latest version from thier website: www.yellowdoglinux.com (http://www.yellowdoglinux.com). This Linux is the Red Hat version for mac. YDL 2.1 is a bit buggy but I just downloaded YDL 2.2 and am installing it now. This distribution comes with Mac On Linux (like most) so you can run Mac OS 7.5-10.1 or another linux and this distribution also comes with Kio-mac which allows you to access your HFS+ partition.

Other options are: Mandrake, SuSE, LinuxPPC and tons more.

Yellow Dog also have allot of support on their web site plus if you buy the Official Package you will recieve free technical support.

[amnesiac1984]

if you really wanna make it easy on yourself and you have Virtual PC. Just get a Red Hat Linux install CD and make a Virtual Linux Box in VPC. That way you don't have to mess around with partitioning hard drives and you can keep your iMac a fully functioning Mac OS X system at the same time!

If you did a proper install with a PPC linux distrubution, You'd have to reformat hard drives and repartition, unless you have lots of backup space or another hard disk. Using VPC means you can keep your mac operation system and all your data and jsut effectivley install an application onto Mac OS X which runs linux in a window. It may be a little slow however....

anyway just my 2 cents as they say.

[sparkleytone]

ya slackware in my opinion is the best distro of pure linux. screw all the GUI crap. i use slackware for my IP filter at home.

[mmmdreg]

Originally posted by sparkleytone
ya slackware in my opinion is the best distro of pure linux. screw all the GUI crap. i use slackware for my IP filter at home.

slackware isn't exactly a newbie distro though...so go mandrake and go up the steps every year or something...just meet slackware or debian at the top...

[Choppaface]

is there even a powerpc distro though? i thought it was only x86

[PCUser]

There are distros for x86, 68k, PPC, Alpha, SPARC, Itanium, embedded stuffs, etc. Many distros for many platforms. A good place to search for platform-specific distros is http://www.linux.org/dist/index.html. (Mandrake might even work, not sure... a quick search on Mandrake's website reveals that Mandrake 8.2 has been reported to work on a PowerBook G4)