If you guys are kind of upset about not being able to run mountain lion on power pc and you want to run some newer software then I suggest you try ubuntu . It is great you get the latest version of firefox on power pc and a lot of other software is the very latest too . With some macs you have to do some extra work to get it to work right but it is worth it trust me . You can dual boot ubuntu and mac os x pretty easily as well so you get the best of both worlds . I would suggest you give it a try here is a LINK to where you can download it . Also if you need help doing it here is a link to the ubuntu power pc FAQ LINK . Give it a try and let me know how you guys like it I thought it was pretty cool a lot better than yellowdog linux at least for me .
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Ubuntu 12.04
- Thread starter Seth Mac Fan
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12.04?! Heck, I couldn't even get that to run on my 2004 HP machine without lagging and it runs Windows 7 fine, I'm not sure how that would do on a G5, let alone a G3!
100% agree. It's not really lightweight anymore though because of the Unity interface.
But you don't have to use the Unity interface. That's the beauty of Linux. It's like having an infinitely large LEGO set. Whatever pieces you don't like, you can replace them with pieces that are more to your tastes. Don't like Unity (I sure as hell don't)? Why not try Gnome, Cinnamon, MATE, KDE, LXDE, XFCE, or FluxBox?
To the OP, I still think that running Linux on PPC is kinda painful. Especially since most PPC Macs require some finagling to get their wireless to work, or at least they did when last I tried with 11.04. However, if you're looking to simply be able to run more current versions of stuff, Linux is certainly your best bet and you're definitely best off running Debian variants, like Ubuntu.
Hi! I booted the LiveUSB off of a 16 GB Flash Drive on a 1 GHz AlBook a while ago, and parts of it were relatively laggy and unresponsive, though FireFox worked pretty well. Does anybody know how much of an increase in speed should there be as compared to booting it from the built-in hard drive, if there really is a way to tell? Also, should there be an increase in speed from the default configuration of Leopard (Which worked okay)?
MintPPC
...is by far the best distro I've run on PPC. It's pretty lightweight, and will even give decent performance on a G3. 11 was noticeably faster than 9.3, which was apparently due to kernel level improvements more than anything else. I agree its a little unpolished, and some things that should work just don't, but sleep and wireless have always worked right out of the box for me, and the lack of flash on PPC could be overcome easily with flashvideoreplacer and viewtube, and a few other tricks. Plus, the developer is actually helpful, and seems to be in it for the long haul. Many of the Linux geeks on the ubuntu forums just try to outstump you when you ask for help.
I also gotta say that Firefox on MintPPC was a heck of a lot more stable and faster than tenfourfox on the same machine. And Midori is also a great webkit browser, faster than any webkit on Mac OS X, but then again I've never tried Sunrise.
There is also always a Debian install with Openbox, PPCluddite did a step by step on his blog, very helpful. But most of what he shows you how to do was already done for you by the developer in MintPPC.
...is by far the best distro I've run on PPC. It's pretty lightweight, and will even give decent performance on a G3. 11 was noticeably faster than 9.3, which was apparently due to kernel level improvements more than anything else. I agree its a little unpolished, and some things that should work just don't, but sleep and wireless have always worked right out of the box for me, and the lack of flash on PPC could be overcome easily with flashvideoreplacer and viewtube, and a few other tricks. Plus, the developer is actually helpful, and seems to be in it for the long haul. Many of the Linux geeks on the ubuntu forums just try to outstump you when you ask for help.
I also gotta say that Firefox on MintPPC was a heck of a lot more stable and faster than tenfourfox on the same machine. And Midori is also a great webkit browser, faster than any webkit on Mac OS X, but then again I've never tried Sunrise.
There is also always a Debian install with Openbox, PPCluddite did a step by step on his blog, very helpful. But most of what he shows you how to do was already done for you by the developer in MintPPC.