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Ubuntu on an iBook g4

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baldymcgee

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 29, 2011
4
0
Recently my hard drive on my ibook g4 crashed beyond repair by DiskWarrior or Disk Utility. I don't want to buy a new hard drive and replace it, i've heard its a pain, and you can buy this laptop used on ebay for dirt cheap. But low and behold, i want to try running ubuntu on it, without using the HD.

I have run a live cd of ubuntu 10.04 PPC, which is the correct version for an iBook i believe, i tried to install the OS onto a 4gb flash drive. It installed succesfully, but the problem is, i can't boot the USB 2.0 drive on the startup.

I am running out of ideas how to do this without using the internal HD, i just want to use the laptop for taking notes in class. and i don't require to much space.

Does anyone out there have any ideas on how i can do this?
any help would be muchly appreciated.

I had an idea of maybe installing ubuntu 10.04 onto a DL 8.5gb dvd, but i'm not sure if that would work.
I'm pretty new to macs, so i don't really know what i'm doing. But any help would be great, thanks. :)
 
PPCs are finicky about booting off USB sticks, if you look around you can find some information on it.


baldymcgee said:
I had an idea of maybe installing ubuntu 10.04 onto a DL 8.5gb dvd, but i'm not sure if that would work.
Click to expand...
It would work, but it wouldn't make any difference. The computer will just read the 700mb of data on the disc, you can't write to the rest of the disc.

Personally I'd just replace the HDD, it's a pain, but it's a challenge ;)

What if the USB stick gets knocked out while you're taking notes? They could very easily be destroyed. I definitely think an HDD would be worth it. You could also consider putting an 8GB compact flash card in as a hard drive, should be cheaper.
 
Have you tried holding down the option key during boot? And did you try an os x install on the usb stick?
 
AdrianK said:
PPCs are finicky about booting off USB sticks, if you look around you can find some information on it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, i haven't had any luck booting from the USB, and yes i have held down the option key, it doesn't recognize either the usb or the internal HD

How hard is it to put in a compact flash like you were saying?
 
AdrianK said:
As hard as replacing the hard drive :p The main advantage being that it's probably cheaper, quieter, solid state etc.
Click to expand...

haha, great.
i think i'd rather just get a new laptop for the price and pain of putting in a new HD.

I really wish there was a way i could run ubuntu on it though. I like the feel of it and its free, which is always nice.
Could i just run it off the live CD everytime, and save my notes to a flash drive?:confused:
 
baldymcgee said:
haha, great.
i think i'd rather just get a new laptop for the price and pain of putting in a new HD.

I really wish there was a way i could run ubuntu on it though. I like the feel of it and its free, which is always nice.
Could i just run it off the live CD everytime, and save my notes to a flash drive?:confused:
Click to expand...

That's understandable. LiveCD + flash drive for storage sounds like the best option.
 
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