linux on mac
Well, I'm thinking of installing linux on an iBook G4 that already has mac OSX installed on it. I know it can be done but I need some advises from someone that has already tried it and manage to get it nicely done.
Is it possible to make aditional partitions without damaging data ? and is it possible to install it and still have OSX working has it used to before instaling linux? (with a menu that appears at the start up waiting for me to choose between running OSX or linux)? if anyone has managed to do all this, what is the linux distribution that you used ?
I hope someone can help me out
thank you and sorry, my english is not that good
peace []
Is it possible to make aditional partitions without damaging data ? and is it possible to install it and still have OSX working has it used to before instaling linux? (with a menu that appears at the start up waiting for me to choose between running OSX or linux)? if anyone has managed to do all this, what is the linux distribution that you used ?
I hope someone can help me out
thank you and sorry, my english is not that good
peace []
Comments
Originally posted by wanea
Well, I'm thinking of installing linux on an iBook G4 that already has mac OSX installed on it. I know it can be done but I need some advises from someone that has already tried it and manage to get it nicely done.
Is it possible to make aditional partitions without damaging data ? and is it possible to install it and still have OSX working has it used to before instaling linux? (with a menu that appears at the start up waiting for me to choose between running OSX or linux)? if anyone has managed to do all this, what is the linux distribution that you used ?
I hope someone can help me out
thank you and sorry, my english is not that good
peace []
You can do this with Yellow Dog Linux. Go to ydl.com for more information. YDL is a free download, but you need to download 3 CD images adn burn then out.
You do need to repartition your drive, so you have to backup and reinstall everything.
YDL installs "YaBoot", which lets you choose to boot linux or X at startup (hitting x of l).
Hope that helps a bit
.:BoeManE:.
but that takes a little commitment, luckily there is ample documentation and the gentoo community can usually help with any problems you may encounter.
the other irritating thing is compile times... sometimes it can be irritating waiting for your apps to compile, but there are usually binary packages available for the more popular programs.
You can choose your boot partition, regardless of OS-level support, by holding option as you boot ? this will bring up the Open Firmware boot drive picker.
And for non-destructive partitions, you may like to try SubRosaSoft VolumeWorks, although I've never used it myself? I'd still recommend backing up all your data before you do anything.
-S
But, I would never install Linux on an Apple laptop unless I had very specific goals in mind.
What are you trying to do, and why can't you do it in OS X?
OS X can't do everything Linux can but it and PPC Linux are both outside the Unix/Linux mainstream to about the same degree.
Originally posted by stupider...likeafox
I love linux and use it every day.
But, I would never install Linux on an Apple laptop unless I had very specific goals in mind.
What are you trying to do, and why can't you do it in OS X?
OS X can't do everything Linux can but it and PPC Linux are both outside the Unix/Linux mainstream to about the same degree.
Well, at university I work with linux a lot. That's my main reason. Since I'm so used to have it on my PC I'd like to be able to "travel" with my linux applications and have them always available for me to use.
Has anyone ever used SubRosaSoft VolumeWorks or any other so-said data non-damaging disk repartition program ?
There are GPL-software methods of non-destructive repartitioning, but they are command-line only, and not for the squeamish. Post a query on forums.gentoo.org in the ppc section (scroll to the bottom of forums.gentoo.org).
And FYI, for ease of installation and everything 'just working' I'd go with YDL, not gentoo as someone suggested. Gentoo is for hard-core geeks, not newbies.
Originally posted by wanea
Well, at university I work with linux a lot. That's my main reason. Since I'm so used to have it on my PC I'd like to be able to "travel" with my linux applications and have them always available for me to use.
Any particular apps in mind? Some aren't there yet on Mac OS X but a great deal of them are. Software developers in particular seem to have pretty much everything they need and some of the KDE stuff is starting to run natively now.
I don't know if you've used linux on a laptop before, but it adds a whole layer of nonsense you have to deal with to do with waking, sleeping, power management, wireless networks, bluetooth etc. which are all the areas that Mac OS X is particularly good at, and Linux lags behind in (all these things are working in some form or other, they're just not standard in many distros at the moment).
As I said I use Linux everyday at work even though I could have got a Mac desktop if I asked, but I got a G4 iBook instead and they (and some other various Linux servers and Mac boxes) work well as a team.
Originally posted by stupider...likeafox
As I said I use Linux everyday at work even though I could have got a Mac desktop if I asked, but I got a G4 iBook instead and they (and some other various Linux servers and Mac boxes) work well as a team.
I'm sure I can find the software I need so I can work farely well in OSX, I'm used to linux that's all, i think as a linux user you can understand how I'll miss it :P well, I'll install Xcode 1.5 to see how I handle it...I still have vim, so that's also a plus..GCC for mac ? I'll see if it exists :P eheh
Originally posted by 1337_5L4Xx0R
And FYI, for ease of installation and everything 'just working' I'd go with YDL, not gentoo as someone suggested. Gentoo is for hard-core geeks, not newbies.
and it was the only distro I could get working on my ibook 600.
YDL and Mandrake wouldnt boot, and Debian was a real hassle because I had a real hard time finding any good documentation for it (good as in gentoo good). Actually the most annoying thing about Debian is how all the man pages would default to Korean, just because im in Korea ! (on closer inspection, it doesnt seem to do that anymore, must have had something to do with the browser config at the pc room)
But that was a while ago, when I was looking for an alternative for OS 10.1.5, I moved to 10.3 and it completely blew away Linux for performance and user experience on the ibook, however I do still use Gentoo on my desktop (non mac).
stupider is right, most mainstream linux apps have been ported to OS X, and if the one you wanted hasnt been, why not give it a shot ?
Originally posted by wanea
I'm sure I can find the software I need so I can work farely well in OSX, I'm used to linux that's all, i think as a linux user you can understand how I'll miss it :P well, I'll install Xcode 1.5 to see how I handle it...I still have vim, so that's also a plus..GCC for mac ? I'll see if it exists :P eheh
Im not suer if this was a joke or not, but GCC is installed as part of the developer tools. I think Gcc 3.3 comes with XCode 1.5, and its the compiler that XCode uses.
.:BoeManE:.
Originally posted by BoeManE
Im not suer if this was a joke or not, but GCC is installed as part of the developer tools. I think Gcc 3.3 comes with XCode 1.5, and its the compiler that XCode uses.
.:BoeManE:.
Yep, you're correct
BTW, I checked the distribution yellow dog and I found the version 3.0.1 for free download (it seems to be the most advanced version that's available for free download), this version also has YaBoot so I can choose to boot linux or osX ?
thanks
Originally posted by wanea
Yep, you're correct
BTW, I checked the distribution yellow dog and I found the version 3.0.1 for free download (it seems to be the most advanced version that's available for free download), this version also has YaBoot so I can choose to boot linux or osX ?
thanks
Yep (to that last question).
Usually, Yellow Dog release new releases to their paying subscribers first, and then everyone else about a month later. Not sure what they're doing this time around.
Originally posted by staphbaby
Yep (to that last question).
Usually, Yellow Dog release new releases to their paying subscribers first, and then everyone else about a month later. Not sure what they're doing this time around.
Ok, thanks..I'll try installing it soon, if I have any more questions I'll just ask
thanks []
peace
The above site has served me well for non apple laptop linux installs. I used to be a linux freak, installed it on everything so that I could run oracle databases from home (i'm a dba by trade) but now I have oracle running on my 12" pb with osx 10.2.something. I'll have to upgrade to 10.3 if i want to go to oracle 10g though.
OSX in my opinion is a far more balanced/usable os than traditioanl linux.