Ubuntu Linux for PPC

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Just an FYI:



This is my favorite Linux (Debian) distro for PPC:



http://www.ubuntulinux.org/



Hell, they sent me 100 free Ubuntu PPC bootable install CDs for free! Yes, FREE! Free shipping, too. These guys rock. Go check 'em out! Fill out the form and order as many CDs as you need. Or download it. I plan on donating $ to these guys.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    gene cleangene clean Posts: 3,481member
    I received my 30 CDs about 2 weeks ago. I got 10 PPC, 10 PC, and 10 AMD 64.



    Ubuntu is one of the slickest Linux distro's around. I would definitely try this one if I wanted to try Linux for the first time. The installer is not graphical, but someone with some basic knowledge of partitions would probably be able to install this.



    Based on Debian, but with cutting-edge features. It uses the APT package management, one of the best in Linux.



    Installation of software is a mere 'apt-get install packagename' and... you're done!
  • Reply 2 of 14
    toweltowel Posts: 1,479member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Gene Clean

    Installation of software is a mere 'apt-get install packagename' and... you're done!



    Still can't beat 'emerge packagename' for sheer coolness.
  • Reply 3 of 14
    I am planning on installing this on my laptop. I have a Dell 8600. Did you guys have any problems, like with the video card or wireless or anything?



    I am a Linux newb and I want to learn really bad. Windows World, or I should say Wally World, is getting old real fast.
  • Reply 4 of 14
    gene cleangene clean Posts: 3,481member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Towel

    Still can't beat 'emerge packagename' for sheer coolness.



    It depends on how you look at it. Compiling everything takes a while, and my time is important, so, 'emerge packagename' is kinda slow for me [personal opinion].



    Whereas, apt-get is fast and good. Granted, you get precompiled software as opposed to compiled-for-your-machine software with 'emerge packagename' but, not everybody needs to compile GAIM from source.



    still, I like both.



    as for problems with Ubuntu, I couldn't get it to work on my Sony VAIO laptop. For some reason, the X server always fails to initialize and I can't do anything from the command line. Funny thing is, the LiveCD included works great. It even configures my wireless adapter. On my 5 year old HP Pavillion P3 it runs perfectly fine. So it should work without any problem for your Dell.



    I haven't tried the PPC version yet, but I know that there's no support for Sleep and Airport. I don't know why there is no support for Sleep but Airport is closed-source and Apple doesn't write drivers for Linux so... its kinda hard to write drivers for it if you know close to nothing about it.



    Overall, its one of the best Linux distro's, and it got 3 award lately from Linux magazine; 1. best community, 2. best distro, 3. best first-comer to the 'market'
  • Reply 5 of 14
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Gene Clean



    I haven't tried the PPC version yet, but I know that there's no support for Sleep and Airport. I don't know why there is no support for Sleep but Airport is closed-source and Apple doesn't write drivers for Linux so... its kinda hard to write drivers for it if you know close to nothing about it.





    Are you sure about the Airport thing? I've heard that there isn't support for Airport Extreme cards (yet) but I'm pretty sure older Apple stuff, and some external third party solutions are supported.



    I put Ubuntu on and old 350MHz G3 iMac last night while I wait for some extra memory. Not actually used it yet but the install seemed to go okay.
  • Reply 6 of 14
    jonejone Posts: 102member
    I never liked apt-get because it's never quite bleeding edge enough, it's missing a lot of apps that I use, and having to deal with alternate repositories (to find these apps) that can go down at any time is a pain. I prefer a more unified solution. Portage would fit the bill, but as was stated before, compiling from source take irritatingly long, and feels pretty archaic.



    That's why I wish Arch Linux would be ported over to PPC, their package management, Pacman, is second-to-none. Works like Portage (bleeding edge, unified, dependency resolving, you can find most anything, never a need to DL the next point release), but the packages are in binary format, so no compile time. Not to mention that the distro installs wicked fast, fastest I've ever seen, and you select only what you want. And no distro branding all over the desktop environments, just pure default! I must be the only one that's irritated by that practice
  • Reply 7 of 14
    gene cleangene clean Posts: 3,481member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by stupider...likeafox

    Are you sure about the Airport thing? I've heard that there isn't support for Airport Extreme cards (yet) but I'm pretty sure older Apple stuff, and some external third party solutions are supported.



    I put Ubuntu on and old 350MHz G3 iMac last night while I wait for some extra memory. Not actually used it yet but the install seemed to go okay.






    You are right, I meant to say Airport Extreme cards. Sorry about that.
  • Reply 8 of 14
    gene cleangene clean Posts: 3,481member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by JonE

    I never liked apt-get because it's never quite bleeding edge enough, it's missing a lot of apps that I use, and having to deal with alternate repositories (to find these apps) that can go down at any time is a pain.









    Well Ubuntu is quite cutting-edge and isn't just Debian wrapped in a different package. Its based on Debian, but all apps are new and updated regularly.



    It just happens to benefit from apt-get and install Ubuntu-specific software compiled by the Ubuntu guys. You can add Debian Universal repository and add Debian packages if you want them, but I can safely say that almost all of the programs you would need are compiled by Ubuntu and are cutting edge and updated regularly.



    Arch is good, very good indeed. I think SuSE uses Packman too, or you can easily enable it, but it doesn't have a PPC version so that goes down the toilet. \
  • Reply 9 of 14
    gene cleangene clean Posts: 3,481member
    Which begs another question: what Window Manager do you guys use? KDE? GNOME? Xfce?



    Personally I use Fluxbox [http://fluxbox.sourceforge.net] as it is very light on resources and minimalistic - something I prefer over too much clutter.
  • Reply 10 of 14
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member
    I still use AfterStep an oldy but a goody.
  • Reply 11 of 14
    jonejone Posts: 102member
    I've recently gotten into XFCE, after being a Gnome guy for so long. I like the full-blown window managers.



    I've been wanting to try Ubuntu for awhile, but since Linux doesn't work on the iMac G5 yet, I just have to keep waiting for kernel support (I have no idea what to do with those patches that are out now).
  • Reply 12 of 14
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    Yellow Dog has good G5 optimization, I've heard.
  • Reply 13 of 14
    jonejone Posts: 102member
    Nothing boots on the iMac G5 yet, though.
  • Reply 14 of 14
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Placebo

    Yellow Dog has good G5 optimization, I've heard.





    Yes it does, in fact it runs circles around OSX.
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