[GLLUG] Linux PPC

[MattT]

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Eubulus Solutions is an official apple reseller in the Lansing area,
they were originally near frandor where the new PayDay Advance
company is.  They do have a website http://www.eubulus.net/, however
compusa also sells macs.

All G3's and up are supported on the PPC ports of linux, which would
include your ibook.

I currently have YDL installed on my mac at home, and really havent
used any of the other releases due to my familiarity with the RedHat
distro which is the distro that YDL is attempting to implement for the
PPC platform.

As far as the PPC kernel development is concerned, the PPC tree, (yes it
has its own tree) is maintained by Ben Herrenschmidt who is the linus
torvalds of the PPC Tree, or at least leading the development of the
PPC tree.

You can follow (if interested), development on the kernel.org mailling
lists, as he does post patches quite often.

YDL actually relased a 2.4.19 kernel with their most recent 2.3 `distro
prior to 2.4.19 even becoming stable.... so I would conclude that this is
at least a sign that development of this port is *active*.

http://www.penguinppc.org for more details.

Matt


Sean extolled:
> The only places that I know of that would carry them in the area would be=
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> CompUSA and the MSU computer store, and im not sure you don't have to=20
> order them from the computer store online. There is an Apple store in the=
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> 12 Oaks Mall in Novi though, and they have all the models for sale up and=
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> running OS 10.2 and fully networked and salespeople that will answer all=
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> of your questions for you.=20
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> Check the supported machines list, but I doubt the iBook isnt supported.=
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> The new 1ghz powerbook with the dvd-rw/cd-rw drive is probably not=20
> supported yet though.=20
>=20
> I don't have experience on an iBook, but I do on an 8500, 7500, 7200 and a
> powerbook 5300. Im pretty sure the iBook is well supported and quite a bit
> easier to get linux up and running then any of those machines. One you go=
t=20
> it running it ran and acted like a regular linux system.=20
>=20
> The difference in hardware between the machines I ran and all the machines
> that have USB support built-in is the what they call the "New World ROM" =
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> which essentially means that they took took all 8M of classic Mac
> instructions off the ROM and put them in a file instead. This means you
> don't have to bypass it with your bootloader and a few other wanky things.
> It is just a straight Open Firmware system, like the Suns, or any other=
=20
> system except X86.=20
>=20
> Another quirk was the monitor resolution needed to be changed inside the
> macos becaause it was stored in the Open Firmware, im sure they actually
> fixed that since I ran it and since Apple was helping the Xfree86 project=
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> to get the xDarwin, the rootless version of Xfree86 running so you could=
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> run it side by side with Apples Aqua interface.
>=20
> You can run all version of the MacOS on top of it with the Mac-on-linux=
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> project from 7.5 -  10.2 (although you need a ROM file for 7.5-8.5, 8.6+=
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> supports the "new world rom" machiens thus you don't need it. it is=20
> included with the OS.)=20
>=20
> The distribution I used was Yellowdog (www.yellowdoglinux.com). They=20
> charge 30 bucks for their package. The also make Black Lab Linux, which=
=20
> essentially is their high performance cluster computing software on top o=
f=20
> Yellow Dog.. You should be able to download it but they can be slow about=
=20
> making the iso's available. It is based on the RH system.=20
>=20
> The last annoying part about running it on a powerbook is that it only has
> one button although you can use an external USB multi-button mouse with
> it and they do have keystrokes for buttons 2 and 3.=20
>=20
> As far as support, typically PPC isnt usually bleeding edge kernel wise=
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> (getting Linus to add the PPC patches to the kernel, is like twisting his=
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> arm.) A LOT of the PPC compiler is being worked on by Apple, IBM and=20
> RedHat.=20
>=20
> Honestly most people I have talked to have dumped Linux, freebsd, etc=20
> for OS 10 for their desktop systems after they got the PPC hardware on=20
> which it runs.=20
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> If you do buy one make sure it has 10.2 included with it. Apple
> does charge 20 bucks for the 10.2 media to be shipped to you.  OS 10.2=20
> is quite a bit faster and more robust than 10.1.x, it only has handful of
> major changes to be completed from the original design.=20
>=20
>=20
>=20
>  On Sat, 9 Nov 2002, Michael T. Watters II wrote:
>=20
> > Does anybody have experience running Linux on an iBook?  I am
> > considering buying a new laptop, and the iBooks look really good.  I
> > know Debian has a PPC port, and that is probably what I would use.  Are
> > there any stores around here that sell Macs?
> >=20
>=20
>=20
> _______________________________________________
> linux-user mailing list
> linux-user@egr.msu.edu
> http://www.egr.msu.edu/mailman/listinfo/linux-user

--=20
Matthew Terry
matt@abernackie.com


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