[GLLUG] Linux PPC

[Mike Szumlinski]

I used to run Yellowdog on my 366 iBook.  Ran pretty well, but once OS 
X hit the ground I pretty much tossed any Linuxes to the wind on the 
Mac.  I'm a big fan of the *BSD family.

-Mike

On Saturday, November 9, 2002, at 09:12  AM, Sean wrote:

> The only places that I know of that would carry them in the area would 
> be
> CompUSA and the MSU computer store, and im not sure you don't have to
> order them from the computer store online. There is an Apple store in 
> the
> 12 Oaks Mall in Novi though, and they have all the models for sale up 
> and
> running OS 10.2 and fully networked and salespeople that will answer 
> all
> of your questions for you.
>
> Check the supported machines list, but I doubt the iBook isnt 
> supported.
> The new 1ghz powerbook with the dvd-rw/cd-rw drive is probably not
> supported yet though.
>
> 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 
> got
> it running it ran and acted like a regular linux system.
>
> 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"
> 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
> system except X86.
>
> 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
> to get the xDarwin, the rootless version of Xfree86 running so you 
> could
> run it side by side with Apples Aqua interface.
>
> You can run all version of the MacOS on top of it with the Mac-on-linux
> project from 7.5 -  10.2 (although you need a ROM file for 7.5-8.5, 
> 8.6+
> supports the "new world rom" machiens thus you don't need it. it is
> included with the OS.)
>
> The distribution I used was Yellowdog (www.yellowdoglinux.com). They
> charge 30 bucks for their package. The also make Black Lab Linux, which
> essentially is their high performance cluster computing software on 
> top of
> Yellow Dog.. You should be able to download it but they can be slow 
> about
> making the iso's available. It is based on the RH system.
>
> 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.
>
> As far as support, typically PPC isnt usually bleeding edge kernel wise
> (getting Linus to add the PPC patches to the kernel, is like twisting 
> his
> arm.) A LOT of the PPC compiler is being worked on by Apple, IBM and
> RedHat.
>
> Honestly most people I have talked to have dumped Linux, freebsd, etc
> for OS 10 for their desktop systems after they got the PPC hardware on
> which it runs.
>
> 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
> 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.
>
>
>
>  On Sat, 9 Nov 2002, Michael T. Watters II wrote:
>
>> 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?
>>
>
>
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