On 15-Jan-09, at 1:07 pm, Logan Airth wrote:
Good morning. I recently acquired a PowerBook G4 12" and I was
thinking about installing Debian. I have had some experience running
other flavours of Linux on the x86 platform. I have been doing some
research however since the hardware that I am using is fairly old, I
have not been able to find recent information regarding the install
of the OS nor any complications that I may run into. I don't really
want to partition my drive to try to install an OS that is going to
involve days of work getting to a workable status let alone retain
the portablity that I am accustomed to. On the otherhand I don't
mind putting a say a day or so of work to get it running, I am not
looking for a multiple day project.
Regarding the install itself, partitioning-wise, I have been seeing
in what research I have been able to do alot of the material has
made mention of essentially dualbooting the system. Is this
nessecary? I am not interested in retaining OS X.
Also it is not very clear what would be the best version of Debian
to install. Would it be better for me to install the Stable version
or the testing version?
And finally would there be any recommendations for alternatives to
Debian?
I have similar hardware, a PowerBook G4 15" (also Al). I'm not Linux
expert, but I found it pretty easy to install Debian Lenny on the
PowerBook and have a dual boot. I would recommend Lenny (testing)
over Etch (stable) if you want the wireless to work. I had a great
deal of difficulty with wireless on Etch, and never could get it to
work properly. On Lenny it was a snap. You can either start by
making room for Lenny on your PB by shinking the MacOSX partition, or
using the Debian installer to use the largest block of free space on
the drive. Make sure you use the PPC version, not the x86. No tricks
were necessary for me; the installation was quick and painless and
Debian will automatically set up the Grub menu to dual-boot. After
that, it's just a question of downloading the b43-fwcutter software
from the repository, and you're operational. You can even use the Mac-
on-Linux program to allow you to boot into MacOS9 or X while you're in
Lenny. I never tried setting up my PB to boot only Linux, but I don't
see any problem with that. The installer will give you that option.
As for alternatives to Debian, I have successfully installed Ubuntu
(8.04) and openSUSE (11.0) on my PB so I can say that both work with a
minimum of hassle, and both are easy to get the wireless working.
Ubuntu won't (or at least wouldn't) run Mac-on-Linux, but that
wouldn't seem to bother you. It also has some strange video effects
during the startup process, but they stop when bootup is complete.
openSUSE requires you to download the full DVD (vs a CD), and you
might consider that a hassle. I also tried Yellow Dog Linux 6.0 but
was never able to get the wireless working. There is a version 6.1
out that is supposedly better; it might be worth a try as well.
Overall, I would say that Lenny is your best bet for a PB G4.
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