Thanks. Without Adobe Flash? That's a complete turn-off for me. It seems that it's better keep Tiger on my PowerBook. :-(
On Tue, March 30, 2010 7:14 pm, Robert Chamberlain wrote: > Hi Aris, > > > forget about compiling things. It's all there ready for you to use! > Firefox, etc, but please read the following for a full picture of my > impressions. (I sent the following message on this mailing list a week or > two ago): > > I tried installing Debian Lenny onto my iBook G4 recently, just to > see how it works. It was pretty easy to do. You'll have to connect to the > internet with the Ethernet cable at first and then download the driver for > Wifi (you'll find the info on the Ubuntu FAQ mentioned > below). But then, it will work just fine. Sound didn't work at first, > either. But look at the section title "Enable sound with my Powerbook" on > this page: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPCFAQ#Enable sound with my > Powerbook. This method did the trick for my iBook, too. > I installed IBM Java, which actually worked very well. The only > things that you can't get are Adobe Flash and Skype. So with YouTube videos > you will either have to download them, or use some scripts to enable the > mplayer or VLC to play them imbedded. This works quite well for the > YouTube site. But, scripts only work for the sites for > which they are written. I couldn't, for example, see any of the flash > videos on the BBC site... And you can forget about using Gnash or swfdec. > They're hopeless. Gnash seems to have the better prospects, > but I couldn't figure out a way of getting the latest version for PPC, so > the version that I was stuck with (the default version available) was not > very good. In the case of Skype, you'll just have to use Ekiga, or > something like that - an open-source one. Great, but unfortunately > everyone I know is on Skype! Overall, I found the performance of Debian > with the Gnome desktop on a G4 iBook a bit slow, nowhere near as snappy as > the OSX Tiger installation. But, perhaps my 1.3 Mhz processor just isn't > enough for Gnome... Maybe the other window managers/desktops would improve > performance... I tinkered with XFCE a bit, but I didn't feel much > difference, to be honest... You're definitely better off sticking with OSX > for daily use - it's designed specifically for the G4 and so it works well > within its limitations. (That's what I'm using right now). > > Still, it's impressive that Debian works on an iBook, but the support > and enthusiasm for the platform just isn't there. Linux on PPC is a bit > depressing if you're just an average user wanting to find out about Linux. > All the time, you're left thinking just how much better > it would be if you had a Intel computer, where the support and quality of > Linux is so good! Linux on the PPC seems to be just for > people wanting to use old PPC computers for servers etc... > > > Best regards, > > > Robert. > > > On 30 Mar 2010, at 22:38, Aris Monazteriaz wrote: > > >> How usable is Debian on PowerBook G4? Can I install programs right >> away or I have to compile them myself? Can I install Firefox with Flash >> support? etc.. >> >> Thanks, >> Aris >> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-powerpc-requ...@lists.debian.org >> with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact >> listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/ >> 8a4401480fa57e11766d942a6e326a2f.squir...@webmail.andrew.cmu.edu >> >> > > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-powerpc-requ...@lists.debian.org > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact > listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: > http://lists.debian.org/80fd135d-ce83-457a-be10-0ae0d57c0...@fastmail.co. > uk > > > -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-powerpc-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/05cd6973e992bdbacdac8f370f09e931.squir...@webmail.andrew.cmu.edu
