Linux for ppc g3 mac software

Personally, id strongly recommend buying a ppc for linux the computers are substantially faster than intels despite the mhz ratings, look at the benchmarks. The reason i say a distribution is because i wanted to know if any particular distribution not necessarily fedora core was better for my mac powerbook g3. The only reason i use my g5 imac every once in a while is to play around with os x and use older mac os9 software and games. I will probably keep os x on it so im looking into dual booting linux. Erp plm business process management ehs management supply chain management ecommerce quality management cmms. Debian stable but could be a bit of a projectsteep learning curve getting it installed and learning how it works. The ppc archive team ourselves has a variety of machines, ranging from imac g3s, blue and whites, ibooks, powerbooks, and g5 systems. The installation seemed to go fine except for a message referring to a missing apple boot strap partition. May 17, 2014 as i alluded to in my last post, the answer to booting an old world ppc mac from a linux cd lies in a venerable and wholly unsupported piece of mac os software called bootx.

Ever considered linux as an alternative to your aging os x version. When it comes to old hardware, its not always best to recycle it. Linux and bsd unix are free, open source operating. Linux mint does not have a powerpc port, therefore it will not run on a powermac, powerbook, ibook or imac g3 g4g5. Using mamp, tiger and leopard can be configured as unix servers. No compromises are being made, even on 32bit ppc i have a powerbook g4 running the same software stack. Debian runs nicely on a g3 ibook, jason packer, macs in the enterprise, 2008. In this video, we will take a look at installing linux mint on a powerbook g4. The project began its life as an ubuntu remix, but starting with version 15.

I understand that it is possible to upgrade to mac os x from classic os 9, however, my machine came with a variant of linux on it, which ive just worked with for the past 11 months. Mini vmac is an open source, free and crossplatform graphical software implemented in c and designed from the offset to act as an emulator for the macintosh plus computer system that was created by apple, running on linux, bsd, microsoft windows and mac os x operating systems being one of the earliest macintosh machines designed by apple, macintosh plus runs only old mac software. Free macintosh emulators, free powerpc emulators, free 68k. Ubuntu is one of the easiest linux distros to install.

Gentoo linux 48 gentoo linux is a versatile and fast, completely free linux distribution geared towards developers and network professionals. The so called newworld powermacs are any powermacs in translucent colored plastic cases, all imacs, ibooks, g4 and g5 systems. Mandrake linux ppc on a macintosh g3 expertsexchange. The maximum version of mac os x, os x, or macos supported by each g3 and later mac follows. Whats the best linux distro for mac powerbook g3 lombard. Ppc machines are so slow and power hungry any x86 machine made in the last 7 or so years outclasses them completely, outside of dual g5 powermac. The only powerpc macs that can use a 64bit operating system are g5 imacs and power macs. Monitor sections may be tied to specific outputs of the video card.

Since i did not intend to double boot nor do i intend to put mac software on the machine, i. Is any mac software incompatible with the imac g3 models. As useful and wellwritten as this article is, it has an incorrect assumption. Other distributions of linux unix are available for the ppc platform as well. In stead, i have a mac powerbook g3 lombard with os 9. There are a good number of people out there that are on the same page as us and they support our goal of keeping our processors running for as long as as they can. To make them work with mac on linux, you need to extract the contents of the rom of a powerpc machine that can run that version of system 7, and i dont know where you can find the program to do that these days. However, due to a lack of involved people expert on uboot, we are still lacking support for video output during the boot process, just before the linux kernel kicks in. Debian maintains a vast repository with software for everything from. Yellowdog linux very old and the company has no interest in mac linux any more hence why so old and not updated. Here are the specs you that will make your computer to run mac os x tiger. An entire mac os system either os x, or an earlier version such as mac os 9 runs inside a window within a linux x11 display. Very recently, a couple of supporters experts in this. One of my first computers was a power mac, and i remember thinking the little.

Apple sold the macintosh alongside its popular apple ii family of computers for almost ten years until the. So this machine is, thanks to ubuntu, a wonder of free software. Trouble installing ubuntu and lubuntu on mac powerpc g5. Installing linux on powerpc computers running linux. Im a total noob at installing linux of any kind on a mac. Revive a powerpc mac running linux the mac observer. Booting a linux cd on your old world powerpc mac quadras. Where can i find the linux distribution for the ppc architecture.

A 300 mhz processor with builtin firewire, a dvd drive, 3 gb of free storage and 256 mb of ram. Apple hasnt released a ppc compatible operating system since leopard, meaning new features, and the mac app store, are completely out of reach. Our nxp t2080rdb devkit boots with amd radeonhd video cards using gnu linux ppc distros. Mar 02, 2012 installing debian linux on ppc part i preinstallation 42415. The situation with apples desktop software isnt much better. Do you have an old mac g3 or g4 lying around doing nothing. Crazy thought, a rack server as a main ppc mac, but hey its still a mac. Last time i fooled around with linux on a ppc mac was a pretty disappointing. Linux breathes new life into old mac computers infoworld. Since i did not intend to double boot nor do i intend to put mac software on the machine, i ignored the message. On top of that i had the whole of the linux catalog of software at my disposal. Feb 10, 20 other distributions of linuxunix are available for the ppc platform as well.

Most people dont realize there are linux ports for ppc. If this happens you might want to upgrade your mac s g3 firmware. Jan 20, 2004 one nice thing about running linux on ppc machines is that you can run the free software tool mac on linux this way. For a start, performance of linux on a g3 350mhz, 128mb ram, bluewhite case should exceed that of mac osx, especially for the very slow ms office and endnote applications. The stept are applicable to any g3, g4 or g5 mac that meets the. Sep 30, 2016 installing linux to a 16 year old mac powerpc g4. In fact, 32bit powerpc support is going away in most. By installing a flavor of linux, you get access to the latest.

Ubuntu installs by default a boot loader called yaboot yet another bootloader and this allows you to start linux or select which other os youd like to boot. Take note, however, sometimes, when using a g3, you might wind up with ubuntu basically not wanting to install at all. A key resource for powerpc linux development is penguinppc, which also includes a hardware compatibility list. Modern versions of java are available through ibm java and openjdk. I actually used to run ppc linux in production many, many years ago, but ive never installed it since on anything newer than a titanium g4. Need to make a quick icon of software for a project or a banner. Jan 29, 2019 installing a ppc linux on one of my useless old aluminum powerbook g4s just for the heck of it has been on my todo list for a long time but i have this feeling ill never get around to it. My power mac g3 is not capable of surfing the web, even with 1gb of ram. The debian powerpc port began in 1997 at the german linux congress in wurzburg. Mac os x is a very pretty thing, and apple has supported some great free software projects through it, its just that on an older ibook and older imacs, even more so, a lowkey gnu linux desktop moves more responsively, and has everything i need. If i could easily run a nice gnu system on them, old imacs would be worth a lot more to me. Just like other distro it is a free software and opensource linux distribution for power architecture hardware. Powerbook g3 wallstreet old world mac linux installation. With a simple download and a cdburn, you can turn an aging g4era macintosh.

Debian, which is the upstream source for probably the majority of desktop linux distributions, officially shot its powerpc port. To unsubscribe, send email to the same address with the word unsubscribe in the. If youre looking for a truly modern build of linux for your g5 you dont have very many choices anymore. Dec 18, 2015 ever considered linux as an alternative to your aging os x version. Bootx is a mac os application, so you have to boot mac os first, and then boot linux next. Maybe a rom copier like what youd use for basilisk ii can also work on powerpc. For all macs that are compatible with a specifc maximum supported version of mac os x courtesy of s ultimate mac sort click the os of interest.

Are there still any legitimate uses for a powerpc mac. The model macintosh that is emulated is a beige g3. It will however work on newer intel based apple computers such as the macbook, mac pro and imac 2006 and later. Its now that time, and ive decided to upgrade the hdd, ram, optical drive and os. I am currently trying to install suse linux on a imac g3 ppc but when i put the first disk in the drive and type install it does a bunch of checking from what i can tell then it gives me a line saying please supply a config file. Sep 21, 2016 if you have a g3 imac then the values you get from the ddcprobe command are likely to be too restrictive. Revive your old mac g3, g4, or g5 with linux ghacks tech. Supported host cpus include the powerpc 603, 604, g3 and g4. Installing debian gnu linux on a p630 lpar 70286c4 english and german florian m.

I guess the best distro for the powerpc based pc is yellow dog linux ydl. It also allows the use of altivec in the guest os if the cpu supports it. Hi i bought an imac g3 on ebay in january, with plans to upgrade it later. Linux has never been much of a speed demon on launch, and debian on a 700 mhz g3 with a slow laptop hard drive is no exception, but if you play your cards right, that may not be such a problem more later.

Set of fixes for various issues on the power mac g5. Linux on powerpc has become popular in the past two years as mac os users have started to. Jun 10, 2009 take note, however, sometimes, when using a g3, you might wind up with ubuntu basically not wanting to install at all. How to install linux mint on a powerpc mac youtube.

Debian ppc this distro works very well but some software doesnt update, the system clock has problems and there is a screen flicker blank out problem that drove me nuts. But this is secondary to simply getting linux to run on the ppc mac. The imac g3 models are compatible with all mac software that runs on a powerpc g3 processor, that is compatible with openfirmware, and that is compatible with. My ppc g3 was unsuitable for any of this, the ibook needed paralllels. As i alluded to in my last post, the answer to booting an old world ppc mac from a linux cd lies in a venerable and wholly unsupported piece of mac os software called bootx. Yellow dog linux is a linux distribution that is only created for ppc architecture. Adjusting geometry in osx or resetting pram can impact your geometry in linux. Interview with casey cullen, the creator of fienix, a powerpc.

Macs by maximum supported version of mac os x os x. The problem i am having is after boot, x will drop me to a low graphics dialog asking me if i would like to continue in low graphics mode reconfigure x, troubleshoot, or return to cli. Fandom apps take your favorite fandoms with you and never miss a beat. Powerpc challenge early 2019 edition macrumors forums. Once installed you will have one of the most user friendly versions of linux on your mac. I want to download a linux ppc iso to create a cd image that i want to burn onto a cdrom. This is an englishlanguage usertouser support group. One of the only pitfalls of using yellow dog linux is you might have to extract the firmware from your current, working os x in order to get the wireless working. Powerpc, as an evolving instruction set, has since 2006 been named power isa, while the old name lives on as a. Well, there is more than meets the eye when it comes to the old world macs.

Debian gnu linux does not officially support nubus powerpc machines, such as the 6100, 7100, 8100 and most of the performa series. Powerpc with the backronym performance optimization with enhanced risc performance computing, sometimes abbreviated as ppc is a reduced instruction set computer risc instruction set architecture isa created by the 1991 appleibmmotorola alliance, known as aim. Server install image for mac powerpc and ibm ppc power5 computers bittorrent download. Thats when the software writers stop making their programs backward compatible, in many cases, and when you begin to hear that the latest. Not only is virtualbox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as open source software under the terms of the gnu general public license gpl version 2.

Gnulinux open hardware powerpc notebook an open hardware. This is essential a virtual machine that allows you to run mac os as well as mac os x on top of a linux host system that runs on a powerpc computer. Handbrake is an opensource, gpllicensed, multiplatform, multithreaded video transcoder, available for mac os x, linux and windows. Updated for jessie stable ive been meaning to do this for awhile, so ive finally gotten around to giving you my thoroughly complete guide to installing linux on your old ibook, powerbook, mini, or power mac. If youre wed to mac software, linux probably isnt going to be on our daily driver mac. Getting the revival on for your powerpc mac running linux. The macintosh mainly mac since 1998 is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by apple inc. I have experience installing linux on a pc, and thought it shouldnt be too difficult to install on a mac powerbook g3. Just drag the app you want an icon of into fasticns and then save it. I took a imac g3, and tried to install mandrake linux ppc on it. Sometimes, you can even revive an old powerpc mac running linux. So far we have successfully tested debian 10, opensuse, voidlinux, and fienix. Weps, link to archived copies in daniel devotos installing debian wheezytesting on an ibook g3. This works much like the commercial vmware does on x86 machines.

When you install ubuntu onto a newworld apple macintosh powerpc g3, g4 or g5 computer you can choose to boot between two or more operating systems. Quite a few people still have power mac g5s kicking around, and quite a few people have imac g3s around as well. What you need to get started depends on what type of optical drive you have in your g4 or g5based powerbook or mac. There may be tasks where processing power isnt an issue, perhaps a home file server or web server, and there even a 233 mhz imac g3 may provide all the power you need. The machine booted up just fine for me right out of the chute and presented me with a login screen. Macfixer mac software library a growing compendium of early mac system, utility and game installers the internet archive the grand attic of the internet adds software to its collection mac os 9. Revive your old mac g3, g4, or g5 with linux ghacks tech news. For complete specs on a particular system, click the name of the mac. I have an imac g3 that i was trying to get lubuntu installed, just for fun. After talking with others in our smallbutgrowing linux ppc. Thats our guess of what still has the most ground in the powerpc world. This page lists linux equivalents for popular mac os x software. Linux is an option, of coursea number of the open source operating systems flavors, most notably ubuntu, support the powerpc platform, which has seen wide use in a number of other places, most famously the xbox 360 and nintendo wii. Next package batch that is due tonight brings even more packages, with 45% of the voidpackages repo built for the worstsupported target 32bit ppc musl.