I need to install linux on a PPC G4 Powermac at work.

November 25, 2006 2:25 PM

I need to install linux on a PPC G4 Powermac at work. What distro should I use?

I work at a copy shop. I am looking for a linux distro which supports PDF and is easy to administer. Also we are currently using itunes for music, what would be a good replacement?

posted by govtrust to computers & internet (8 comments total)

Ubuntu -> easy
posted by wumpus at 2:40 PM on November 25, 2006

Aren't Ubuntu considering dropping PowerPC support?

The debian installer is much friendlier than it used to be. Possibly a vanilla Debian would be ok.

And there's always Yellow Dog Linux.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 3:18 PM on November 25, 2006

May I ask the obvious - why do you need to install Linux?
posted by drstein at 4:25 PM on November 25, 2006

My company no longer wants to pay the licensing fees for the current software bundle.
posted by govtrust at 4:50 PM on November 25, 2006

Ubuntu features Rhythmbox as its default iTunes-like music player.
posted by mbrubeck at 5:02 PM on November 25, 2006

Ubuntu is certainly nice, but I think you'll end up feeling like a permanent second-class citizen, running PPC with it. And that's assuming that they don't officially stop supporting the architecture.

I would recommend Yellow Dog. About the only black mark I have against it, is that it's not Debian-based, so you're stuck with yum instead of apt-get, and I just don't swing that way. But if you're OK with a Red Hat derivative, then there's really no reason not to go that route. And, YDL offers the backing of a company, much like RHEL, that you can turn to for support if you need it (for a price). This may please your bosses, just knowing it's there if you ever need it.

Frankly if you want a Debian-based PPC distro, I'd think seriously about going with stock Debian (probably unstable, if this is a workstation). Sure, there's not quite so much hand-holding through the install and setup process as Ubuntu, but they have a long history of offering good support for non-x86 platforms, and I doubt they'll pull support out from under you anytime soon.
posted by Kadin2048 at 6:03 PM on November 25, 2006

Music player: Amarok.
The one thing that I envy from Linux users.
posted by Memo at 7:24 AM on November 26, 2006

What's the current software bundle?

The reason I'm asking is that you might be shooting yourself in the foot by trying to go the Linux route when much of the open source software will compile and work just fine under Mac OS X.
posted by drstein at 5:07 PM on November 29, 2006