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

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

govtrust — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 14:25:28 -0800

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?

By: wumpus

wumpus — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 14:40:58 -0800

Ubuntu -> easy

By: i_am_joe's_spleen

i_am_joe's_spleen — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 15:18:08 -0800

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.

By: drstein

drstein — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 16:25:05 -0800

May I ask the obvious - why do you need to install Linux?

By: govtrust

govtrust — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 16:50:04 -0800

My company no longer wants to pay the licensing fees for the current software bundle.

By: mbrubeck

mbrubeck — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 17:02:12 -0800

Ubuntu features Rhythmbox as its default iTunes-like music player.

By: Kadin2048

Kadin2048 — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 18:03:51 -0800

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.

By: Memo

Memo — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 07:24:37 -0800

Music player: Amarok.
The one thing that I envy from Linux users.

By: drstein

drstein — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 17:07:13 -0800

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.