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Gentoo Offers PPC LiveCDs

Posted by timothy on from the ask-and-receive dept.

drunkentiger writes "Ripped right off their homepage: In a recent Slashdot article, someone asked if it were possible to create a fully-featured bootable Linux LiveCD for the Macintosh. We thought this was a great idea. So today, we are releasing two full-featured LiveCDs for the PowerPC: one with KDE 3, and another with GNOME 2. Take a look at the KDE LiveCD running MacOS X in a window via Mac on Linux. LiveCDs can be downloaded here or from these mirrors."

10 of 403 comments (clear)

  1. Requirements? by mrseigen · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm assuming I can boot this on my older PCI Mac (PowerWave 604/120, old mac clone). Does anyone know differently?

  2. Apple vs PC - Without the Flame War by Davak · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I have heard the Apple vs PC discussion a lot; however, recently a *nix friend of mine was asking me if the apple or PC hardware was better for a new *nix installation.

    I don't know... so now I ask you...

    Which hardware would you rather buy for a new home linux system?

    Thanks in advance...

    Davak

    1. Re:Apple vs PC - Without the Flame War by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Uhm, well I'm going to answer this in two ways:

      First, if your friend is just into *nix, then OSX is an option, without any Linux whatsoever.

      Second, there is no reason whatsoever to pay the prices on Apple's hardware unless you plan on using Apple's software. Which isn't to say it's not worth paying for Apple's hardware, it just seems to be a strange choice, paying extra for a software/hardware bundle and not using the software.

      So, in summary:

      Get a clone if you want a cheap Linux box (do hardware research FIRST mind you).

      Get a Mac if you want the best consumer Unix currently available and installing Linux is just an added bonus.

  3. So much for Yellow Dog by corebreech · · Score: 4, Interesting

    SuSE had a decent PPC distribution too. This seems like such a no-brainer... probably the only way you could expect widespread adoption from the Mac crowd.

    --
    Is this truly the only Earth I can live on?
  4. Re:Get a hold of these guys by carl67lp · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm a documentation editor for Gentoo, and I know first-hand that many, if not all, of the developers scour the Web (well, their favorite sites, like Slashdot, anyhow) and report back any news about Gentoo in the press. They gladly take the bad news with the good--using the bad, as in this case (the former lack of a PPC LiveCD) to retool things, add new features, and generally make people happier.

    A lot of people scoff at the Gentoo fanatacism--including the developers--but at least, in this case, I think a lot of that is warranted. Perhaps not all of it, mind you, but definitely a lot. I think we're a good bunch of guys and gals.

  5. Gentoo icon by sdibb · · Score: 5, Interesting

    When are we gonna see a Gentoo icon for Slashdot, like the other Linux distros have?

  6. Linux boot problems on Macs. by BrookHarty · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I tried playing around with yellow dog, but sometimes it would mess with my boot sequence, and I couldnt boot into OSX native mode.

    This would be great, you dont have to touch the mac's boot sectors.

  7. Very funny, not very fair. by MarcQuadra · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Really, I think that's true for most people on Slashdot in general. I myself always WANTED a 'cleaner' source-based distro without the hangups of Debian, and Gentoo provides it. It's very possible to achieve a stable and fast system with Gentoo, you just have to be moderate with your make.conf settings.

    I think the BEST thing about gentoo is the installation process. I finally learned how daemons get started, how to set up networking and NFS. All these things were either hidden from me behind GUI utilities or prevented from working properly by services that I didn't know about on more 'turnkey' distros.

    Mandrake is cool because a newbie can get it to work. Gentoo is cool because a newbie can become a knowledgeable user after a few installs.

    Thanks to Gentoo I finally understand HOW all this *NIX stuff works under the hood and I am MUCH more competent on any *NIX box. I no longer cower in fear of the bash prompt, instead I command my boxen like a pro.

    Also, I never liked the 'full-featured' desktops for linux that ship with RedHat or Mandrake. GNOME and KDE always felt slow and unfocused to me. With Gentoo it was amazingly simple to build a system with WindowMaker and the apps I needed without having the overhead of KDE/GNOME running behind it. When I boot up gentoo my RAM usage is 14MB, my 'barebones' mandrake box uses 72MB to get to "login:"

    --
    "Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
    1. Re:Very funny, not very fair. by xtrucial · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I don't have much to add, but... right on! I agree. While my Gentoo install was difficult, and I still have trouble (trying to get NTP running), I end up learning *a lot* about Linux/UNIX. And that's part of the process, isn't it? I mean, if I wanted something that "just works", I'd run OS X or whatever. But the thing is, I'm a geek, so I enjoy tinkering and understanding *how* computer stuff works; I'm not satisfied just knowing that it *does* work. Of course, all of this has practical application too: getting compensated in the work world for one's expert knowledge.

  8. Forgot to mention. Wolfenstien Gentoo CD. by TheWezzel · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm amazed that Gentoo Games was not mentioned they released Wolfenstien and have a bittorent to download it!