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Linux Distributions for Powerbooks?

Posted by Cliff on from the penguins-and-apples dept.

sol2k asks: "I just got myself a G4 Powerbook 12' and I am still amazed at the thing. Mac OS X is beatiful and sometimes even too intuitive for someone crossing from the Windows world. I had some nice experiences with Linux on Intel machines but would love to try out a Linux on the Powerbook and make use of the great hardware. Here's a simple question: What are my options? I know about Yellow Dog (old and doesn't seemt to be updated often), Debian/PPC (a bit too much time to set up than what I have available) and Mandrake (9.1 - that's really old). What Linux adventures have you had on your Mac?"

1 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. why? Why? WHY??? by Yaztromo · · Score: 1, Troll

    I've recently added a PowerBook to my network as well. And while I have many other Linux machines (even my PlayStation 2 runs Linux...), I personally can't see the point of running Linux on the PowerBook.

    Just setup SSH, and install the X11 support from the OS X installation CDs. Then you can pretty much recompile any Linux app you want to run. Or do as I do -- get a cheap Intel box, install Linux on it, and access it remotely through the laptop.

    OS X is the best desktop Unix right now. I'm not sure why you'd want to downgrade to Linux -- all you're going to achieve is less functionality then what you already have.

    (And this is coming from a guy who has been using Linux a whole lot longer than OS X. I love Linux for its openess and the freedoms surrounding it. I run more Linux thn anything else. But if you already have a license to run OS X, it's a vastly better desktop Unix, simple as that).

    Yaz.