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Ubuntu For PPC, And As A Live CD

Posted by timothy on from the just-in-time-for-trick-or-treaters dept.

Jeff writes "Ubuntu is just sweet. For Mac users it is even sweeter, as you can read in this review: it supports hardware like a charm ad now with a live CD out everyone can taste ... sorry, test it." And Chris writes "Gnoppix 0.8.1 now appears to be Ubuntu Linux based. At OSDir, we've got over 50 screenshots of the Gnoppix 0.8.1 release, including the controversial Ubuntu desktop background images." (See this earlier story; the default background images have been changed in Ubuntu proper, so the "controversy" need not keep you up nights.) The Gnoppix version is a very nice Gnome-based live CD, with fewer apps but more polish than most live CDs I've tried. (Note that this is not the same as the official Ubuntu CD, and that the PPC version is not a live CD.)

14 of 289 comments (clear)

  1. Ubuntu by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Why does everyone love Ubuntu? It seems like it's how slackware was in the mid 90s. it's the 3133+ distro.

    1. Re:Ubuntu by punkrockguy318 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Ubuntu is the only distro I'd reccomend for new users. It uses Apt for package management, packages are very stable and "just work", great hardware detection, easy installation, nice menus, uses hal + dbus for hardware configuration and such... Also the project has proper funding and is going in the right direction. That's why everyone loves Ubuntu. I don't use Ubuntu, because it doesn't fit my needs. I don't need my distro to configure hardware for me and such. I use Arch so I can have everything I want just how I want it: no more no less.

    2. Re:Ubuntu by mike_sucks · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Because it rocks! It's based on Debian, but stable *and* up-to-date. It is the only distro that Just Works.

      My friend (just enough technical knowledge to set up a Windows machine) successfully installed Ubuntu last night by himself, the first time he has managed to successfully install a Linux distro.

      The desktop is well thought out, it comes with graphical tools to do most common system configuration and there aren't several billion menus of applications to wase through - there's just one each of what is commonly needed.

      Download the live cd and try it out without having to install it. I'll be worth it! /Mike

      --
      -- "So, what's the deal with Auntie Gerschwitz et all?"
  2. Ubuntu is great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    After having played around with it for quite some time now I have to say that Ubuntu is really a great distribution.

    It's really solid though it is only in it's first release now, the desktop is really well thought out, the package selection makes sense and doesn't overwhelm new users but you still can use thousands and thousands of debian packages if you are so inclined.

    This distro for me really strikes the right balance between ease of use on the one hand and not taking away the power and choice of linux on the other hand.

    All in all I'm really impressed and even now looking forward to the next release. And this is coming from someone who normally uses KDE and Gentoo, so if you impress someone like me with a Debian based Gnome distro you certainly did something right.

  3. Re:Linux on the Mac is for Masochists... by phoxix · · Score: 3, Interesting

    First: Why not ?

    Secondly: Maybe some of us want a real *nix on our PPC machines ? (Bah, OS-X is NOT a BSD, read this rant on why OS-X is anything but a BSD)

    Sunny Dubey

  4. what is gnoppix for? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    If gnoppix is based on Ubuntu and Ubuntu already has a liveCD, then what the hell is gnoppix doing? Is gnoppix now just Ubuntu renamed? Seems like gnoppix just got displaced right?

    1. Re:what is gnoppix for? by joib · · Score: 2, Interesting


      If gnoppix is based on Ubuntu, and Ubuntu is based on Debian, then who the hell is working on releasing sarge? ;)

      Well, why do you think it has been 2+ years and counting since the release of woody? ;-)

  5. Re:Controversial theme? by HawkingMattress · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I think they're talking about the desktop background where you can see two nice topless women in the arms of this beautifull guy, with a ubuntu logo on the right. (can't find the link anymore, it's getting slow)
    I'm all for naked women everywhere and i'm a anti censorship guy, but this one like saying "take ubuntu, look cool and those mindless beautifull cheeks will think you're so great that you'll have two at a time". I don't think females will like that one bit and this time i can understand why...

  6. Re:That is fucking ridiculous by BenjyD · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Dammit, put that can of worms down.

    There was extensive discussion on the users list and an IRC community meeting about the 'controversial' artwork. Very few people actually had a problem with it directly, but most people thought it was a bad idea as the default for a distro that wanted to be taken seriously and appeal to as broad a userbase as possible. There were plenty of real-world examples from people who wanted to deploy Ubuntu in their company but would have to create custom install-images to change the default.

    My take on it was that I didn't want my computer to look like a Bennetton advert; more that it was goofy looking than that it might upset people.

    That artwork is still installed, it's just not selected by default.

  7. My reason by MrHanky · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I used to run OS X on my Powerbook G3 (Wallstreet) 266, with 192 MB RAM. It went OK, if a little painful when running several big apps at the same time. I like OS X. Browsing with Safari while reading usenet news with Thunderbird could be a bit slow if iTunes was running, and so on. But apart from that, it was better than you'd expect. Then one of my RAM modules broke, and I was down to 64 MB. OS X wouldn't boot. OS 9 is crap. I installed first Yellowdog, then moved to Debian because Yellowdog's apt was broken.

    Debian works well. All my HW is supported, and just browsing with Firefox is much smoother than it ever was in OS X (but of course, running several apps at the time is even more painful with only 64 MB RAM). I finished my thesis in LaTeX and Emacs for Linux instead of using the same in Apple's X11. Not to mention that these are far better integrated in Debian than in OS X with Fink (or that other horrendous TeX installer-thingy with the most miserable GUI I've ever seen). OpenOffice too, if I need Word support.

    Oh, and the fact that I know Debian so well means that it's just as user friendly as it possibly can be for me. OS X just give me shiny graphical interfaces for doing the same things a bit more slowly. I can do everything I want to do in Linux, and I'm definately just a user.

  8. Desktop/Program Menu icons. by torpor · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Yeah .. *ahem* .. all of that Apt package management is for naught if, after doing a successful install, you still don't get icons in your Program menu.

    This is the #1 problem I have with Ubuntu so far (besides the slow X refresh rate...), its so frustrating to have to work out how to start apps once they've installed, and I usually just resort back to the shell to fire things up .. stupid!

    --
    ; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
  9. Ubuntu CDs by crazy_zulu · · Score: 3, Interesting

    After Novell surpised me by sending Suse DVD's all the way to the bushes in Africa I could not stop myself from requesting some Ubuntu CD's (I am still on a 56K modem and Telkom charges an arm and a leg for connecting to the internet). I am now watching the mail box like a hawk. Thank You Mark in advance Anxiously waiting for Ubuntu CD's.

    --
    ...and one flew over the cuckoo's nest.
  10. Re:Linux on the Mac is for Masochists... by bursch-X · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I installed Ubuntu on my Mac. I installed it in Japanese (it was one of the options), installation stage 2 and suddenly all screen messages are scrambled. Great. No way to read what the buttons say. Well, force reboot and start install over. This time in English.

    Next thing I find there's no Japanese input system. So I can display Japanese, but not input it. After searching the Ubuntu wiki I learn that Japanese actually isn't really supported (so why is it an installation option then?), but you can install a Japanese input system. Installed it, it works.

    Next thing that I find is that for some reason in OpenOffice only about 2/3 of the Japanese characters get displayed properly the rest is replaced with some weird placeholder. Not that crap like this does not happen with the Alpha Java port of OpenOffice call NeoOffice/J for Mac OS X.

    All in all Ubuntu might be better than many Linux distros, but compared to OS X it's a joke. Here I can use my OS switched to German and switch between German keyboard layout, US keyboard layout and Japanese input method on-the-fly.

    --
    There are two rules for success:
    1. Never tell everything you know.
  11. So Easy that the only complaint is the artwork... by Cuchullain · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In a nutshell, the thing that has amazed me is how easy it was to set up. I was running slack with dropline, and this was a transparent replacement.

    Mind you, I reinstalled rather than upgraded, but it was frighteningly simple to get EVERY device on my thinkpad working, including the wireless.

    It just works. Beyond that they have kept the amount of stuff installed to a reasonable minimum, so that I don't have to fish through 10,000 packages.

    That is why there is such a furor over the 'disputed' artwork in my opinion. The distro works so well that people have nothing else to bitch about.

    K

    --
    "If sharing a thing in no way diminishes it, it is not rightly owned if it is not shared." -St. Augustine