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HowTo on booting Linux on iMac DV's

Posted by Nathan on from the MacAttack dept.

Shawn writes "We at iMac Linux have been working over the past few days to get the new iMacs to boot Linux. Well, make a long story short we managed to do so last night (really this morning =). There is a HowTo on how to do this, which enables mouse, keyboard, CD-ROM. We're working on getting X setup, and sound."

3 of 110 comments (clear)

  1. Because... by Ethelred+Unraed · · Score: 3
    I don't know why there is this constant harping on the iMac being "useless". The iMac DVs are great little computers, with the operative word being little. Ever used an iMac in person? Notice how little space it uses? Notice how quiet an iMac DV is (not the older iMacs)? No fan, no noise.

    Not to mention the specs. Built-in DVD (as a slot, not as a tray), decent 3D card, great monitor (awesome picture quality, at 117 Hz), built-in video mirroring, 400 MHz PowerPC G3, 100 MHz bus, 100BaseT Ethernet, Airport. When anyone thinks an iMac, especially in its latest incarnation, is therefore "useless", then they must be beyond bothering to try and convince (though I will anyway ;-) ). Especially when you consider what you get for the price.

    I also recently heard the new iMac's Harmon-Kardon speakers. They kick serious tookus for their size. The old iMac speakers sucked, but these are great. :-)

    And if I can run Linux on it, so much the better. I like having a choice of OSes, and I happen to use both MacOS and LinuxPPC. I have a lime iMac DV 400 on its way to me, so thanks to the guys at iMacLinux.net, now I can use it with Linux as well.

    Mind you, I'm not wild about the iBooks, mainly because of their lack of external video--a major minus for me. I also wish they had G4s in the iMacs and iBooks, but oh, well.

    But the main point is this: don't go slagging a computer because you don't happen to like its looks, or imply that it somehow isn't worthy of running Linux. Both are ridiculous things to assert. The iMac's hardware is as demonstrably as good as any on the PC market in its price range, and just because it happens to be bright and colorful doesn't mean that "serious" OSes shouldn't run on it. In fact, the converse is true. ;-)

    Anyway. 'Nuff venting my spleen fer t'day. :-)

    Ethelred (he of LinuxMac)

    --
    Everyone wants to be Ethelred. Even I want to be Ethelred.
  2. Re:Why? by Zach+Baker · · Score: 3
    What'd world domination be without people who port Linux to anything that's Turing-complete? If you're frustrated that anyone would port to an iMac, perhaps it's better you not know that Debian's 68k distribution installs on the Mac, Amiga, and Atari platforms. And that's not even mentioning the ports that are primarily for hack value.

    More seriously, porting Linux to non-PC platforms, and the iMac in particular, is great for two reasons. One, because they're out there -- people, companies, and schools out there already have the hardware. An Atari Falcon port is not useless if you have the hardware. Two, to get new adopters to try Linux, for which the iMac platform is a good place to look.

    And let's not forget the fact that not everyone agrees with your assessment of the iMac. But what I'm trying to say is that it's useful to port Linux to platforms even if they actually are useless, deficient, poorly designed, etc. which the iMac is (in my opinion) not.

  3. Re:imaclinux.net by ddpg · · Score: 3

    It uses the Squishdot System which is desinged to look and act like slashdot. Squishdot is written in Python and uses Zope.