installing linux on Ibook g4

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socomhacker239
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installing linux on Ibook g4

Post by socomhacker239 » December 7th, 2008, 11:45 pm

well im new to the forums so first of all HI!!
i have a ibook g4 and im want to put linux ubuntu on it
my ibook will boot halfways i can only see a white screen with the apple and a loading sighn after that it goes to a blue screen and freezes so can i install linux as my full os an not dual boot also since it will only boot up that far an i can not get into it at all can i still install linux?
oh yea the reason why it dosent boot up all the way is my fault not the hard drives so the hard drive is fully functional oh yea it will only halfway boot cause of me its not the hard drive fault
thats in advance
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Turboladdade
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Re: installing linux on Ibook g4

Post by Turboladdade » December 8th, 2008, 12:19 am

I don't believe Ubuntu has supported PowerPC Macs for a few versions now. You might be better off looking at Debian or something more current.
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socomhacker239
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Re: installing linux on Ibook g4

Post by socomhacker239 » December 8th, 2008, 12:26 am

does debian have ppc support?
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Turboladdade
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Re: installing linux on Ibook g4

Post by Turboladdade » December 8th, 2008, 8:45 am

Yes, check out this page for more information:

http://www.debian.org/ports/powerpc/inst/install

Below is the installation guide for PowerPC Macs:

http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/p ... ex.html.en
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socomhacker239
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Re: installing linux on Ibook g4

Post by socomhacker239 » December 8th, 2008, 7:52 pm

ok thanks alot soo helpful
but i can even get into the mac how can i still install it?
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Turboladdade
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Re: installing linux on Ibook g4

Post by Turboladdade » December 8th, 2008, 10:03 pm

You can download the ISO CD image on a Mac OS X Mac or Windows PC and burn it on there, put it in the iBook and boot following the guide linked to earlier.
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socomhacker239
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Re: installing linux on Ibook g4

Post by socomhacker239 » December 11th, 2008, 11:29 pm

ok thanks alot so i dont even need acsees to the laptop at all i take it
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Turboladdade
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Re: installing linux on Ibook g4

Post by Turboladdade » December 11th, 2008, 11:30 pm

No, not really.
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socomhacker239
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Re: installing linux on Ibook g4

Post by socomhacker239 » December 14th, 2008, 11:18 pm

i do every thing word by word yet it wont boot it
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Turboladdade
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Re: installing linux on Ibook g4

Post by Turboladdade » December 14th, 2008, 11:50 pm

Hmm well I'm officially at a loss. I know I've booted both Debian and older PowerPC builds of Ubuntu on PowerPC Macs before... never an iBook specifically.
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socomhacker239
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Re: installing linux on Ibook g4

Post by socomhacker239 » December 19th, 2008, 1:40 pm

well thanks for all the help i think its the laptop i tryed to boot it on another ppc an it booted
deafcyclist
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Re: installing linux on Ibook g4

Post by deafcyclist » June 3rd, 2010, 9:06 pm

I had once installed debian onto my step-dad's iBook. I can't remember exactly which model it was but I believe that it's one of the weaker one. I dis the netinstall method using the Ethernet port for Internet access. It worked out rather well since I could install the distro at it's barest and choose the lightest UI. Again, I can't remember the details as it was several months ago. But I'm here to say that it's quite possible. It's kinda nice to be able to repurpose such old hardware and breathes new life into it. :-)
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Turboladdade
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Re: installing linux on Ibook g4

Post by Turboladdade » June 3rd, 2010, 9:43 pm

When PowerPC Macs were still current, there were many distributions with PowerPC builds. Even Ubuntu had a PowerPC Mac build - I don't think it's updated anymore the latest I can find is 9.x (10.x is current). Here it is for fun.

EDIT: I lied, looks like there is indeed a 10.x build. That's exciting, as it's really good. I have it on a eMachines PC in my basement, for software and website testing purposes.
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Valleryuk
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Re: installing linux on Ibook g4

Post by Valleryuk » August 11th, 2011, 4:29 am

All NewWorld Macs should work. This means iMacs, iBooks, blue & white G3s, Lombard G3 PowerBooks and newer. The minimum system requirements are 256 MB of RAM and 3 GB of hard disk space. Users with less RAM or disk space may try Xubuntu.
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Re: installing linux on Ibook g4

Post by Valleryuk » August 12th, 2011, 3:55 am

Is it possible that Xubuntu work for PowerPC? Thnx.
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Re: installing linux on Ibook g4

Post by Turboladdade » August 12th, 2011, 11:43 am

Valleryuk wrote:Is it possible that Xubuntu work for PowerPC? Thnx.
Looks like you can get PowerPC builds of of Xubuntu 10 here:

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/ports ... 4/release/
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/10.10/release/

This is a page on Xubuntu's site about 10.10:
Xubuntu 10.10, codenamed the "Maverick Meerkat", is the latest and greatest version of Xubuntu, released on October 10th, 2010. Building on the success of Xubuntu 10.04, Xubuntu 10.10 looks forward to continuing the tradition of being a light-weight and easy-to-use Linux distribution built on top of the high-quality and feature-rich core of Ubuntu.
I'm not super fluent in Xubuntu or the world at Linux but 10.04 is listed on the "Get Xubuntu" page along with 11.04 - no mention of 10.10. I don't understand why or what that means.

Looks like no Xubuntu 11 for PowerPC thus far.
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