linux mint for ppc macbook g4

LinuxGuru707 · 02-19-2017, 10:39 PM

hello

having a hard time getting linux mint for ppc on my macbook g4. laptop is 12 years old and has a 17 inch display. i have searched online but cant find any iso's anywhere.

thank you

anthony

Timothy Miller · 02-19-2017, 10:45 PM

Mint hasn't been supported on the ppc architecture in quite a long time. You might have better luck trying to install Debian for Power PC.

rokytnji · 02-20-2017, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Is Ubuntu supported on PowerPC?

Ubuntu for PowerPC is now a community supported platform (the announcement) so you can no longer pay Canonical to support your PowerPC desktop machine. This also means that ISO downloads have been moved to the ports section of the Ubuntu sever, and are no longer on most mirrors. In fact, it is often hard to find any reference to PowerPC on the main Ubuntu website or packages.ubuntu.com.

However, PowerPC packages (like for other architectures) are available on launchpad where you can look up the source code, build logs and bugs. Canonical and the wider community still fix PowerPC bugs when they are reported and when they find them. However, package releases will not be delayed due to problems which are specific to PowerPC. This means there is occasionally the need for some PowerPC specific workarounds which are detailed below and on the PowerPC Known Issues page.

from: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPCFAQ

For a 12 year old laptop. A little elbow grease and personal effort is needed. Lots of reading ahead for you.

Turbocapitalist · 02-20-2017, 11:02 AM

Lubuntu might still support PPC, otherwise it is going to be OpenBSD for you on that machine. OpenBSD requires reading to set up, but with that in might it is straightforward to do. You do have to add all the pieces you want or need because by default it does nothing you have not asked it to do.

hydrurga · 02-20-2017, 12:16 PM

To give you more ideas of suitable distros, you could select PowerPC as the Architecture in a Distrowatch distro search:

https://distrowatch.com/search.php

nodir · 02-20-2017, 06:04 PM

You ain't got much choices, as far i see. Ubuntu, mentioned above is out of date too. Debian will not support ppc in future releases anymore (for not it is fine, and who knows if the hardware will live that long?).
debian
http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/...pc-netinst.iso
gentoo
https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Handbook:PPC
freebsd
https://wiki.freebsd.org/powerpc
openbsd
https://www.openbsd.org/macppc.html

Debian is binary. OpenBSD is said to have the option to install packages binary.
Gentoo and FreeBSD (the latter regarding the powerpc-architecture) install from source. Not sure how much fun that is on an old box.
Perhaps i missed something, but much more you won't find (try what the previous post proposed).

If it was me i would go for debian (at least for now).

smnbldwn · 03-15-2018, 06:46 AM

I found this thread on a search and felt I had to reply. There was a distro called MintPPC based on Debian ppc but it seems to have disappeared from the web in the last year or so. I am replying to your thread on a 2005 Powerbook G4 running Ubuntu Mate 16.04. Unfortunately support is being withdrawn from this next year but for now it works fine barring streaming video. There is also a ppc edition of Lubuntu. After support is withdrawn, we will have to see what we can do, maybe Morphos or some variant of BSD. I love my powerbook and have no intention of giving it up until it dies!

DavidMcCann · 03-15-2018, 12:46 PM

Debian has already dropped PPC, except for the 64-bit version. The Linux choice is down to Ubuntu. I believe you need the standard version's installer, but obviously you can change desktops later if Gnome doesn't suit the computer or you.

hydrurga · 03-15-2018, 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidMcCann

Debian has already dropped PPC, except for the 64-bit version. The Linux choice is down to Ubuntu. I believe you need the standard version's installer, but obviously you can change desktops later if Gnome doesn't suit the computer or you.

I don't know how accurate it is, but Distrowatch (https://distrowatch.com/search.php?architecture=powerpc) indicates that Lubuntu and Ubuntu MATE also support PPC.