Hi, I have a G3 laptop which barely runs OS X 10.4. I use the laptop for coding (Java), music, a few games, movies (dvd etc). I want to install Ubuntu w/ Gnome (which is said to be ligher).

Is it a good idea for me to over write OS X for Linux so I have more speed when compiling programs & running Java apps? Will I be able to install the JDK (Java Development Kit) and a program which is written for Linux, not exactly x86 or PPC Linux, but just Linux?

I guess my real question sorta is: When a program is avalible for a "Linux" download, does that mean it can run on a Linux PPC & x86?

Here are the specs of my iBook:

500Mhz G3
256Mb RAM
ATI RAGE II, 8Mb Vid RAM
20Gb HD

For information about a Java on Ubuntu, and especially PPC, see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Java
and http://www-128.ibm.com/developerwork...pow-apple.html

In short, 99% of the time, a "Linux" program will run as is on any "Linux-supported" architecture, that is x86, PPC, 68k, alpha... once compiled. The source is the same, but the binary obviously isn't.
As for Java, I'm not sure that Sun has released a PPC version of their Linux JVM.

Yves.

:/ thank you both for the replies, I guess I'll stick with OS X. Hopefully compiles won't be like I fear them to be. 100 lines takes a little more than 10 seconds (sorta depends on the complexity, so far the code its doing is simple), which means over 500 lines could take about a minute :O

I'm sure Sun hasn't, but IBM JVM for Linux Power Architecture happen to work on PPC based Macs, as the links I posted show.