Which Linux for my iBook?

[jino]

I'm looking to place Linux on my iBook G4. No real reason, just want to check it out and play around. Can you guys point me to any resources or reviews to see which one's the best? As far as I know the choices are Debian, Mandrake, Gentoo, and Yellow Dog, with Yellow Dog looking like it has the best hardware support. My inner geek however wants to try Gentoo or Debian. What do you guys suggest? Anyone here have experience with Linux on a Mac?

[Adel]

Originally posted by jino
I'm looking to place Linux on my iBook G4. No real reason, just want to check it out and play around. Can you guys point me to any resources or reviews to see which one's the best? As far as I know the choices are Debian, Mandrake, Gentoo, and Yellow Dog, with Yellow Dog looking like it has the best hardware support. My inner geek however wants to try Gentoo or Debian. What do you guys suggest? Anyone here have experience with Linux on a Mac?

Hi, Jino, almost the same exact question has been discussed and talked over recently on the site. I know, because the guy who made the same inquiry was me.

Look here.

[ginoledesma]

If you want hassle-free access to the latest versions of applications, I'd recommend getting Debian PPC. You'll have the convenience of apt-get, not to mention the wealth of support out there. Also, there isn't that much real difference between Debian x86 and PPC, and the community tends to be able to help you along the way.

Gentoo and YellowDog are my next picks, as they both use RPMs, and have pretty up to date packages. YDL gets a thumbs up especially because of its support for the newer video cards.

Which brings us to the topic of video card compatibility for the iBook G4s. Debian, Gentoo, and YDL (v2.3) support hardware acceleration, but the other older distributions don't (I don't remember about Mandrake, since I haven't used it in a long, long time).

Me? I gave up on Linux on the Mac. I have fink, and most of the time, it suits my needs.

[jino]

Thanks Gino. I decided to go with Yellow Dog for it's better hardware support. I'm downloading it right now. Maybe someday when I'm used to it I can go 'macho' and switch to Debian. :roll:

[xineizer]

Originally posted by jino
I'm looking to place Linux on my iBook G4. No real reason, just want to check it out and play around.

Hmmm... just curious... have you used Linux before, maybe on the PC? I'm asking 'cuz most of the things you can do on Linux can be done on OS X.

Anywayz... I suggest you "dual-boot" your iBook between Linux and OS X. Unless, of course, your iBook is just a spare and you have another machine to do "real" work in. :lol:

[jino]

Yup I've used Linux before, lot's of times. Can't say the same for successfully installing it though. :P

Problem, the X Server on the installation disk isn't able to start up, so I'm forced to try to install it in text mode. That alone isn't a problem for me, but when I try to install it on my one and only partition, I get an error message saying the it can't allocate the partition.