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Znerole · Apr 22, 2005, 05:16 PM

I would like to install linux on my B&W G3, can anyone recommend a distro?
So far I've only tried the Ubuntu live cd, which worked pretty well, but I would prefer some distro with a root user. I'm using Gentoo on my Athlon machine, but I'm not keen on waiting 2 days for this little 350MHz machine to compile X. ;-) Cross compiling on the Athlon might be an option, though.

Any recommendations?

galarneau · Apr 22, 2005, 06:24 PM

.. so why not install Ubuntu and then create a root user? Isn't this possible?

I believe Fedora has a PPC port.

If you're willing to do a little learning, you could use OpenBSD or NetBSD.

OpenBSD Rocks.

ROCKS.

Znerole · Apr 22, 2005, 07:13 PM

Originally Posted by galarneau

.. so why not install Ubuntu and then create a root user? Isn't this possible?

I believe Fedora has a PPC port.

If you're willing to do a little learning, you could use OpenBSD or NetBSD.

OpenBSD Rocks.

ROCKS.

Mmm, would be an interesting option and learning never hurts. :-) OpenBSD 3.6 doesn't explicitly mention G3 powermacs as supported platform. Will it run anyway? I think I will give it a shot one of these days.
Is there anything to be aware of when installing OS X and BSD/Linux/whatever as dual boot?

galarneau · Apr 22, 2005, 08:48 PM

Here's the supported hardware list for the PPC port:

http://openbsd.org/macppc.html#hardware

Here's a link to a story on macosxhints.com about dual booting OS X - OpenBSD:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...40818171839987

What do you want to do with your machine? You'll find OpenBSD is great for a server, but doesn't have as much software for desktop use (for example, there is no current port of WINE for OpenBSD, but there is for FreeBSD). If you want to run your B&W as a desktop, then you're probably better off running Ubuntu or another Linux distro (can you download yellowdog linux for free still?)

I run OpenBSD on a really old PC as what I call a "bitchbox". It does all my downloading, bittorrents, etc that run for hours/days/weeks. That way my PowerBook isn't tied up if I want to go somewhere with it. I run samba on it, so I can just mount the server drive over wireless and grab my downloads.

It also allows me to ssh in from somewhere else and tunnel all my traffic from my laptop at an external location through the OpenBSD box, thereby bypassing any local proxies that might stiffle my computing experience :-)

Znerole · Apr 23, 2005, 03:25 AM

Originally Posted by galarneau

Here's the supported hardware list for the PPC port:

http://openbsd.org/macppc.html#hardware

Here's a link to a story on macosxhints.com about dual booting OS X - OpenBSD:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...40818171839987

What do you want to do with your machine? You'll find OpenBSD is great for a server, but doesn't have as much software for desktop use (for example, there is no current port of WINE for OpenBSD, but there is for FreeBSD). If you want to run your B&W as a desktop, then you're probably better off running Ubuntu or another Linux distro (can you download yellowdog linux for free still?)

Thanks for the links!
Yellow dog 4.0.1 is downloadable from linuxiso.org. 4 CDs. I would somehow prefer something network based. I've found net install images for Debian/Woody, but that one really has turned ancient nowadays. Anyway, I will put Yellow dog on the list (alongside with Fedora Core and the BSD flavours).

Originally Posted by galarneau

I run OpenBSD on a really old PC as what I call a "bitchbox". It does all my downloading, bittorrents, etc that run for hours/days/weeks. That way my PowerBook isn't tied up if I want to go somewhere with it. I run samba on it, so I can just mount the server drive over wireless and grab my downloads.

It also allows me to ssh in from somewhere else and tunnel all my traffic from my laptop at an external location through the OpenBSD box, thereby bypassing any local proxies that might stiffle my computing experience :-)

That would be an interesting application for my B&W in the future. So far I'm just experimenting with it, especially getting a bit into OS X. I've ran Ubuntu on it and happily used it as an X thin client at work, it was quite speedy. X11 under OS X was freakishly slow on the opposite. All those graphical gimmics of OS X really pull the machine down. ;-)
Currently I'd like to use the B&W for two things: 1. testing java programs my company makes under OS X and 2. testing low level programs on a *nix on a big endian platform.
For now the choice is OS X to toy around with and get into it, and a Linux (or BSD) if I have something serious to do. And that won't be so much desktop stuff.

Partisan01 · Apr 23, 2005, 09:41 AM

I have on old B&w G3, I've used both OpenBSD and OpenDarwin on it. Both ran fine. I'm using OpenDarwin currently because I have to recompile the OpenBSD kernel so it can boot off a Tempo 133 card. I really enjoy using OpenBSD though, it's much more polished than OpenDarwin, and a lot cleaner. The other thing I like is there is a much bigger OpenBSD community, it seems more of the OpenDarwin information is found in mailing lists, which is fine, but tedious. Best of luck.

Angus_D · Apr 23, 2005, 11:38 AM

Originally Posted by Partisan01

The other thing I like is there is a much bigger OpenBSD community, it seems more of the OpenDarwin information is found in mailing lists, which is fine, but tedious. Best of luck.

I resent that! A lot of the OpenDarwin information is in the FAQ! If you find something that's missing, file a bug with a patch!