Running Linux on a G4 iMac

[Epaminondas]

It's certainly not for everyone:

David Mertz, Ph.D.

[kelly]

IBM ran about 6 Linux commercials on the History Chanel in one hour.

They're really pushing it.

Apparently they're not as afraid of Bill as they used to be.

[marie]

Thank you for the link Epaminondas, interesting reading! Am enjoying all the discovery of new things right now!

[Epaminondas]

Kelly,


Good to hear.

Same commercial ("the kid?") or different ones?

I'm not sure I could sit through that same commercial four times in one hour.  It'd squash my brain.

As far as being afraid of Bill - it depends on which part of IBM.  One part will issue brave words, another will issue a retraction - IBM neither thinks with one brain nor speaks with one voice.  Which is probably good.  Last time I looked they were still not providing a pre-installed Linux notebook solution for the masses . . .

Which helps drive Linuxers to the PowerBook and the iMac.  Which exposes them to MacOS X.  Which leads to cross-fertilization of ideas between the Linux and the Mac communities.  Which is good for everybody.

But it sure is good to see much of IBM loosening up.

_________________________________________________________________


The linked article noted:

<< However, I did experience a glitch with Yellow Dog's first attempt to reboot into X11 -- I needed to run /usr/X11R6/bin/Xautoconfig once to clear up the problem. >>

And Marie earlier noted:

<< I have been having a fit with my resolution/graphic card (NVIDIA GeForce) though (Four installs later I put Panter back on and decided to take a breather) . >>

I have also seen this problem noted elsewhere as the only problem in installing YDL.  Seems kinda odd that Yellow Dog has not fixed this out of the box.


Marie,


This seems to be a common problem with YDL.

How did you solve it for yourself?

Other questions:

(1) Do you see any speed differences between running YDL vs. running Linux on your machine?

(2) How is the browser experience going in YDL?  Preferred browser - Galeon, Mozilla, Konquerer?  IE?  ;-)  I was going to suggest Mozilla Firebird 0.7, but I do not see a Linux version for the PPC on the Mozilla web site.

(3) Any particular discoveries of interest?  Any particular glitches?


Regards,

Epaminondas

The new installation of Red Hat 9 on this PC seems to be running smooth as silk (knock on formica).  An old glitch in Red Hat 8 that made AbiWord (a quick and lite word processor) unusable on this machine has been fixed - the old workaround was to just use KWord (a different quick and lite word processor) or OpenOffice (the slow big gun) instead. That is a nice thing about the profusion of similar free programs that are included on a typical Linux installation - if one program doesn't work very well on your particular setup, you just skip over to a similar program that does.  And glitches do seem to get worked out, more and more, over time.

[()]

great article,  

[kelly]

Epaminondas. They were all with the "kid", but all were different.

Since then I've see a newer one.

http://www.adweek.com/aw/magazine/article_...tent_id=2072150

http://www.nypost.com/business/16288.htm

[marie]

I resolved the graphics issue by going from 3.0 to 3.0.1. I suppose you can use 3.0 but installing with my NVIDIA Geoforce Fx 5200 was text based. Just starting out it was just overwhelming trying to use xautoconfig. It was not co-operating what so ever. I admitable was getting aggrevated. I went to version 3.0.1 and boom.....installed (graphic) without a hitch! However, I did have to leave the graphic card at the generic OF but its going great.
I did have some time out issues with yum updater. Seems the servers are "overwhelmed", so I had to "revamp" it for another mirror.
I really like it! Nice, flawless, clean look to it. As far as functionality, I have yet to gain enough experience to speak of it yet.  I see no real speed differnces between YDL and OS X yet. My machine has 256 ram, 1ghz processor.
I think the real test would be on an older machine. I have read where it really puts new zip into an older machine.
One issue however that I do not care for, is that there is not alot of support out there unless you are willing to pay for it. By that I mean, I have found 1 forum, not near as helpful as TS  , and the other forum is YDL within TerraSoft  and its a pay forum. I am a thrifty person, I will admit that openly, and quite frankly it kinda annoys me.
I would recommend it to anyone wishing a change of venue now and then, or as an alternative on an older machine unable to run OS X.

[Epaminondas]

Kelly,

Looks like IBM is putting some real thought into this.

Thanks for the details.

_____________________________________________________________

Marie,

It's good to see that Yellow Dog got that fixed.

<<  I see no real speed differences between YDL and OS X yet. My machine has 256 ram, 1ghz processor. >>

Nice machine!

One reads of significant speed-ups running Linux vs. MacOS X, but that may have been older machines or running against MacOS 10-10.2.x.  Looks like Panther may have finally brought the Mac OS X.x up to speed.

Have you tried recompiling your kernel, yet?  That may speed you up a bit.

More high quality RAM probably wouldn't hurt - for Linux or for MacOS X.

http://www.crucial.com


<< One issue however that I do not care for, is that there is not alot of support out there unless you are willing to pay for it. By that I mean, I have found 1 forum, not near as helpful as TS , and the other forum is YDL within TerraSoft and its a pay forum. I am a thrifty person, I will admit that openly, and quite frankly it kinda annoys me. >>

Yup.

The price you pay for running a minority OS on a minority platform.

Relatively few choices. :-(


In exploring Linux I decided to explore both Free Computing and Linux together as a bundle.  Learn both concepts at the same time.  So I have gravitated toward free support for free applications on the free distributions.  

Only thing I could not find was a free computer. ;-)


One of the nice things about biting the bullet and getting a $199 PC instead of just running Linux on a spare Mac has been that on the PC platform with Linux I find myself in the middle a huge amount of development within a tremendously active and hugely varied community.  

If ya want free - lotsa choices.  If ya wanna pay hard cash money - lotsa choices.

If one distribution changes the rules - say, a free distribution suddenly starts charging for its stable upgrades assuming that it now has vendor lock-in (i.e., Red Hat) - it is very easy to bail out and take my data with me to another distirbution.  Not a big deal.

I.e. - no vendor lock-in.

Lotsa choices.  More every day.

After the many limitations of being a Macintosher for all these years - the right way, the wrong way, or the Macintosh way -  I have found this combination of Free and Choice to be very liberating.

I feel kinda like the country boy who finally got the courage to board that Greyhound bus and leave mamma and tammy and blue behind for the draw of the Big City.

Gosh - look at all those buildings way up in the air!

Of course, it is a lot easier to get lost now. . .


If you are into the notebook computing platform, a Powerbook or iBook running a Mac OS - or if you are on the cheap, Linux - probably does make a whole lot of sense.

For free Yellow Dog information I think you best choices may be:

(a) The Yellow Dog Public Mailing Lists:

http://lists.terrasoftsolutions.com/mailman/listinfo

If you are unfamiliar with mailing lists, I recommend that you consider signing up under
an email address separate from your main one - depending on how you set them up, mailing lists can generate a lot of mail.

(2) Since the pickings for specific Yellow Dog bulletin boards are pretty slim, you might just want to use the search function and post questions on any of the very active general Linux bulletin boards.

Google is your friend for finding good active general Linux bulletin boards. "Linux links" might be a good search strand to start.

(3) The only specific free Yellow Dog bulletin boards that I have stumbled across are the two listed below.  Attendance is very sparse on both and I think you would probably do better on a very active general Linux bulletin board, instead.

Or just bite the bullet and pay up to Yellow Dog.

http://www.linuxiso.org/forums/viewforum.php?forum=30

http://www.justlinux.com/forum/forumdispla....php?forumid=24


Have fun -

Epaminondas

[marie]

Well Uncle Sams refund is going to finance two things more than likely! Ram (I want to max out!) and YDL. Right now the hubby would throw a fit if I sprung for them right now!
I noticed almost immediatly that the forums sure are nothing like our beloved TS! I joined a newbie mailing list for YDL and I must say everyone there is quite helpful.
I have done all my updates, however this recompiling of the kernel you speak of ....What is that? How do I do that? Remember I am quite new to linux!! Please feel free to PM me with this information!
Thanks!

[Epaminondas]

<< Well Uncle Sams refund is going to finance two things more than likely! Ram (I want to max out!) and YDL. Right now the hubby would throw a fit if I sprung for them right now! >>

But more RAM will speed your time on your computer so that you will have more time to lavish upon your understanding husband.

You see - you are only buying more RAM for him.

What a thoughtful, selfless wife!


<< I noticed almost immediatly that the forums sure are nothing like our beloved TS! I joined a newbie mailing list for YDL and I must say everyone there is quite helpful.
I have done all my updates, however this recompiling of the kernel you speak of ....What is that? How do I do that? >>

kernel linux recompile

A different view

Best to listen for a week or two on your YDL mailing list(s) until you find a lot of your unasked questions answered and you have a feeling for the local culture.  If the mailing list has a search function, try variations of the phrase "recompiling the kernel" and "kernel recompile."

This may or may not be useful on YDL 3.0.1 - I dunno.

YDL is based on Red Hat but is not an identical clone.  In Red Hat 9 - if you want to explore this sort of thing in a GUI and if you have installed KDE and a number of other packages - you may be able to learn more by going to System Tools > More System Tools > Kernal Tuning.

Useful or not - this is one of the steps that you must take before being elevated to Linux Geekhood.

And remember - never backup first!


Happy destroying your system -

Epaminondas

[marie]

But more RAM will speed your time on your computer so that you will have more time to lavish upon your understanding husband.

You see - you are only buying more RAM for him.

What a thoughtful, selfless wife!

   Somehow I do not think that is the way he will see it!! Already growling about the PB. LOL