# Linux for old Mac?



## gollum84 (Apr 7, 2006)

I need to know which Linux distro would be best for my old PowerMac 7300?

It has OS 8.5.1 on it now with 288MB RAM, PowerPC 604e 200MHz processor and a 2GB hard drive.


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## tapjpa (Apr 7, 2006)

I would give Yellow Dog a shot, it seems to have the best PPC support with older hardware.


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Apr 8, 2006)

You'll need to get a hold of an older Yellow Dog release, since the newest release requires a "New World ROM" Macintosh to boot the install CD/DVD, which the older beige machines are not.  There are hacks to get around this, but they're a little cumbersome.

YellowDog 3.0.1 was the last release to support old-world ROM Macintosh machines, I believe.


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## gollum84 (Apr 8, 2006)

So I should get Yellowdog 3.0.1 and burn the .iso to a cd.  Do I need to erase the hard drive first, or just put in the cd, reboot and hold down the "c key" to boot from the Yellowdog disc.


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Apr 8, 2006)

You can simply boot from the install CD (yep, burn the .iso to a CD) and you'll have the option of reformatting the drive from there to a partition map more suitable for Linux.


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## gollum84 (Apr 10, 2006)

Where can I pick up a larger hard drive for the 7300?  It has a SCSI bus so I can't use an IDE drive.  I partitioned the drive but there wasn't enough space for Yellow Dog to install.


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Apr 10, 2006)

eBay is pretty much your best bet for the 50-pin SCSI drives that the 7300 uses.  They come in 1, 2, 4, 9 and 18GB sizes -- be wary of "adapted" drives, though as I've had trouble with them in the past... try to get a true 50-pin drive, and not a 68-pin drive that's been "adapted" to 50-pins.


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## sinclair_tm (Apr 10, 2006)

or you could get an ide pci card and put any new ide drive on it.  thats what i did for my 7500, so that i could install os x on it.  just make sure that the card is mac compatible.


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## gollum84 (Apr 10, 2006)

Thanks for the advice.  I just bought a 50-pin drive on eBay.  Hopefully I'll have the old Mac up and running later this week.


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