Linux LiveCDs for PPC

Mikuro

Mikuro

Crotchety UI Nitpicker
Are there any good Linux LiveCDs for PowerPC? I know Ubuntu used to have one, but the PPC version isn't officially supported anymore, and even the community-supported PPC version doesn't have a LiveCD for the more recent versions.

I'm also looking for something lightweight enough to run on a G3 system with 64MB of RAM, so even the very-old Ubuntu LiveCDs probably wouldn't do.

Everything I can find Googling on the subject is from over 5 years ago. I see references to a Gentoo LiveCD from 2003, but it looks like they only make LiveCDs for x86 now.

If there really are no good LiveCDs, any recommendations for a general distro for older G3 Macs? Debian has always served me well, but maybe there are others more suitable as lightweight OSes. I'm looking to put Firefox, OpenOffice (or some similar word processor) and some educational software on it.
 
You can still get the Ubuntu one. It's only community supported now, but it's very up to par with the official version supported by Canonical. I'm running 9.04 on my iMac G5 as we speak. You can find the discs for PPC here:
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/

Fedora also has a live PPC disc set. I hear that "Leonidas" (version 11) is pretty good.
http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora-ppc

I think Novell also has a PPC port of openSUSE.
http://software.opensuse.org/

You can also get FreeBSD for PPC if you want something different than GNU/Linux.
ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/powerpc/ISO-IMAGES/7.2/

Oh, and of course Debian which has never failed me. ;)
 
Last edited:
MisterMe said:
Huh?
Click to expand...

It looks like that's outdated. If you follow their link to download OpenSuse it will tell you "Sorry, the PPC version is available on DVD and for network installation only." I can't find a PPC LiveCD on their FTP site. It doesn't look like Gentoo or Rock Linux offer PPC LiveCDs of the versions that site lists, either.

I did find a not-too-old (c.2007) Gentoo LiveCD after I posted this yesterday, though. I'll give it a try later.

Looks like I was mistaken about Ubuntu. Yesterday I could only find the "alternate install" disk for 9.04, but now I see the LiveCD as well. Thanks. Too heavy for 64MB, though.
 
Ubuntu does tend to require more from a system, but considering today's machines, 256 MB isn't really that much anymore. Still, you should be able to run Debian without a problem. I did so on an AMD K6-300 with only 64 MB RAM and it actually surprised me at how well it handled Debian running XFCE. Might want to give that a run. Just perform a base installation and then add XFCE (or whichever desktop environment or window manager you prefer) and anything else you need on top. Keeps things nice and lean.
 
purplesunrise said:
If this helps- I started with Debian Etch 4.0 but quickly upgraded to lenny and took occasional sid upgrades where necessary by changes to sources.list- the cd is just a starting point as you can find what you want with synaptic or apt -get. Regards

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<removed-link> - Simulation credit immobilier en ligne. L’Internet a rendu encore plus facile d’obtenir de l’aide pour trouver le credit immobilier.
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Very sneaky! For the rest of the members, just float the pointer right below this user's paragraph.

Reported as spam.
 
I did not get any LiveCDs to work, probably because all there seem to be issues autodetecting video cards on iMac DVs. I installed Debian and after a lot of failed attempts have managed to get X working. For anyone else having similar problems, here's my xorg.conf file in its entirety:
Code: 
# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the /etc/X11/xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man /etc/X11/xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
#   sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Files"
	FontPath	"/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
	FontPath	"/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
	FontPath	"/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"
	FontPath	"/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
	FontPath	"/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
	FontPath	"/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
	FontPath	"/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
	FontPath	"/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
	FontPath	"/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
	FontPath	"/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
	FontPath	"/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
	FontPath	"/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
	FontPath	"/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
	FontPath	"/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
	# path to defoma fonts
	FontPath	"/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
	Load	"i2c"
	Load	"bitmap"
	Load	"ddc"
#	Load	"dri"
	Load	"extmod"
	Load	"freetype"
#	Load	"glx"
	Load	"int10"
	Load	"vbe"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier	"Generic Keyboard"
	Driver		"kbd"
	Option		"CoreKeyboard"
	Option		"XkbRules"	"xorg"
	Option		"XkbModel"	"pc104"
	Option		"XkbLayout"	"us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier	"Configured Mouse"
	Driver		"mouse"
	Option		"CorePointer"
	Option		"Device"		"/dev/input/mice"
	Option		"Protocol"		"ImPS/2"
	Option		"Emulate3Buttons"	"true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier	"Generic Video Card"
	Driver		"ati"
	Option "UseFBDev"	"false"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier	"Generic Monitor"
	Option		"DPMS"
	HorizSync	58-62
	VertRefresh	43-117
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier	"Default Screen"
	Device		"Generic Video Card"
	Monitor		"Generic Monitor"
	DefaultDepth	16
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		1
		Modes		"1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		4
		Modes		"1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		8
		Modes		"1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		15
		Modes		"1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		16
		Modes		"1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		24
		Modes		"1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier	"Default Layout"
	Screen		"Default Screen"
	InputDevice	"Generic Keyboard"
	InputDevice	"Configured Mouse"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
	Mode	0666
EndSection
I commented out "load dri" and "load glx", set UseFBDev to false, changed the driver to ati, and tweaked the refresh settings of the monitor. Other people online said that they had to change "ati" to "r128" or do various other things, but this is what worked for me. I installed Debian Etch (4.0) with the default (Gnome) CD, un-selected the Desktop Environment during installation, then ran:
Code: 
apt-get install xfce4 xorg
dpkg-reconfigure xorg
#edit xorg.conf file now
startxfce4

For some reason the Debian Lenny (5.0) installer kept crapping out on me. Perhaps it's because I was using the XFCE disc instead of the Gnome disc. Or maybe the Lenny installer is just buggy. Actually, it's not the first time I've had problems installing Lenny. I'll decide later if I'm bold enough to do a dist-upgrade.

FYI, there is also an XFCE CD for Debian Etch, but I already had the Gnome CD so I just went with it.
 
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