Linux on Macs

lots of great links here

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here's some I've just collected, ubuntu related
Howto: setup a mail server in Ubuntu - Ubuntu Forums
How to set up a mail server on a GNU / Linux system
Setting up Darwin Streaming Server on Ubuntu Breezy | darrelopry.com
Darwin Streaming Server and building problems on Fedora Core 6 and Ubuntu Server 6.10
Ubuntu Tutorials, Howtos, and More: Setup Your Computer to be a Router
ubuntu Network Server / NAT Router - Ubuntu Forums
OpenAFS
Edgy USB Install - Ubuntu Document Storage Facility
Onnoot Wiki - How to join Ubuntu/Samba to a Windows 2003 Active Directory domain
Netfilter/iptables - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
netfilter/iptables project homepage - The netfilter.org project
netfilter/iptables project homepage - Documentation about the netfilter/iptables project
Howto Configure the Connector for Ubuntu - Zimbra - Forums
Evolution-connector 2.8.0 rpm Fedora Core 6
HOWTO Setup Wine - Ubuntu Forums
CodeWeavers - CrossOver Linux - Truth in Advertising - The Real Dirt
Kubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft)
Download Edubuntu | edubuntu
Index of /pub/ubuntu-iso/DVDs/xubuntu/edgy/release
CodeWeavers - CrossOver Linux - Truth in Advertising - The Real Dirt Outlook ubuntu
CrossOver - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
HOWTO Setup Wine - Ubuntu Forums
Using Outlook's Calendar with Thunderbird (by Jeremy Zawodny)
Freeware/ICal
Apple - Leopard Server Sneak Peek - iCal Server
Bug #25106 in evolution-exchange (Ubuntu): “evolution-exchange: unable to setup exchange account”
Scalix Community Forums :: View topic - Ubuntu Evolution Connector Problem
Evolution-connector 2.8.0 rpm Fedora Core 6
Howto Configure the Connector for Ubuntu - Zimbra - Forums
Scalix Community Forums :: View topic - Scalix Connector / Evolution 2.8 / Ubuntu
GNOME Lokkit
Guarddog
Linux.com | Installing a firewall on Ubuntu
Chapter 16: Ubuntu and Your iPod | Linux Journal
How to use an iPod with Ubuntu | Ubuntu Linux
HOW-TO iPod with (Ubuntu) Linux - Ubuntu Forums
Lightning :: Thunderbird Add-ons
Ubuntu Server Guide
Ubuntu Linux OpenSSH Server installation and configuration | Frequently Asked Questions
How-to: Installing Ubuntu Linux on a usb pendrive | Debian/Ubuntu Tips & Tricks
Desktop Management [Archive] - Ubuntu Forums
Ubuntu:Edgy -!!
Ubuntu:Edgy -
Virtual Hosting using Apache 2 on a linux machine | Debian/Ubuntu Tips & Tricks

To just play around with linux on a mac a livecd version of linux may be the best way to go. With a livecd you don't need to install anything and boot back to osx by just taking the cd out.

Download the Ubuntu Linux PPC. It installs really easy and runs well.

You can also get free CD's from Ubuntu mailed to you(free also) and it will include a "Live" CD as mentioned above. You can boot from the live CD and take it for a test run before installing anything.

There is also a Kubuntu version with a little different look but I think it's the same thing as Ubuntu more or less.

I have loaded and run both versions on a B&W G3 and a Gigabit G4. It's easy to install as a dual-boot Mac too. You can hold the option key on boot-up and it will give you the choice of which OS to boot to.

I pulled my OS X drive and installed another drive as master, then installed Ubuntu on the drive. Booted from Cd with the "C" key and ran the installer.

Put the master (OS X) drive back in and set the (Ubuntu) drive as slave and mount it in the G4.

It's really easy to do and Ubuntu's installer works great. I had no problems installing it and I am a complete Linux Noob so anyone can do it.

I have had a horrible time installing any linux on my B&W
The only diffrence between my B&W is the processor and video card
G4 500 mhz and Radeon 7000. Every attempt at installing linux has resulted in a kernel panic or a partitioning problem. If you want to play with linux i reccoment purchasing a cheap PIII on Ebay. Linux on PPC Macs is not worth it. Even with a 10th of the hardware X86 computers have they still can't get it right.

And I've had zero trouble on my B&W. Stock 400MHz G3, and the ATI PCI card from a G4. I had no problem with either dual booting or a single OS install of Ubuntu.

I've also run it on Beige G3s, iBook G3, Mac mini G4, 8500, 7600... No real big quirks that don't also tend to show up on a PC too.

Taking nothing away from other places that also host Linux downloading, here is where I went to down load the copies of Linux

[url] http://releases.ubuntu.com/6.06/ [url]

Notes: The download is over 600 MB, and there are several versions [stand alone for Mac, PC, along with server versions. The stand alone, as noted elsewhere, can be downloaded as: to run without installing (overwriting) the existing hard drive operating system; or to run by overwriting the existing operating system on the hard drive.]

I look forward to trying both.

Thank you each one for posting your personal experiences and notations to this thread.

David Johansson

It should be noted that that option key thing (startup manager) only works with year 2000 and up macs, and the sawtooth G4s. the Yikes G4, B&W G3, iBook (original), Lombard Powerbook G3, and iMac (both the original, as it is new world, and the 1999, 1999 DV, and 1999 DV SE models), can all have linux installed, but if you want to dual boot, you will have to use the startup control panel. I wonder if Yaboot provides a startup manager with the option to boot the Mac OS on another drive? I know if it's all on the same one, it does.

as for oldworld macs, you need a boot manager, such as bootx, running in a small partition of Mac OS 8 or 9.

linux is a rock solid OS, and I have been thinking of dual booting it on my G3, as I used Ubuntu (version 6.06 at the time) as my primary OS. very easy to use. Maybe i'll dual boot it on my pismo when it gets here, or run it as the sole OS, or boot it from a firewire HD?

-digital

Yes, YaBoot has a boot selector. I know there are problems getting YaBoot to boot Linux from an external drive, but I dunno if it will boot OS X from an external drive. You can also use boot up keys to select other boot volumes. Say, select the Linux partition as the default option, then optionally boot OS X by holding 'x' at boot.

I am running xubuntu without any major problems. I ran ubuntu for a while before that. And, initially I ran ubuntu from the CD-ROM just to check things out.

Things I don't like
- my digital camera won't connect, it worked with ubuntu (dapper-powerpc), but not with xubuntu (feisty)
- the mouse pointer movement is not a good as Mac OS X
- some other bits and pieces are not as smooth as they could be

Things I like:
- I am running the latest version of Firefox (difficult to do with Mac OS X 10.1.5)
- the keyboard is a little snappier than Mac OS X
- I've actually used the Graphical Image Manipulation Program

I am going with only using "open source" formats...

I stopped using the mp3 audio format -- I discovered that it is lossy! and there are too many patent issues. Instead, I am using ogg vorbis, audio CD format, and other lossless open source audio formats.

I stopped using Flash. I miss those funny videos. But, I continue to watch videos that are in open source formats.

Just FYI, ogg vorbis is also a lossy format, but I can understand the desire to go all OSS.
FLAC is a nice lossless free format.

I appreciate you letting me know about FLAC. I'm looking into it.

Xubuntu doesn't include all the nice auto-mount features of regular Ubuntu. You may need to mount by hand or with a util, or install a package to take care of it for you.

Its been supporting Macintosh forever, I installed it recently on an iMac g3, a powermac 7600, and a Blue and White G3 all with no problems or gotchas. They love Macs and it shows. I've been a big fan for a long time.

http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com/resources/

http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com/resources/downloads.shtml

have fun⁄!

dvsjr

Your install problem was probably due to the replacement Zif. I had a Radeon card in a G4 and it worked fine with Ubuntu.

A cheapo PII is decent for Ubuntu but it's no replacement for a Mac running Ubuntu. No need to go backwards to run Ubuntu. I've installed several versions of Ubuntu on stock B&W's & a couple of G3 iMacs with no issues whatsoever. The install seems to go on forever but eventually it will finish.

i'd vote ubuntu as well. the linux pc i'm building at school is only an 800mhz athlon, but runs great. it was a really easy install on that computer, and i'm sure it's equally as easy on a mac since the ppc version looked exactly the same when i ran the live cd on my albook.

I hate Windows so much... I actually really like Linux now... went hog wild with Parallels over the weekend and set up a Linux XP Desktop, Edgy Eft Ubuntu 6.10 Desktop (just... wow), I messed with a Gentoo install for hours, chrooted... but the machine won't boot (Gentoo won this round, but I'll get my rematch)... then, still really excited about Ubuntu, last night I put Ubuntu Server (LAMP) release with ubuntu-desktop on a 400MHz PCI Graphics G4 I have here... wow, this is really nice software... not sure what I'll do with it. Hey, when you turn on the remote desktop login thing, Apple Remote Desktop sees it like a vnc client, and can connect to it! Unfortunately, its not secure, and you have to be logged in already for it to connect.

Ubuntu Desktop has got to be, next to OS X, the smoothest unixy install I've ever seen. This is the way all linux distributions should work.

That's for sure. And it makes your peeccee feel almost like a Mac ;-)

I've had Ubuntu on several Macs and Peecees but the Macs eventually always go back to OS X because it's just better, and the peecees eventually go back to XP Pro so I can play games which is their sole purpose for me. So, it comes down to - if you don't have a Mac and want to have a decent home or small office computer, Ubuntu is a great way to put a legal OS on a cheap peecee for free. Free peecees with free OS is the way to go !

Sadly, I tried to give away a freebie peecee (Compaq Presario 550MHz PIII). I picked it up for free and installed Ubuntu 6.0 something. Listed it in the local Freecycle group and nobody wanted it. It's a shame because it's a decent little internet surfer. A couple people asked about putting Windoze on it but I told them I wouldn't do it. You know at least 90% of the people in that group are using Windoze and that's a shame.

I wish Ubuntu all the best but they have a long and tough battle to do
any damage to th M$ sales.

What do you like best, and why?
Which is the largest/smallest?
Which is the fastest/slowest?
Which is most/least intuitive?
Which is the prettiest/ugliest?
For which has the most/least dedicated app interfaces (most/least compatible)?
Can you run more than one on the same system? Can they all be installed at once?
Which has the best widglets for accessing system level configurations?

--

Also...
Apparently... there's a 68k port for gentoo... if anyone knows links to a howto and binaries, I'd appreciated it, I don't think compiling gentoo from source on 68k would be much fun.

Also, is anyone running a desktop environment (other than MacOS) on a 68k w/ debian or netbsd?

i wish i could get ubuntu to run on my Beige G3, just i never could figure out how to get it to load, let alone trying to install it. i have a 120gb hdd partitioned 3 times the 3rd partition is like 90gb which can be used to partition again a few times to get it installed but it dont want to hose me Os 9.2.2 and OS X 10.4.9 install's.

Like I said, yellow dog has always been about linux on Macintosh. If you have an older Mac, it just works. And the install has *always* been easier that other linux distros up until now.

The beige is an Old World ROM Mac so it will take some tweaking to get Ubuntu to run on it. Try googling around. I saw a forum thread on getting Ubuntu on a Beige G3 somewhere. And I would use a separate hard drive for Ubuntu to avoid problems.

if i was to add a 2nd HDD, i would need a place to mount it in my AIO cause all of the drive bay's are taken up. and i use all of the drive bay's maybe i could find a old external SCSI HDD or something

Depending on the power of the hardware, I like Gnome and XFCE, though Fluxbox can be pretty nice too.

I'd dare say that KDE is the biggest, and of course XFCE tends to be the smaller of that set.

Depending on what you like to do, either KDE or Gnome will be slower. XFCE tends to be faster due to somewhat smaller overall needs.

From a Windows standpoint KDE is "better" and from a Mac OS standpoint Gnome is "better" but really all can be configured to a much higher degree, so it's really all a matter of how much time do you want to spend tweaking out all the little things to your personal liking?

That's pretty subjective, and again it's mostly a matter of tweaking above the defaults of a particular distro.

They should all be able to run each other's targeted apps as long as the proper support libs are installed.

Of course, and you can switch between them at login, or if you configure stuff right, you can have users logged into different ones all at the same time.

That's usually more dependent on the particular distro than the Desktop system.

You can setup a cross architecture compile system under NetBSD, but I dunno how useful that would be for getting Gentoo up. Gentoo is probably way too tweaker oriented for a 68k anyway. I'd generally recommend someone go for Debian on 68k, or stick with Open/NetBSD.

That's "bays", no apostrophe please, it's simply a plural, no possessive. sigh

If you don't need a floppy, stick it in that bay. I've got several HD-maxed-machines with HDs stuck in the floppy bay.

dan k