Hello there,
complete off-topic, sorry about this, but my former idea was to install a CentOS on an old mac mini (PPC!). Disappointed to see that PowerPC is not a supported architecture and that non ARM or Intel architecture are not managed by recent distros.. :-(.
Searching the web, I see very few possibilities to install a recent (I need gnome2) GNU/Linux distro on such hardware. I gave Linux MintPPC 11 (http://www.mintppc.org/content/list-macs) a try, but the netinstall iso simply fails in installing a boot loader that conserves the original OS/X partition even after many tries and workarounds.
Any hint or experience would be welcome?
Regards,
On 2015-09-15, wwp subscript@free.fr wrote:
Searching the web, I see very few possibilities to install a recent (I need gnome2) GNU/Linux distro on such hardware. I gave Linux MintPPC 11 (http://www.mintppc.org/content/list-macs) a try, but the netinstall iso simply fails in installing a boot loader that conserves the original OS/X partition even after many tries and workarounds.
You might try Ubuntu or Debian. Keep in mind that Macs present their own challenge beyond just a different architecture; they had a funky implementation of Open Firmware that was a major PITA to configure properly. The Mac OF bootloader, yaboot, is pretty much abandonware at this point as well.
--keith
Am 15.09.2015 um 17:12 schrieb Keith Keller kkeller@wombat.san-francisco.ca.us:
On 2015-09-15, wwp subscript@free.fr wrote:
Searching the web, I see very few possibilities to install a recent (I need gnome2) GNU/Linux distro on such hardware. I gave Linux MintPPC 11 (http://www.mintppc.org/content/list-macs) a try, but the netinstall iso simply fails in installing a boot loader that conserves the original OS/X partition even after many tries and workarounds.
You might try Ubuntu or Debian. Keep in mind that Macs present their own challenge beyond just a different architecture; they had a funky implementation of Open Firmware that was a major PITA to configure properly. The Mac OF bootloader, yaboot, is pretty much abandonware at this point as well.
this also helps to boot
http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/
-- LF
On 2015-09-15, Leon Fauster leonfauster@googlemail.com wrote:
On 2015-09-15, wwp subscript@free.fr wrote:
Searching the web, I see very few possibilities to install a recent (I need gnome2) GNU/Linux distro on such hardware. I gave Linux MintPPC 11 (http://www.mintppc.org/content/list-macs) a try, but the netinstall iso simply fails in installing a boot loader that conserves the original OS/X partition even after many tries and workarounds.
this also helps to boot
rEFInd will work on EFI-based Macs, but not on old PPC Macs, which are based on OpenFirmware (so grub won't work either).
--keith
Am 15.09.2015 um 19:09 schrieb Keith Keller kkeller@wombat.san-francisco.ca.us:
On 2015-09-15, Leon Fauster leonfauster@googlemail.com wrote:
On 2015-09-15, wwp subscript@free.fr wrote:
this also helps to boot
rEFInd will work on EFI-based Macs, but not on old PPC Macs, which are based on OpenFirmware (so grub won't work either).
you are right - its long time ago that i used a macmini and it was indeed intel based. Before that i used a powerbook and remember that the boot loader was http://mac.linux.be/content/yaboot
-- LF
On 09/15/2015 11:27 AM, Leon Fauster wrote:
Am 15.09.2015 um 19:09 schrieb Keith Keller kkeller@wombat.san-francisco.ca.us:
On 2015-09-15, Leon Fauster leonfauster@googlemail.com wrote:
On 2015-09-15, wwp subscript@free.fr wrote:
this also helps to boot
rEFInd will work on EFI-based Macs, but not on old PPC Macs, which are based on OpenFirmware (so grub won't work either).
you are right - its long time ago that i used a macmini and it was indeed intel based. Before that i used a powerbook and remember that the boot loader was http://mac.linux.be/content/yaboot
Oh Geez I remember MKLinux DR3 on my Beige G3 - BootX I think it was - had to have a small HFS partition (couldn't be HFS+) with a blessed system folder.
That was my first distro.
I also ran Debian m68k on an SE/30 - that was an experience.
Not knowing who he was, I saw the network driver had been written by a college student name Alan Cox and so I sent an e-mail to the listed e-mail address to say thank you.
On Tue, Sep 15, 2015 at 4:29 AM, wwp subscript@free.fr wrote:
Hello there,
complete off-topic, sorry about this, but my former idea was to install a CentOS on an old mac mini (PPC!). Disappointed to see that PowerPC is not a supported architecture and that non ARM or Intel architecture are not managed by recent distros.. :-(.
Yeah, PPC - your options are limited.
http://distrowatch.com/search.php?ostype=All&category=All&origin=All...
A number of years back I saved an XServe G4 from the trash and kept it until the fans drove me crazy! ;-) I used Finnix [http://www.finnix.org/] as a LiveCD/rescue environment. I believe I installed Debian on it at the time and can't recall any problems with bootloader installation.
For me PPC wasn't worth the hassle (or the XServe noise!).
Searching the web, I see very few possibilities to install a recent (I need gnome2) GNU/Linux distro on such hardware. I gave Linux MintPPC 11 (http://www.mintppc.org/content/list-macs) a try, but the netinstall iso simply fails in installing a boot loader that conserves the original OS/X partition even after many tries and workarounds.
Any hint or experience would be welcome?
Might try Debian (even the netinstall as well) just to see if it will install successfully?
Regards,
-- wwp
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org https://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Besides the other linux distros mentioned, you have another more retro type choice
http://www.macworld.com/article/2363177/macs/turn-your-g4-era-mac-into-a-nex...
On Tue, Sep 15, 2015 at 2:29 AM, wwp subscript@free.fr wrote:
Hello there,
complete off-topic, sorry about this, but my former idea was to install a CentOS on an old mac mini (PPC!). Disappointed to see that PowerPC is not a supported architecture and that non ARM or Intel architecture are not managed by recent distros.. :-(.
Searching the web, I see very few possibilities to install a recent (I need gnome2) GNU/Linux distro on such hardware. I gave Linux MintPPC 11 (http://www.mintppc.org/content/list-macs) a try, but the netinstall iso simply fails in installing a boot loader that conserves the original OS/X partition even after many tries and workarounds.
Any hint or experience would be welcome?
Regards,
-- wwp
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org https://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
On Tue, Sep 15, 2015 at 2:47 PM, Jeremy Hoel jthoel@gmail.com wrote:
Besides the other linux distros mentioned, you have another more retro type choice
http://www.macworld.com/article/2363177/macs/turn-your-g4-era-mac-into-a-nex...
You know, I do have a G4 mini somewhere... I do wonder if it also works under emulation (KVM AFAIK does support PPC).
On Tue, Sep 15, 2015 at 2:29 AM, wwp subscript@free.fr wrote:
Hello there,
complete off-topic, sorry about this, but my former idea was to install a CentOS on an old mac mini (PPC!). Disappointed to see that PowerPC is not a supported architecture and that non ARM or Intel architecture are not managed by recent distros.. :-(.
Searching the web, I see very few possibilities to install a recent (I need gnome2) GNU/Linux distro on such hardware. I gave Linux MintPPC 11 (http://www.mintppc.org/content/list-macs) a try, but the netinstall iso simply fails in installing a boot loader that conserves the original OS/X partition even after many tries and workarounds.
Any hint or experience would be welcome?
Regards,
-- wwp
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org https://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org https://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Hi,
thanks to all for your replies to this off-topic thread!
I succeeded in installing a 15.04 Mate Ubuntu, had to struggle a bit to get sound, wifi and video stability (found easy fixes on the web about these). Still remains incorrect desktop colors (something wrong about big endian somewhere in a lib, not fixed AFAIK), but at least I can use the mac mini as a (slow) sound station using rhythmbox + my hifi.
Thanks again, regards
On Tue, 15 Sep 2015 16:10:55 -0400 Mauricio Tavares raubvogel@gmail.com wrote:
On Tue, Sep 15, 2015 at 2:47 PM, Jeremy Hoel jthoel@gmail.com wrote:
Besides the other linux distros mentioned, you have another more retro type choice
http://www.macworld.com/article/2363177/macs/turn-your-g4-era-mac-into-a-nex...
You know, I do have a G4 mini somewhere... I do wonder if italso works under emulation (KVM AFAIK does support PPC).
On Tue, Sep 15, 2015 at 2:29 AM, wwp subscript@free.fr wrote:
Hello there,
complete off-topic, sorry about this, but my former idea was to install a CentOS on an old mac mini (PPC!). Disappointed to see that PowerPC is not a supported architecture and that non ARM or Intel architecture are not managed by recent distros.. :-(.
Searching the web, I see very few possibilities to install a recent (I need gnome2) GNU/Linux distro on such hardware. I gave Linux MintPPC 11 (http://www.mintppc.org/content/list-macs) a try, but the netinstall iso simply fails in installing a boot loader that conserves the original OS/X partition even after many tries and workarounds.
Any hint or experience would be welcome?
Regards,
-- wwp
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org https://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org https://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org https://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
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Alice Wonder -
Jeremy Hoel -
Keith Keller -
Leon Fauster -
Mauricio Tavares -
Mike - st257 -
wwp