Re: PowerBook G4 12"
On Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 11:07 AM, Logan Airth <logan.airth@gmail.com> wrote:
> Good morning. I recently acquired a PowerBook G4 12" and I was thinking
> about installing Debian. I have had some experience running other flavours
> of Linux on the x86 platform. I have been doing some research however since
> the hardware that I am using is fairly old, I have not been able to find
> recent information regarding the install of the OS nor any complications
> that I may run into. I don't really want to partition my drive to try to
> install an OS that is going to involve days of work getting to a workable
> status let alone retain the portablity that I am accustomed to. On the
> otherhand I don't mind putting a say a day or so of work to get it running,
> I am not looking for a multiple day project.
I wouldn't put Linux on it then, just use OS X. Not trying to say that
it's going to take even more than a day (depending on your
experience), but if your decision to use Linux is based on the time it
will take to get it working then why bother. There will always be
times when little bugs creep into Linux (especially for ppc) and it
may take a few days to figure out why it's not working. So, if you're
not willing to work through these bugs then I would say don't bother,
just install OS X and be done with it.
> Regarding the install itself, partitioning-wise, I have been seeing in what
> research I have been able to do alot of the material has made mention of
> essentially dualbooting the system. Is this nessecary? I am not interested
> in retaining OS X.
Dual-booting is not required at all, but it's just fun to play with.
It's also nice for those times when something isn't working quite
right on Linux and you can switch over to OS X. Hasn't happened often,
but it has happened.
> Also it is not very clear what would be the best version of Debian to
> install. Would it be better for me to install the Stable version or the
> testing version?
Personally, I've always preferred the Stable branch. You can always
just install stable and then upgrade to testing if you want.
> And finally would there be any recommendations for alternatives to Debian?
Slackintosh (though I think development is fading) and Arch Linux
(hopefully people don't boo me off the debian list, but this is what
I'm currently using). Suspend and resume, battery life, memory usage,
up-to-date software, and speed seem better with Arch Linux.
Good luck with your tests.
Cheers,
/Bob
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