Re: PowerBook G4 12"

[Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>]

>>>>> "Logan" == Logan Airth <logan.airth@gmail.com> writes:

> Good morning. I recently acquired a PowerBook G4 12" and I was thinking

I finally installed Debian (testing) on my PB 12" G4 a few weeks ago.

I followed the directions at http://philobsd.free.fr/Debian/branden.html
for how to install without going through the trouble of burning a CD.
It's very easy: basically place the yaboot and installer files in an
HFS+ partition, then reboot into OpenFirmware and tell openfirmware to
boot from those files.

It went fairly smoothly, except for some problems due to my using LVM:
the installer didn't realize that yaboot was not going to be able to
read the kernel and initrd from the LVM /boot volume.  So if you like to
use LVM, just make sure that the /boot directory is not in an
LVM partition.  So basically, I ended up needing 1 HFS partition for
yaboot, then 1 ext3 partition for /boot and another partition for LVM
(subdivided at will).

> 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?

I like testing better: it's more uptodate, and you can upgrade any time,
so your upgrades can be very small if you do them often.

> And finally would there be any recommendations for alternatives to Debian?

What else is there?


        Stefan