Hi Jordan!I tried installing Debian Lenny onto my iBook G4 recently, just to see how it works. It was pretty easy to do. You'll have to connect to the internet with the Ethernet cable at first and then download the driver for Wifi (you'll find the info on the Ubuntu FAQ mentioned below). But then, it will work just fine. Sound didn't work at first, either. But look at the section title "Enable sound with my Powerbook" on this page: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPCFAQ#Enable sound with my Powerbook. This method did the trick for my iBook, too. I installed IBM Java, which actually worked very well. The only things that you can't get are Adobe Flash and Skype. So with YouTube videos you will either have to download them, or use some scripts to enable the mplayer or VLC to play them imbedded. This works quite well for the YouTube site. But, scripts only work for the sites for which they are written. I couldn't, for example, see any of the flash videos on the BBC site... And you can forget about using Gnash or swfdec. They're hopeless. Gnash seems to have the better prospects, but I couldn't figure out a way of getting the latest version for PPC, so the version that I was stuck with (the default version available) was not very good. In the case of Skype, you'll just have to use Ekiga, or something like that - an open-source one. Great, but unfortunately everyone I know is on Skype! Overall, I found the performance of Debian with the Gnome desktop on a G4 iBook a bit slow, nowhere near as snappy as the OSX Tiger installation. But, perhaps my 1.3 Mhz processor just isn't enough for Gnome... Maybe the other window managers/desktops would improve performance... I tinkered with XFCE a bit, but I didn't feel much difference, to be honest... You're definitely better off sticking with OSX for daily use - it's designed specifically for the G4 and so it works well within its limitations. (That's what I'm using right now).
Still, it's impressive that Debian works on an iBook, but the support and enthusiasm for the platform just isn't there. Linux on PPC is a bit depressing if you're just an average user wanting to find out about Linux. All the time, you're left thinking just how much better it would be if you had a Intel computer, where the support and quality of Linux is so good! Linux on the PPC seems to be just for people wanting to use old PPC computers for servers etc...
Best regards, Robert. On 16 Mar 2010, at 13:12, Jordan Force wrote:
Hi,I was considering putting Ubuntu on my ibook G4, and I was wondering: Would the setup for ubuntu be significantly easier than debian? I mean, would installing the system and getting things like wireless and sound to work be harder in Debian than Ubuntu?Thanks, Jordan Sent from my iPod -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-powerpc-REQUEST@lists.debian.orgwith a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/AD262432-EE06-4A30-89B1- BEA5C91CE127@gmail.com