What happens when you turn a perfectly good Apple PowerBook into a tri-boot system with Mac OS X, Yellow Dog Linux, and Ubuntu Linux? Read on to find out.
Dual Booting Linux on a Mac
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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Shouldn’t the title be Triple Booting…?
Well, I suppose that if it was in fact perfect beforehand, it would now be something other than perfect.
I haven’t used a Mac lately, but I’ve seen people mention that Macs have OpenBoot. So, if that is true, why doesn’t the article mention using it for handling booting the different operating systems? Sun workstations have OpenBoot, and it makes booting any number of operating systems trivial (no GRUB or LILO nonsense to fight with).
A few notes: The author never named names, but did suggest that you have to use Linux if you want to use Firefox as your web browser and the GIMP for image editing. I can only assume he didn’t try, considering both projects offer very nice binaries on their websites. (He also implied that you need Linux for OO.o – while not technically true, I am going to let him go on this because running OO.o on OS X takes patience, to say the least.)
He suggests that the readers might want to use Linux on their Macs because they aren’t powerful enough to handle the upgrade to Jaguar or Panther. Apparently he’s never tried to upgrade to Jaguar or Panther on a low end Mac. General wisdom (and my experience) suggest that every release of OS X runs better than the last on older hardware – 10.0 was terrible on anything shy of a G4, while 10.3 is plenty responsive on a couple of old “Pismo” Powerbook G3s we have floating around the office.
And I won’t even bother asking why he’s comparing emulators to operating systems.
I have NeoOffice J on my new powerbook. I really don’t think it is viable.
I think Tiger may break the trend and be a little slower than panther, but who knows.
i am thinking of getting a minimac. hope powerpc linux distributions work on it fine.
I think Tiger may break the trend and be a little slower than panther, but who knows.
Steve announced that Tiger would have better support for dual processor machines. That should mean it’s going to run smoother on older dual processor machines, and there are quite a few of those out there right now.
10.1 was not a good experience on my previous Mac, but it’s now running 10.2.8 and aside from the fact that the hardware is now in the realm of the tragically obsolete, the system itself runs quite smoothly. I’m using 10.3.7 and it feels like strolling through the mansion and admiring the paintings in the halls
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I can’t wait for the next kitty to leave the cage.
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The article proves you can run several distros alongside OS X on a Mac [which does not surprise me] but there is no compelling reason for me to do so. The water feels fine the way it is
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However, there are other operating systems and other work environments that can be installed on an Apple system, based on popular open source Linux applications.
What is that sentence supposed to mean? That author is absolutely clueless. He says he has been “involved with the Linux and Unix community since 1980 and has written a number of best-selling Unix books”, yet he doesn’t know that you need a NewWorld boot partition and a swap partition to install Linux on a mac?
…yet he doesn’t know that you need a NewWorld boot partition and a swap partition to install Linux on a mac?
Well, I will agree with one part of your statement: the guy doesn’t know much. But, it is quite possible to insall linux on an OldWorld Mac. I’ve done this with ydl 3.0.1, and mdk 9.1. You use BootX to escape the mac kernel (because, the OldWorld Macs only allow you to boot to the native operating system – probably OS9)…
http://www.yellowdoglinux.com/support/installation/
Check it out here, for instructions with ydl.
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Quote bash:
“Imagine, the entire source code for your operating system and all major applications.”
You’re KIDDING? I was unaware of this going on – (Please note the sarcasm).
“Unlike Microsoft’s VirtualPC application, these operating systems can’t be installed within Mac OS X, but rather have to be installed adjacent to or instead of Mac OS X.”
This should not be compared. Never. He could have at least talked about Mac On Linux (MOL) project.
“If you’re looking for Intel-based versions of Linux, there are dozens and dozens, but the PowerPC chip cuts those options down quite a bit.”
True.. the options are more limited. But things have come a long way; a quick look at linuxiso.org lists 9 alternative operating systems (or distros) for the ppc architecture. That doesn’t even include Ubuntu, CRUX, or Fedora.
“This meant that to get started I needed to partition the drive, to take the 58GB partition (the maximum available space on a 60GB drive: don’t ask where the other 2GB go, they’re just eaten by the same gremlins that cause your 17″ monitor to actually only measure 15.5″ diagonally) and shrink it down to make space for two more operating systems and all of their additional files.”
Gremlins? What is this guy talking about?
“However, it’s Linux that lives at the center of most of the open source community, and it’s Linux that includes a complete office suite, a top-notch Web browser, a powerful image and graphics editor, dozens of professional applications, and a solid and time-tested development environment for free, easily downloaded or purchased for just a few dollars.”
The writer often seemed unsure of some concepts, and others he drove home with such enthusiasm, you’d be convinced he invented it.
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This article stunk.
It’s not often I come across an article on osnews that strikes me as this poorly written.
Anyways, if you’re interested in installing linux on a ppc box, I do recommend using ydl 3.0.1 for OldWorld, and 4.0 for NewWorld. It can especially be handy for bringing new life to an old G3. I have very limited experience using mdk 9.1 for ppc, but I hear the 10.1 unofficial release is worth a go. Gentoo, Ubuntu, and others are also options, if you’re switching from an x86 version of the distro.
In any case, if you’re interested in installing anything on a ppc box, head over to irc.freenode.net for any support, it’s a good network they have over there. #Yellowdog can be very helpful (just get used to waiting for replies).
The end.
PS: I lied, it’s not the end. Sorry for all grammatical errors.
The actual end.
Just to save people the effort/pain of reading the article, hopefully they’re reading the comments first, and I can, IMHO, answer the question:
What happens when you turn a perfectly good Apple PowerBook into a tri-boot system with Mac OS X, Yellow Dog Linux, and Ubuntu Linux?
It works fine.
because the author uses a language your granny can follow with a bit aid of the dictionary?
I’ve gone throu the experience of trying to get linux running on an Apple PPC 7100/80 – and apart from a succesful network install – mark – install, not running it – I failed getting the beast to run smoothly. Basically this happened due to some protocol mistake/bug/error in the kernel provided for olden nubus pmacs – it had difficulties talking to cdroms connected to the scsi bus. It simply failed resetting the controller and redoing the operation, what ever it was. So, I gave up on Linux on that machine and returned to macos 9.
Nevertheless – I fail to see why you lads keep having a go at the guy. He’s just describing his experiences.
Oh, and the gremlins eating away space from the hard disk: that’s because the *physical* format of the hard disk specifies margins and per-sector information read/seeked by the head, which take away some space from such a huuuuge hard disk. You ‘ll encounter per-sector physical format information on floppy disks too, just check out Hans Messmer – the indispensable hardware book.
danke, wo sind die froschpillen?
Give this guy a bit of a break. It seems to me he was writing this article with newbies in mind. The flamers here read right through his sense of humor (somewhat subtle) and assumed he was an idiot… How many of you have the nerve to write an article and post it for the world to criticise.
If you want to debate the technical merits, great, but otherwise stop wasting bandwidth.
well ofcourse one musnt run linux to use those applications
on the mac. but i think alot of the opensource apps feels realy out of place in the aqua enviroment.
so runnning them in linux dosent give to conflikting guis
the gremlins line is a good stab at hard drive manufacturer practices, it’s bullshit that they label megabytes as 1000, that’s bad tech terminology, and a crappy marketing scam.
“Oh, and the gremlins eating away space from the hard disk: that’s because the *physical* format of the hard disk specifies margins and per-sector information read/seeked by the head, which take away some space from such a huuuuge hard disk. You ‘ll encounter per-sector physical format information on floppy disks too, just check out Hans Messmer – the indispensable hardware book.”
And there was I thinking it was because harddrive manufacturers use base-10 numbering (ie 1kb = 1000bytes) whereas all operating systems use (by default) base-2 numbering (ie 1kb = 1024bytes).
Hey, ho. I stand corrected.
debian runs fine – actually i use it as my main operating-system on my powerbook G4 -> lots of apps to download via apt-get, and almost all linux-apps run also on ppc (if recompiled/using linux/ppc-binaries)
i can recommand debian for any mac-user! (haven’t tried ubuntu, probably fine too – i don’t like YDL because it’s rpm-based)
On my headless mac I boot to YDL 3, then start up dual instances (VMs) of OS9 and OSX, both being hosted via NFS off of a Linux/x86 box. Those are then displayed on a Sun Ultra/2.
Running MOL is the only way to go (for me). Running OSX natively seems too restrictive.
if you’re interested in installing linux on a ppc box, I do recommend using ydl 3.0.1 for OldWorld, and 4.0 for NewWorld.
What do you recommend for a dual processor G5? Will any PPC Linux distro run on this system in full 64-bit mode? Do any of them support thermal control on the G5? (I’d rather not have all the fans running full blast all the time–it sounds like a 747 getting ready for takeoff.)
No, mega = 1,000,000 is the SI prefix standard, not a marketing scam.
Sorry, as this response is rushed.
http://www.yellowdoglinux.com/support/hardware/breakdown/index.php?…
Check that out.
I know the G5s are supported, but as far as how it interfaces with the fans, etc, I am not sure. Have a look around ydl’s site.
I’ve never installedit on a G5.. but give 4.0 a try.
Ubuntu works fine too on my Powerbook G4. I find it a very polished distro, though there are less packages than there are for Debian.
Since thermal control is never specifically mentioned, assume it’s going to sound like a 747 at take off* … and you can’t even crank music to add to the general din.
* I think I’ve heard something about this being fixed, but don’t quote me on that.
I think the issue with the fans has been fixed. Check out the following post on the YDL mailing list. http://lists.terrasoftsolutions.com/pipermail/yellowdog-newbie/Week…