New G4, want Linux

[Clinton MacDonald]

Mr. Smiley:

(By the way, I am cross-posting this message to the
Yellow Dog General mailing list
<http://lists.terrasoftsolutions.com/mailman/listinfo/yellowdog-general>,
since the Newbies list is no longer being archived. Do
yourself a favor and subscribe to that list, too.)

ריצ'רד סמיילי <canuck AT mh DOT org DOT il> wrote:
> Hope you don't mind me writing, I really
> liked Clint's commentary on the failings
> of YDL on the other list

Hey, don't take my rantings seriously! No one else
around here does, and that's for the best.

> My old PC burned up (literally) including
> the scsi zip drive and hard disc, so I
> figured it was time to return to my first
> and only love in computers, a Mac, like
> we had in the lab.

Good choice! You will not be sorry.

> So I have ordered a new dual G4 - OSX
> 10.3, obviously - since, having a new
> screen, it is cheaper than an i-mac...
> but would like to have Linux capability.
> (Gnumerics? whatever)

Also a very good choice. The PowerMac dual G4 is quite
a capable computer (I want one!).

And, you will pretty much have Linux-like capabilities
right out of the box. Be certain to install the BSD
subsystem, the developer tools, and X11 when you
receive the G4.

<http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/x11/>

This will give you compilers and command-line
utilities. Play around with the Terminal
(/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app/) -- you will be
using the bash shell, so your existing Linux/Unix
skills will be put to good use. I have heard it said
that "uptime" is the Mac OS X killer app. :-)

Go to the Fink project homepage:

<http://fink.sourceforge.net/>

Fink is a project to port the many useful Linux
applications and utilities to Mac OS X. There are also
projects to port specific applications to the Aqua
environment (Aqua is the Mac's "native" windowing
environment, sort of like X windows, but with much
more eye candy).

All of this is available to you *before* you even
consider reformatting your hard drive.

> 1. Put it on my hard disc and it
> voids the warranty. bummer.

As Mr. Leroy points out, no it doesn't. You can
reformat your hard drive to your heart's content, and
not void the warranty. Nowadays, you can even install
your own RAM! ;-)

> 2. YDL may have great tutorials, but
> it won't operate through either Firewire
> or USB, yet the most obvious solution is
> just that: an external HD through
> Firewire.

Someone will correct me if I am wrong, but I *think*
Terra Soft has published a method to boot YDL 3.0.1
from a Firewire drive. Of course, I cannot find this
information by searching YDL's execrable Web site.
Otherwise, open up your G4 box and install a second
(cheap) ATA drive. That should work (and also not void
your warranty).

> I tried SUSE and Red Hat (6.1) a couple
> of years ago on my older now standing
> in PC, (shared memory, unfortunately)

There are a few distributions available for PowerPC
(Mandrake 9.1 and Debian are two I can think of), but
most people agree that Yellow Dog Linux is the most
reliable, and is still being actively developed.

Good luck, and let us know about your new experiences!

Best wishes,
Clint

=====
Dr. Clinton C. MacDonald | <mailto:clint DOT macdonald AT sbcglobal DOT net>