Linux for PPC

[TDave]

Hi all.

I appreciate from a quick search through the forums that this topic has been covered in some way, shape or form but I had a few questions and was curious to receive specific feedback/reccomendations from the wider world!

I currently own a PowerBookG4 (15", 512Mb RAM, 80Gb HDD, 1.25GHz, USB 2.0, Firewire 800 etc) dual-booting OSX and YellowDogLinux (trying to sort the partitions properly to share a 5Gb space between them - a different question altogether!).
At the current time I am in the privileged position (for me anyway) of having access to high-speed internet (or any kind of internet..) for the next week so I am thinking of alternatives and needing reccomendations!

I tried recently to use the Ubuntu PPC version as it would give me the same OS as I installed on my home Desktop shortly before coming away but, after playing with it for a shortwhile, found it awkward and limiting for me in its present state (it did everything I could hope it to do in some respects, but I'm still drawn to KDE too much) - also had difficulties with it working with some PowerBook Keyboard buttons (Eject and Volume I found difficulty with in limited testing) and, from what little chance I had to check I couldn't find workarounds for it.

For the last few weeks I've been happy enough with YellowDog and find it pretty easy to use, however I still find myself wanting to be drawn more and more into some of the other distros (namely Debian, Gentoo, or Slackware).

My experience with all of the above is non-existent, but I have heard good things about them and particularly like what I've seen of certain aspects, apt for example.

My first thoughts was I would try Debian on the Powerbook for now (remain dual-boot) and get used to it for the rest of my time in the wilderness, with the idea of coming back with a better understanding of it to apply to my desktop pc and, ultimately, sole-booting the same OS on both Desktop and Powerbook (currently Desktop dual-boots Doze XP and Ubuntu).
However, having heard the number of people in favour of Gentoo I thought I'd put the question 'to the masses', so to speak, with a few specific questions:

1. What are your experiences with PPC Linux OS's and which would you reccomend/do you currently use?
2. What difficulties have you encountered with the existing Apple Hardware (particularly as regards limited expandability - read: PowerBook..).
- I have resigned myself to it being at best a long time until the driver for the Airport Card is released, but how is compatability with shortcut keys, bluetooth, Gigabit Ethernet ports, etc?
3. What tools would you reccomend/can I find for partitioning my remaining free space (5Gb) to share between the two OS's? Judging from my experiences with 'Disk Utility' I will need to partition via Linux.

Many thanks.

PS - to give some idea, I am just back to trying to understand Linux after too long a time of "I'm too lazy, lets just use Windows for a little bit to play these games..." and now eager to get used to it again! On that note, any links/reccomended eBooks would also be great!!

Dave (Confused)


NOTE: Posted originally in Linux Newbie, could Mods please delete that post - I figured (with hindsight) it would be better placed here. Thanks

[mcm]

You could try Yellow Dog Linux.

It's a Linux Distro for Macs.

[TDave]

I currently own a PowerBookG4 (15", 512Mb RAM, 80Gb HDD, 1.25GHz, USB 2.0, Firewire 800 etc) dual-booting OSX and YellowDogLinux (trying to sort the partitions properly to share a 5Gb space between them - a different question altogether!)....

For the last few weeks I've been happy enough with YellowDog and find it pretty easy to use, however I still find myself wanting to be drawn more and more into some of the other distros (namely Debian, Gentoo, or Slackware).

mcm,

Sorry, I know my post was rambling and, well, confusing, and thankyou for the advice.

Just to reiterate though, I am currently using YDL and don't find it too bad, however I would, ideally like a more 'own-choice' OS both to play with while I'm away from home and then, ultimately, to install at home also (My home Desktops are all X86 arch). To my knowledge I won't be able to do this with YellowDogLinux.
Besides, I just like the idea of Portage/Apt... and heard good things about Slack.

Thanks for your time.

Dave

[mcm]

All right!

As I've never had a PPC computer, I've just heard about Yellow Dog.

I would also say FreeBSD, but it's port to PPC architecture is still under development...

[dylunio]

I have not had the chance to use PPC linux since I don't have the hardware, but you might also want to check out Slackingtosh (not sure if it still being developed), PPClinux, Mandrake, and FedoraCore4(testing) all have PPC versions.

dylunio

[genesus]

try gentoo, its custom compilations and setups will run really fast, plus portage makes things really nice

[TDave]

genesus, dylunio, mcm - thanks for the reccomendations! Much appreciated.
I'm downloading the Gentoo BitTorrent now anyway - I figured it would be nice to try at least - worst case scenario is I have to wipe and go back to YDL - which I can live with for now!

Guess there isn't a huge demand for PPC Linux on the forums, or is there a section I missed!?
Thanks for the help though...now we just have to see what questions I find on the installation...

Regards

Dave