[conspire] (forw) Re: PowerPC Linux Install This Saturday?

[Rick Moen]

----- Forwarded message from Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> -----

Date: Fri, 9 Jul 2010 02:32:16 -0700
From: Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>
To: "M. C." <hermannhessefan at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: PowerPC Linux Install This Saturday?
Organization: If you lived here, you'd be $HOME already.

Quoting M. C. (hermannhessefan at yahoo.com):

> Hi, my name is Matt. I've been trying to install Linux on an iMac G4 I
> found on the street recently, but it has a glitchy DVD drive and I've
> been having a tough time following the online tutorials for booting
> from the hard drive or using TFTP. (I've been a casual Ubuntu user for
> about a year now, but my command line skills are pretty limited.)
> Anyway, I just saw that you're having a CABAL meeting this Saturday,
> and I was wondering if I could bring the machine down and pick your
> brains about how best to get it loving the penguin, as it were.
> 
> I have plenty of PowerPC Linux install discs and images, and the
> computer works, it's just the process that's got me stuck. Let me know
> if this CABAL meeting would be a good place to give this a try, and
> hopefully I'll see you this weekend!

Hi, Matt!

Fortunately, there's a really good workaround we can use:  We just make
your iMac boot from my external Firewire/USB-type DVD/CD/BluRay drive.
Should work fine.   All we have to do is remember the magic keystroke to 
hold down during bootup to make the machine boot from external media.  I
think this is it:

  Option : When using an Open Firmware "New World ROM" capable system, the
  System Picker will appear and query all mounted devices for bootable
  systems, returning a list of drives & what OS they have on them. 

Found on:
http://face.centosprime.com/macosxw/startup-keys-boot-options/

I've done Linux distros on PowerPC any number of times, though I'm a
little rusty at this point.


CABAL can also offer you this array of installation media in our
library:

o  Debian GNU/Linux 5.0.2a "lenny" (2009-08-17) XFCE Install CD1 for PowerPC
o  Fedora 12 "Constantine" (2009-11-08) for PowerPC (1 DVD)
o  OpenSUSE 11.1 (2008-12-18) for PowerPC (3 CDs)
o  Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" (2010-04-29) Alternate and Desktop Disks for 
   PowerPC

Taken from: 
http://linuxmafia.com/cabal/installfest/#distros


If you have a preference for anything beyond those, and ask me tomorrow
before the late afternoon, I can download and burn other things, too.

-- 
Rick Moen            "Avoid dangling participles unless referring to James Bond,
rick at linuxmafia.com  in which case dangle them over shark tanks or fire pits."
McQ!  (4x80)                                              -- FakeAPStylebook 

----- End forwarded message -----