Lots of problems! How to get started (from nothing) with Linux on PowerPC

[tensixturtle]

Hello,
I apologize for my ignorance for this topic. I am trying to get Linux on my (New World) PowerPC Mac and am having an extremely hard time. I was trying Macbuntu but after burning the ISO to a DVD, I cannot boot from it by holding option at startup. I click on the disc but it will just reboot and end up in the same place. I cannot boot by holding C either. I have tried multiple Linux distros and it just doesn't work. I have read some unclear articles online about yaboot and making partitions and such, but I end up even more confused than when I started. I was wondering if anyone has good resources from how to get started from absolutely nothing to do with Linux on my Mac to installing it?
Thank you in advance.

 

[galgot]

I recommend the PPC Luddite guide, which got me started installing Linux on some of my machines :

Installing Debian Linux on PPC Part I - Pre-Installation

[4/24/15: Updated for Jessie stable] I've been meaning to do this for awhile, so I've finally gotten around to giving you my thoroughly co...

ppcluddite.blogspot.com

It's a bit outdated (2015) , as it stopped at Debian 8 Jessie, but for the very basics of installation, step by step, it's still very useful.
Note, maybe try installing an older version first, like Debian 7 Wheezy, or 8 Jessie, as these had better support "out of the box" for PPC (from my own experience anyway)...

Then move to a newer version once you've learned the basic install process, and follow these required reads for installing more recent Linux Debian based versions.
Z970's Debian wiki here :

The PowerPC Debian Wiki

Mac OS X Tiger was released in 2005, its final security update being in 2009. Mac OS X Leopard was released in 2007, given its very last security update in 2011, and is the ultimate version of Mac OS X compatible with the PowerPC architecture, effectively marking the entire family EOL, even for...

forums.macrumors.com

If you can't boot from a CD/DVD holding c key , check the "Flash / Boot From USB Drive" in "Guides" on the link above.
and Wicknix posts :

Lubuntu 16.04 Remix (updated)

2023 update For anybody still using this (16.04 v2) i created a tutorial with some extra files to extend the life of it. Basically we change the sources.list to Debians (since Ubuntu's repo is dead) and make a few changes to allow packages to be updated and installable again. Download it here...

forums.macrumors.com

Debian Sid Remix (ppc32/ppc64)

Seeing as how installing Sid can be painstaking (downloading keyrings to a usb stick, missing wifi firmware, grub breaking and post-install hacking in yaboot, etc) i decided to respin a custom netinstall.iso. This iso uses yaboot by default so there are no hoops to jump through there. There is a...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[gsahli]

Several of us have a flavor of Ubuntu 16.04 working.
Please tell us the G4 model and the graphics card you you have.
Not being able to boot from the burned DVD is a big issue. Where did the .iso come from? Did you do the MD5SUM to check that the ISO is valid?

 

[tensixturtle]

@gsahli My iBook G4 is the late 2004 14" 1.33GHz model. It has the Mobility Radeon 9200 graphics card. However, I have tried the same thing on other computers and the exact same thing happens. Oddly enough, I was able to boot using my USB optical drive and open firmware (thanks for sending the links @galgot). That is not always practical, though. When I select the disc during boot, it restarts to the same screen but some of the colors are off:

Holding C just doesn't do anything. The ISO was from this thread (Macbuntu) and I burned it directly through a Mac and its built-in SuperDrive.

On a separate note, I tried the dd command to make a bootable USB but it keeps failing. Is there something I am doing wrong?

Thanks.

 

[Amethyst1]

I tried the dd command to make a bootable USB but it keeps failing. Is there something I am doing wrong?

Assuming there’s nothing you want to keep on the “Macintosh HD” partition, you need to unmount it before rerunning the last dd command.

sudo diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk2

 

[ftalbot]

Assuming there’s nothing you want to keep on the “Macintosh HD” partition, you need to unmount it before rerunning the last dd command.

sudo diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk2

Careful! Looking at the listing, it looks like the USB drive is at /dev/disk1 ("Macbuntu-Remix-PPC") and not /dev/disk2 ("Macintosh HD"). Double check the drive on which you want to copy the ISO installer. Then, as Amethyst1 said, unmount it and use dd.

sudo diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk1 sudo dd if=/Users/Mac/Downloads/macbuntu-remix-ppc.iso of=/dev/disk1

Again, make sure you select the right disk. dd isn't dubbed "Disk Destroyer" for nothing! ?

 

[galgot]

Careful! Looking at the listing, it looks like the USB drive is at /dev/disk1 ("Macbuntu-Remix-PPC") and not /dev/disk2 ("Macintosh HD"). Double check the drive on which you want to copy the ISO installer. Then, as Amethyst1 said, unmount it and use dd.

sudo diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk1 sudo dd if=/Users/Mac/Downloads/macbuntu-remix-ppc.iso of=/dev/disk1

Again, make sure you select the right disk. dd isn't dubbed "Disk Destroyer" for nothing! ?

EDIT: Correction, completely missed that disk1 is 14.9Gb, so can't be the mounted .iso...sorry

then the dd command would be like this :
sudo dd if (for imput file)=source-disk of (for output file) =destination-disk [option]
in that case:
sudo dd if=/Users/Mac/Downloads/macbuntu-remix-ppc.iso of=/dev/THE DISK ON WHICH TO CLONE HERE bs=1024

But before doing anything, please give us more precisions on what exactly you are trying to do... on what drive/usb do you intend to clone that .iso ?

 

[tensixturtle]

Oops, it looks like I selected dev/disk2 on the second command, I guess I was going too fast. Thanks for pointing it out. I am trying to flash the ISO onto my 16GB drive (dev/disk1). So the above command would work if I select the correct disk? Also, does anyone have an explanation for why the Mac refuses to boot from the disc? Thanks.

 

[galgot]

Oops, it looks like I selected dev/disk2 on the second command, I guess I was going too fast. Thanks for pointing it out. I am trying to flash the ISO onto my 16GB drive (dev/disk1). So the above command would work if I select the correct disk? Also, does anyone have an explanation for why the Mac refuses to boot from the disc? Thanks.

Yes, should be :
sudo dd if=/Users/Mac/Downloads/macbuntu-remix-ppc.iso of=/dev/disk1 bs=1024
then.

I don't know why you are not able to boot from that disk...

Maybe try flashing another iso as a try, like Lubuntu-remix :

Lubuntu 16.04 Remix (updated)

2023 update For anybody still using this (16.04 v2) i created a tutorial with some extra files to extend the life of it. Basically we change the sources.list to Debians (since Ubuntu's repo is dead) and make a few changes to allow packages to be updated and installable again. Download it here...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[tensixturtle]

I tried dd with the correct disk and it worked! Thank you to all for pointing out my error.

I tried burning Lubuntu-remix 16.04 v2 and it successfully booted. I also tried re-burning Macbuntu at 2x speed instead of max speed but it still does not work. I don't think it's just Macbuntu, I have a friend who tried BSD and had the exact same issue as me. dd works well for me but for my friend it does not because open firmware is very fussy on their computer.

 

[tensixturtle]

I just tried the Lubuntu-remix 16.04 v4 and had the same issue. Wow, all very confusing!