[ILUG] linux +Macs

[Paul Jakma]

On Sat, 5 Jun 1999, Paul Curtayne wrote:

  Hi,
  
  I don't own a Mac, I don't like Macs, I don't know anything about
  Macs.
  
  Now that's out of the way, could someone edify me as to what older
  macs could run Linux? Is there a minimum spec for a minimum install? a
  comfortable install?
  Is there a vintage which just won't run Linux at all, like for PC's a
  386 is the absolute min, as the kernel normally won't compile for a
  286 (AFAIK).
  
  Paul
  
i don't know about minimum, but I've heard linux/m68k can install on
a Mac II. See www.linux-m68k.org for more info on linux/m68k. They've
an apple mac page there. (but it's not an easy install i think).

The more modern PowerPC (PowerMac, G3, iMac) based machines are
supported by linux/ppc, see www.linuxppc.org for more info. It's
based on redhat, and is a lot easier to install once you've got your
head round the confusing boot process. You order cd's from their site
i think.

I've had linux running on a PowerMac 7200, and it works really well.
(apart from the fact that the firmware on the 7200 doesn't support
video, so changing boot variables can be difficult.). The only
problem was it only had 16MB, so was a bit slow with KDE.. 

Incidentally, there's a lot of older apple machines in the Buy 'n
Sell at good prices (~300). Even old machines are nice cause all
apple's are scsi based. If you only want to run linux you could do
worse than buying a 2nd hand powermac. (no netscape though). eg Apple
Powerbooks are really nice laptops. (and most can run linux).
  
regards,
-- 
Paul Jakma
paul at clubi.ie	http://hibernia.clubi.ie
PGP5 key: http://www.clubi.ie/jakma/publickey.txt
-------------------------------------------
Fortune:
This file will self-destruct in five minutes.