Posted by WarrenK on January 12, 2012 at 6:08pm
This post is not directly Drupal-related, but I am trying to install Ubuntu Linux on an old G4 PowerPC Mac, to use as a Drupal server. I can't get the Mac to see the Ubuntu disc when I try to boot from CD. If you are even semi-knowledgeable about this I would appreciate any guidance you might be able to provide. Thanks.
Comments
I have done this with a G4
I have done this with a G4 mini, but I am not currently using it as a server. Which version of Ubuntu PPC are you using? I think I was using 10.04 LTS. You will hold down the C as you boot, I'm sure you already know this, though.
Where did you get the disk?
Did you create the disk on the Mac? If you got it from somewhere else, it may not be set up for the Mac properly.
I used Ubuntu Server for my
I used Ubuntu Server for my PPC and was able to boot into the installer with the C, as I recall. By the way, I have also had a successful Ubuntu Desktop running on the same machine, as recent as 10.10, so it's not impossible, just finicky. The server .iso is not easy to find anymore, I think, after doing a little looking. Mine was burned with an external Lacie drive, but I used a linux OS and I did not have to alter it to have it boot. I certainly have had some issues like yours because I tried many PPC distros before finally getting Ubuntu to work. I'm away from home for another 7 weeks, otherwise I would look for my CD (somewhere) and try to get it to you.
Ubuntu 11.10 and 10.04
Thanks for the replies. I started out with a burn of 11.10 but tried 10.04 also. The G4 will not boot with the C key but it will boot with the Option key. With the option key I can see the Apple Leopard CD if I boot with that, but not with any of the Ubuntu CDs. Do you have to do anything to the Ubuntu CD to make it executable? When I look at the CD I see an iso disk image and inside that the /etc and other directories, but I'm not sure what I should be seeing (or not).
As for the CD itself, I downloaded the image from https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPCDownloads on a G5 and burned it there. I also tried downloading and burning it on the G4.
CD Master
Try (if you haven't already) selecting the disk image in disk utility, then going to the Image Menu and selecting "Convert ..." and in the next window, select "DVD/CD Master" for the format. Create the converted image, and then burn from that. See if that will boot.
Limited success
I was able to achieve a limited success by booting the Mac into open firmware and booting from the CD. Unfortunately I was not able to make the CD go to the right directory on the CD (it is an iso disk image) and boot yaboot. For the time being I am now using OS X 10.4 as a server and it is working fine for a local, private development host. Still want to solve the problem -- anyone know how to download a distro NOT as a disk image?
Some Resources
Hey Warren,
Here are a couple of resources that might help:
http://askubuntu.com/
http://linuxquestions.org/
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MactelSupportTeam/
Hope this helps. Seems like an interesting project!
Jennifer