How to Boot my iBook G4 with Ubuntu

I am using Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) to try to boot a Mac iBook (’cause the hd in the mac is whacked). So far, it’s been a real challenge. I am learning that nothing is easy on a Mac when they are broken. It makes me chuckle, when people are asking for help in mac forums, there is inevitably someone who says, “Take it into Apple Care and let them fix it.” If someone was willing to pay for Apple Care, why would he or she be requesting help on a forum?

After a considerable time of searching, I found instructions on the Ubuntu Forums, but none of them worked for this Mac. Finally, adjusting the steps along the way, I found a procedure that works for me:

Insert the Mac version of the Ubuntu boot CD into the iBook CD drive and as you power on, hold down the “C” key until you hear it booting from the CD.

At the “boot” prompt, type:

live-nosplash-powerpc video=ofonly break=top

When the busybox comes up, type each of these lines, waiting for the {initramfs} prompt to return:

modprobe ide_core
modprobe ide_disk
modprobe ide_cd
exit

The CD will start to load and then go silent. During this time there will be lengthy periods (minutes) without any sign that the boot is working. Be patient, it takes this iBook exactly 15 minutes to complete the boot to the live CD.

As always — this information is provided as-is and without warranty, express or implied. Any damage that comes to your computer, your data, your job or even your life as a result of using this information is your responsibility. This worked on the computer I was using, but it may or may not work on yours.

Linux Desktop…

Update below.

For years I have been wanting to have a usable desktop machine that is running nothing but Linux. It appears I finally have one. It wasn’t that hard, really.

At the advice of my nephew, Ken (www.shieldsit.com), I downloaded and burned an image of the free version of www.xandros.com. Then I booted from the CD and let the image do its thing. While it took a while to install, when it was done, it was working fine.

I didn’t have it install Open Office because the version that comes with xandros is old. That was a mistake. It took me quite some time to figure out how to install the rpm I downloaded from openoffice.org. I found the instructions for doing so here — toward the bottom of the page.

Then I discovered the xandros network, from which you can install many things without typing at the console. In any case, it was fun to install the hard way.

Anyone else using linux as a desktop?

UPDATE (4/5/2008): About a month after posting this, my son told me about Ubuntu.  It’s a very stable Linux desktop platform.  I’ve been using it since version 6.  It’s ready to release version 8 in less than a month.