[wplug] The Great Mac Giveaway

[Justin Smith]

It isn't that the Macs we have /can't/ run OS X; they just can't run any 
/remotely modern/ version of OS X. The most recent version that any of 
them support is Snow Leopard, which hasn't been officially supported for 
some time now. If that's your cup of tea, you're more than welcome to try 
it.

Ubuntu still produces PowerPC releases. It also makes a special "Mac" 
edition of the usual x86-64 ISOs that's designed for better compatibility 
with the...er, /special/ implementation of EFI that Macs use.

Download Ubuntu 14.04.1[1] 
Download Ubuntu 12.04.5[2] 

There is a helpful collection of Mac-related information[3] on the Ubuntu 
wiki. Some of the information is outdated, but much of it, in my experience, 
applies to current releases.

Here's the quick and dirty version of how I prepare a Mac for Ubuntu:

* Boot into OSX
* Install the rEFInd boot manager with the --alldrivers flag so that the Mac 
is able to recognize Ubuntu's Mac edition ISOs.
* Reboot; load the Ubuntu CD.
* Install Ubuntu. If you decide to keep using rEFInd, make sure that you 
boot into BIOS compatibility mode, especially if you're using a Mac that 
uses an nVidia GPU. Apparently, nVidia's drivers will throw a fit if you 
attempt to EFI boot on certain models.

I wouldn't dream of using Ubuntu if I had any other option, but the Ubuntu 
community has done a darn good job of supporting Macs. Even more 
encouraging is that there are a number of individuals at Pittsburgh 
Filmmakers who are open to trying Ubuntu - and, by extension, free 
software.

-- 
*Justin Smith*
GNU/Linux System Administrator

/"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; 
nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will 
not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is 
full of educated derelicts."/

/-Calvin Coolidge/


> >>>Filmmakers will use the occasion to clear out old Macs from the IT
> 
> storage
> 
> >>>closet. We have Mac Minis, MacBooks, G5s, G4s, eMacs, and a few 
other
> >>>odds and ends that all need to go. We'd like to give /you/ the
> 
> opportunity to take
> 
> >>>them.
> >>>
> >>>>>These Macs are too old to run OS X, but they should support 
Linux. You
> >>>
> >>>could /try/ Windows, but I don't know how well it would run.
> 
> Any Mac too old to run OSX is not Intel based --even the oldest Intel ones
> will run earlier OSX versions.  Running Windows on them would only be
> possible using Parallels or another emulation package and newer 
Windows
> wouldn't be very appreciative of its new "cage" due to the memory/cpu
> required for newer versions.
> 
> Depending on exact models/age/specs, yes Linux would run on most or 
all of
> those.  Anything below a G4 would seem pretty slow for a desktop
> environment (fluxbox, icewm, ion maybe???) or even intermediate 
crunching
> (no Altivec for math).  A G5 is a much different beast and could
> potentially be a lot of fun for someone although some models have 
quirks
> that make initial installation require less point and click and more "fix
> the bootloader."
> 
> The only truly tricky part would be getting firmware or finding a distro
> that supports the hardware on a pre-canned CD:  the most popular one
> (Yellow Dog --spun from RedHat source built for PPC) hasn't had a 
release
> for 2 years and looking quickly, I can't find a mirror for it with anything
> newer than the 2009 release.  Probably okay if you want to
> learn/play/tinker behind a firewall, but for sure not safe to expose to the
> net raw or even for surfing around with outdated browsers/plugins and 
no
> simple way to update to safer versions.
> 
> That said, old hardware is fun to learn with and there are sure to be
> distros that have at least unofficial 32 bit PPC support still lingering
> around the wings.  G5 are 64 bit, so finding a supporting distro for those
> may be a lot easier.
> 
> Ted
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--------
[1] http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/14.04/release/
[2] http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/12.04/release/
[3] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MactelSupportTeam/CommunityHelpPages