Linux on a G4 Mac Mini – Let’s try Yellow Dog

Machine:

1.42 GHz G4 Mac Mini (512MB)

[great machine! OS X is also great but it is getting a bit slow at times, that's why I thought of giving it a try with Linux installing both OS X Tiger and Yellow Dog. There are several Linux distributions available for those Macs made before Apple transitioned to Intel processors (i.e. PowerPC Macs with G3 G4 and G5 processors). Linux distributions I've considered were Ubuntu, Gentoo, Mandriva and openSUSE. I ended up downloading Yellow Dog Linux 5.0.1 code-named Phoenix (from the TerraSoft website). This distro is free and its iso has 3.6 GB, I chose it because it's the only one that's made just for the PowerPC architecture and it seems like having a good support].

Linux Distribution:

Yellow Dog 5

(a Fedora Core, RPM-based distribution)
Download the .iso file (from the TerraSoft website) and burn it onto a dvd.

Do some research! Take a look at the TerraSoft site and here or here (in italian ->here).

How to install YDL and OSX (if you want to dual-boot Mac OS and Linux)

Step 1 – Back up your Mac Mini HD [cds/dvds/external HD]

Step 2 – Partition the Mac Mini HD [get out the gray Mac OS X Install Disc 1]

With Mac OS X running, insert the OS X Install Disc 1 that came with the Mac Mini. Run the installer from the disc and, when prompted, hit “restart”. The Mac Mini will reboot and load the OS X installer from the disc.
With the installer running, open on the “Installer” menu in the top left of the screen. Choose “Open Disk Utility”. From here we tell Disk Utility how we want to partition the hard disk. I have divided the 80 Gigs hard drive (real size is 74.5 GB) into 4 partitions:

3 volumes I have marked as “Free Space” (their filesystem – Format – will be specified during the Linux installation)

• one of 2 GB for Linux-SWAP
• one of 14 GB for Linux-ROOT [ext3]
• one of 8.5 GB for shared FAT32 filesystem (for sharing files between OSX and YDL)

1 volume of 50 GB I have marked as “OS X” with the format “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)”, which is the Mac OS X filesystem, HFS+.

Once done setting up the volumes as desired, click Partition on the lower right, and quit Disk Utility.

You’re ready to install OS X onto the partition you just created (the 50 GB one in my case).

Now OS X is installed, you only need to insert the YDL DVD and restart the system and make it so it will boot from the dvd-drive (I think I pressed C, I can’t remember). The Yellow Dog installation graphic will appear and you will be guided to choose how to manage the Free Space partitions you have previously created.

[...]

Once you have both OSs installed, when turning on the Mac Mini, instead of rebooting directly into Mac OS X as before, it will now load a bootstrap from which you can hit the letter “L” to boot Linux, or “X” to boot Mac OS X. By default (not hitting any key) it will boot the Yellow Dog Linux.

Installing Skype in Ubuntu Edgy Eft

When I had Ubuntu up and running I was quite anxious to play with the new OS and customize it with my favorite apps. Some apps I was able to install via Add/Remove Applications (Azureus, Amule, VLC) quite easily, other apps I had to understand how Synaptic worked and read through the Ubuntu wikis.

The first app I wanted to install was Skype and here I describe how I did it hoping it comes handy to other beginners like me.

Installing Skype through Repository:

1. Go to: System>Administration>Synaptic Package Manager



You will be asked for your system password, then a Synaptic Package Manager window will come up.
This window shows the so called repositories which control the installation process and get the application packets from the Internet into the OS.

2. From the Synaptic Pagake Manager window click Settings>Repositories.
3. From the new window Software Sources select the Third Party tab and click Add.



4. Paste the following into the APT Line field:

deb http://download.skype.com/linux/repos/debian/ stable non-free

then click OK and OK again until you get back to the Synaptic Package Manager.

5. Click Reload to refresh the repositories
6. Search and Mark for installation the packet Skype, click on apply and keep going until the application is completely installed
7. If all went right you will find Skype from the menu Applications>Internet

That’s all!