Have a Powerbook G3 (Pismo). Why Gentoo?

bstone · n00b Joined: 22 Apr 2004 Posts: 7 Location: Chicago

Like the title says I have come into ownership of a Powerbook G3 400mhz (Pismo) with 384mb RAM. I am an expert in Classic (OS 7, 8 and 9) and OS X. As such I want to "expand my horizons". I have been running and using Red Hat on a PC at work and have become a bit familiar with GNU/Linux. I installed Yellow Dog Linux 3.0.1 on this Pismo about a month ago and have been a bit frustrated with the lack of available binaries (RPMs, abt-get, yum, etc).

The idea of Gentoo appeals to me, but I want to know if this emerge thing is all it's cracked up to be, or just more empty promises. Will I actually be able to type emerge applicationname (or whatever the syntax is) and it will take the source, build it, resolve dependcies, etc etc etc. If this is the case then I just might be sold on Gentoo.

Additionally, it Gentoo PPC as well developed as the PC side is? Will I find myself constantly lagging behind?

Lastly, what is the install like? The Yellow Dog install could not have been easier. I once tried to install Debian and that blew me away. I am right at home with text based installs but this was tough.

Thanks!

Brad

ralph · Advocate Joined: 02 Mar 2003 Posts: 2001 Location: Hamburg

It is that simple, you are sold.

I'm currently running kde3.2.2 and gnome2.6, so no, it isn't lagging behind.

As to the installation, it is certainly very different from yellow dog, but if you know a bit about linux it shouldn't be a problem. Just follow the instructions in the gentoo handbook.
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/index.xml

Have fun!
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killfire · l33t Joined: 04 Oct 2003 Posts: 618

gentoo emerge IS that easy. i went from corel openlinux to redhat, then back to M$, to mac osx, to yellow dog, and finally to gentoo, the reason i stuck with gentoo is the installing system. because i personally cannot deal with dependanceis required by compiliing by source.

also, the install is made out to be so didficult, but much can be learned by simply installing the system

go gentoo. you will not regret it.

killfire

krunk · Guru Joined: 27 Jul 2003 Posts: 316

Yep, that simple.

That 400 will be nice and fast too. I'm running gentoo on a powermac g3 300, currently it doesn't have a gui on it. I did have a gui for a bit (just to see) and found it to be surprisingly snappy.
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bstone · n00b Joined: 22 Apr 2004 Posts: 7 Location: Chicago

Ok here's the update...

I went to a gentoo mirror ftp site and burned an ISO (using Toast) of a file called packaged-something in the G3 folder. It seemed like the size and well it seems like I got the thing I needed. I burned it and tried to boot from it, but, nothing. I got endless lines of trash.

Is the ISO dead? What *should* I be greeted with assuming I got the right ISO and it boots? I believe this might be a problem with the optical drive dying and not the actual CD.

ralph · Advocate Joined: 02 Mar 2003 Posts: 2001 Location: Hamburg

You probably downloaded the disk with the precompiled packages on it. This is not the install cd.

Take a look at the gentoo handbook.
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-ppc.xml?part=1&chap=2

bstone · n00b Joined: 22 Apr 2004 Posts: 7 Location: Chicago

You're a good man, ralph. I did indeed do that.

/me download the LiveCD Universal now......

bstone · n00b Joined: 22 Apr 2004 Posts: 7 Location: Chicago

As I suspected, the optical drive on this machine is dying (not dead yet, but dying). I burned the universal installer CD and first it wouldn't boot. Then I removed the optical drive and dropped it on the floor, and it then booted the CD. I typed in G3 for the model, and it said "cannot access cd". This is a well known issue on this series of Powerbook that Apple decided wasn't important enough for them to fix. (Go to the Apple Discussion forums and you'll find hundreds of people all complaining.)

So....is there a way to go a network install for ppc? I will get this optical drive fixed one of these days, but not yet.

killfire · l33t Joined: 04 Oct 2003 Posts: 618

if you cant even burn a small (network) cd, then a way to do that (not easy) would be to either install another version of linux, one that does not require a cd (debian for one, i think suse) then go from there, or you could try to format a hd partition as ext2, acces it in os x (via external system preference app) and then load it with stuff, like generic kernels on the live cd, and then boot to openfirmware and go from there.

i have to say though, i am peiceing this together because it seems like it work, not because i have done it. also, you could try to copy all the files on the iso (via disk copy) onto the ext2 partition, and then try to boot via openfirmware.

cheers and good luck,
killfire

ps. would it be that hard to borrow an external cd drive?