Installing Ubuntu Linux (“Breezy Badger”) on Apple iBook G4 1.2GHz
As I’m working a lot with Linux systems, but love the size of my 12-inch G4 iBook, I tried to install Linux on it. I’ve been reading several articles in recent years about Linux on Apple notebooks and so I expected it not to work too great.
Based on several recommendations, I first tried the Ubuntu 5.10 (code name “Breezy Badger”) live disk – something like Knoppix for PowerPC computers. It worked right out of the box.
So I tried to install Ubuntu 5.10 on a separate partition, which I created with parted – a tool being able to shrink HFS+ partitions. The install process went flawless – you just have to press enter several times – and in the end I’ve got a small Linux notebook.
Things which surprisingly (based on my experience with other notebooks) worked out of the box:
- Suspend-to-RAM: you close the notebook and it instanteneously sleeps and awakes just a few seconds after opening the lid again.
- wheel mouse
- brightness and volume keys
Things which don’t work right now:
- WLAN (AirportExtreme) – a driver is being developed, but I wasn’t able to get the alpha version to work
- Acer WLAN 11g USB-Dongle
Conclusion
Ubuntu 5.10 works out-of-the-box on my iBook G4; only the lack of a wireless connection is really a pity. Compared to Mac OS X (“Tiger”) Ubuntu Linux runs faster, at least the iBook feels more responsive.
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