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Operating Systems for PowerPC Macs

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The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.

Which OS is Your Main/Favorite One?

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Bruninho

Bruninho

Suspended
Mar 12, 2021
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I am surprised to see that we don't have a "The MacOS 9 Thread" here, but rather we are redirected to macos9lives.com...

I'm all for supporting their website, but I think MR also deserves his own thread, cross-referencing both contents.
 
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Bruninho

Bruninho

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Mar 12, 2021
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Hi! I wanted to ask @wicknix what are his thoughts on this operating system and if its possible for it to be ported over to PowerPC architecture? Because I believe that this OS has everything a PPC user would want: classic MacOS X appearance, newer software. It’s striking similarity with classic MacOS X and the fact that it is FreeBSD based makes me believe that this would be an ideal candidate for a port. I think it could have potential to be the best among other ports.

But then, upon reading a bit more on their documentation, it apparently only runs on 64 bit hardware? I probably shot on my own foot before even doing this question...

 
wicknix

wicknix

macrumors 68030
Jun 4, 2017
2,624
5,311
Wisconsin, USA
Well... since it's just a themed/skinned FreeBSD anybody could do that really. FreeBSD/OpenBSD/NetBSD (and Linux) are all freely available and have powerpc ports already. The major issue with the BSD's is a lack of decent browsers on powerpc though. The concept of Hello is neat, but it's nothing a user couldn't do on a weekend on their own machine. Anything can look like OS X. Take my MacBuntu for example. It's not perfect, but i didn't spend a whole lot of time on the theming of it. Just installed a mac icon pack, put lxde's taskbar on top, installed a dock, and added a wallpaper. Done. :)
 

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Bruninho

Bruninho

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Mar 12, 2021
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Yeah, I agree. Well, I think that if the devs of hello are going full on it, for sure they will have a new browser on it, right? Doesn’t make sense for them to develop an OS without a browser these days.
 
Blue Quark

Blue Quark

macrumors regular
Oct 25, 2020
196
147
Probabilistic
The first distro I ever tried to get to work on a Mac, IIRC, was MkLinux. I was (sort of) able to get Yellow Dog Linux working.

The last PPC-based Mac I ever owned was a Mac mini G4, which I turned into a Debian-based headless fileserver for use in my home. It worked flawlessly until the hardware died. :oops:

Frankly, Linux on PPC sucks, or at least on Apple's PPC-based systems sucks.

OTOH, Linux on their Intel-based Macs is freaking flawless. OMG.


On a separate (and not exactly on-topic) note, I really miss my Mac II and my IIci. I've no idea what reason I'd have to own such a generation of hardware today but yeah... I do miss them. Kind of, I guess, a bit like Picard missed the U.S.S. Stargazer.
 
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Tratkazir_the_1st

Tratkazir_the_1st

macrumors 65816
Feb 11, 2020
1,034
543
Russia, Moscow region
Correct me if I'm posting in wrong topic.

Someone knows how to create OS-BADGE-ICON? Or m.b. there is some pack with them? My Debian uses same generic mini-penguin icon as Gentoo, VOID uses big GNU at white background. It's technically ASCII art, but I can't find some kind of converter or something else.
 
B

barracuda156

macrumors 68020
Sep 3, 2021
2,326
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Which BSD version is more human-friendly (has GUI and does not require to do everything in terminal) and works on Late 2005 PowerMacs? Preferable 64 bit one.
 
B

barracuda156

macrumors 68020
Sep 3, 2021
2,326
1,535
Amethyst1 said:
OpenBSD works best on PPC Macs and provides the most user-friendly experience but there’s no way around the terminal.

FreeBSD and NetBSD aren’t nearly as straightforward on PPC Macs.
Click to expand...

Apparently it is possible to install FreeBSD for ppc64 and then HelloSystem onto that: https://github.com/helloSystem/ISO/issues/329
I am probably gonna try it when my SSD arrives (and if it alive and I manage to install it into the Quad) and I can clone 10.6 PPC onto it.
 
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lepidotós

lepidotós

macrumors 6502a
Aug 29, 2021
677
750
Marinette, Arizona
Adélie or OpenBSD? I'm wondering which would be a better (read: lighter weight and, optionally though appreciated, better drivered) OS for my iBook G4. Would appreciate input here, I just got the mSATA to IDE adapter and 256GB stick.
I'm erring toward OpenBSD for the by default secure design, but if Adélie makes better use of the hardware I'll still be fine with it.​
 
Doq

Doq

macrumors 6502a
Dec 8, 2019
549
819
The Lab DX
It depends on whether or not you desire having wifi. Adélie (from what I can tell running it on the Twelve) completely lacks any wifi support, and it doesn't look like there are any provisions at this time to add it yourself either.

As an aside, the software selection on both Adélie and OpenBSD is rather limited compared to a more traditional Linux distribution, though you'll have better luck with finding software on Adélie without having to compile from source.
 
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