Help! Trying to get an old iBook 500 to install Lubuntu - I'm stumped.

[J English Smith]

Wondering if anyone here has successfully installed a Ubuntu or Libuntu distro on an old iBook. I worked on this for hours yesterday, and I'm just hitting the wall.

I have a Lubuntu 12.04 for PPC .iso disk, and it will run on the CD drive in the book. It does not offer me any install option though, just does what appears to be a boot and then stays at the command prompt.

I tried to get a boot to work from a USB, but that's beyond me. I've read all of the various open firmware options and nothing seems to work. I think the CD is my best bet, but I don't know if something is wrong in the .iso I burned, or if there is an additional command I need to give the prompt to force it to install...?

I tried both with ethernet cable plugged in to let it install updates, and without. No difference.

Would appreciate any help. I had no idea this would be so difficult. Just trying to get the old iBooks I have able to use an older version that still has some internet browsing capability and run via ethernet, no wireless. The old 500s were just unable to run 10FourFox anymore successfully.

 

[galgot]

Is it a live Lubuntu cd ?

Never tried Lubuntu, but i have Debian 8 running on some pismo, so it should run on a ibook 500 me think.

And Ubuntu/Lubuntu are derived from Debian... And can have LXDE on Debian.

Best linux ppc install tutorial i know is this one :

http://ppcluddite.blogspot.fr/2012/03/installing-debian-linux-on-ppc-part-i.html

 

[TarableCode]

I installed Debian 8 from a USB stick, I don't 100% remember how I did it but I do remember using the network install iso.

Maybe this one? https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/archive/8.9.0/powerpc/iso-cd/debian-8.9.0-powerpc-netinst.iso

What I did was along the lines of:

- Find usb stick in OF tree

- Overwrite "cd" device using devalias and the OF usb device

- Boot yaboot from the usb device

There was a LOT of fiddling involved but eventually it worked out.

e:
I did not try X, I have no idea if it works on these machines still or not.

 

[J English Smith]

Thanks for the replies...I thought I had it last night, I had xubuntu 12.04 .iso disk running through a full install sequence, took about four hours working on "expert" mode, but then when it was all done, it had apparently skipped loading a desktop, I was still back with a command line interface. Expert, hah. I said a few choice words at that point and re-installed Mac OS 9.2.2 and used Netscape to load Clasilla and the WannaBe browsers.I think I am going to shift my attention to setting up a guest/unsecured network on the home router so I can use the original Airport card in the machine when I want to.

I like Ubuntu on my IBM machines, I have 16.04 running fairly happily on a tower and on a T60 laptop. Those installs were no big deal. But wow, for the PPC options, it sure seems much more difficult.

The 500 'books, it's a shame, they just don't run 10.4 well when using the 10FourFox browser. I suppose the ram is the biggest factor, and then the 66mhz bus. The hardware has held up better than the 800mhz and 1.33ghz models, I've had several various equipment failures with those (power management, cd drives, etc) but the three 500s are all still working just fine, along with my remaining Pismos. 

Are there any really good OS options for these that anyone has found? 

 

[J English Smith]

Galgot, thanks for the article link, that does look very informative. I will read it and see what I can glean should I attempt. May try on one of the Pismos...