any LINUX geniuses out there?

[wojo]

ok i have a old flat panel imac laying around and wanted to use it instead of tossing it(i have a intel imac i use).i wanted to ask what would be a good version of linux to run on this.i notice ubuntu needs the intel based mac but what about suse? or red hat?

 

[Caferacer]

ok i have a old flat panel imac laying around and wanted to use it instead of tossing it(i have a intel imac i use).i wanted to ask what would be a good version of linux to run on this.i notice ubuntu needs the intel based mac but what about suse? or red hat?

What kind of processor does it have? I know modern macs can run linux pretty easily.

I've installed and run linux on a lot of systems but never tried it on an old imac.

 

[wojo]

800mhz power pc g4..yea i havent seen or heard of anyone using a old imac to run linux but with snow leopard coming out in 2009 and from what i heard it will only support intel macs..i figure why not try it in this imac..i will only be using it to surf the net.i just bought and moved into a new house and i dont feel like buying a newpc just for linux. ubuntu can supposedly run on the intel imacs

 

[bitterplacebo]

there's some distributions that support powerPC architecture:
iMac G3/G4 Q & A: Software Compatibility @ EveryMac.com

for the macs with intel processors, I've read about ubuntu working well, but I think technically any intel based distribution should work

 

[wojo]

there's some distributions that support powerPC architecture:
iMac G3/G4 Q & A: Software Compatibility @ EveryMac.com

for the macs with intel processors, I've read about ubuntu working well, but I think technically any intel based distribution should work

nice , i was looking into suse,according to that site either mandrake or suse will run..thank you

 

[Caferacer]

nice , i was looking into suse,according to that site either mandrake or suse will run..thank you

If you haven't run linux before I would suggest ubuntu. It's very user friendly and debian based distributions are usually very easy to learn.

 

[wojo]

If you haven't run linux before I would suggest ubuntu. It's very user friendly and debian based distributions are usually very easy to learn.

yea the problem is it(ubuntu) says compatible with intel macs.i was gonna try yellow dog now that i looked into it

 

[Caferacer]

yea the problem is it(ubuntu) says compatible with intel macs.i was gonna try yellow dog now that i looked into it

Go for it; it's based off red hat and uses RPM's.

If it's older, once you get X running I would suggest blackbox or XFCE as your window manager. I have those running on a set of old laptops that are 433mhz and 800mhz respectively and they run well.

 

[BoyFromAus]

Yea Caferacer is pretty much on point.

I use a Mac Book pro and I got Ubuntu on Virtual Machine.
I used to have a windows box with Suse on it partitioned. But that was nowhere near as old as that iMac u got there.

I never installed or looked at Red Hat in depth, wouldn't know about it.