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I've got an old PowerBook G4 with a 1333 MHz CPU and 1.25 GB RAM.

What are some good distro to use? I tried Yellow Dog and Fedora (which didn't work), but I would prefer something more Debian-like, with apt and all that.

MadTux
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  • Related: [Need Advice: What Linux distro should I install on an old PowerPC Mac](http://unix.stackexchange.com/q/8234/15630). – Renan Apr 28 '13 at 19:02

4 Answers4

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There's a PowerPC port of Debian, which should work (note: slightly old tutorial) on a PowerBook G4.

Renan
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    +1 I have successfully installed this port on an old PowerBook G4 17" and it works very well. The process is also well documented on their website. –  Apr 28 '13 at 21:43
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    It seems that it is no longer available since Debian 9. – Martin Ueding Jan 10 '20 at 20:09
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Free BSD 9 is one of the best Unix systems I have seen for PPC hardware, if you do not mind the subtle differences from Linux. It is also up to date. BSD is know for having driver issues but Power-PC has a fairly standard set of hardware and most drivers are available.

Joe
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You can install the latest builds of Lubuntu 15.10 or Ubuntu MATE 15.10 on PowerPC.

However, the best experience you will get with the original Mac OS X 10.5.8 (actually I am writing this on Mac OS X on my Powerbook G4).

niutech
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Ubuntu has PowerPC builds, it might be worth trying:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPCDownloads

Tombart
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    Welcome to Unix & Linux! Generally we like answers on the site to be able to stand on their own - Links are great, but if that link ever breaks the answer should have enough information to still be helpful. Please consider editing your answer to include more detail. See the [FAQ](http://unix.stackexchange.com/faq) for more info. – slm Apr 28 '13 at 20:42
  • I tried Ubuntu: Unity and Gnome3 don't work. – MadTux Apr 29 '13 at 07:22