I used a 2004 ibook G4 running Debian 7 as my daily driver from 2013-2015. It chugged but was borderline usable running a single GUI application with a window manager. It bogged down completely when I tried to start a desktop environment like xfce or gnome. I learned to do most of my work in CLI without X running, and it was plenty fast in that mode. I wrote my homework assignments in LaTeX and compiled them to a PDF. Back then the package support was very good. I even got Wi-Fi working with the broadcom b43-xx driver.
Kali may be able to install the firmware-b43-installer package directly from a Debian PPC repository if you add it to your repository list. No idea if that would break your system though
Oh and my keys would sometimes stop working, it was usually a hair or bit of leaf inside the contact area. You can gently pry up a key cap to check if it needs cleaning or not
I don't think Kali has a ppc variant, does it? And debian packages on Aldélie won't work, but I might be able to extract the files from there indeed. Thanks!
It seems like the keyboards on all of these things are bad. Could not find a used one with all the keys intact. Solved the delete key on this new keyboard btw. The rubber thingy under the keycap, pushing down on the sensor, had come loose and out of place.
Laptop as a server is great imo - small form factor/footpring - built-in battery backup - sips power maybe not this particular one, but laptops in general...
Well this one used about 25W idle (without the battery plugged in) while a cheap N100 mini pc will perform better with less. That, and most laptop batteries this old are dead. Just like this one. But you certainly have a point there. :)
Ram is limited to 1.5GB, so yes there is room for more but it's not going to be anywhere near today's standards. An SSD would be possible but you'll have to take half the laptop apart to get to it, so I didn't bother haha! I don't think you can upgrade the CPU.
love your videos been playing with this kind of thing a lot too for a few years now May i just suggest you slow down a tad on the explanations ; sometimes it is hard to grasp or follow steps ; it will be more accessible to more people if you do that ... 🙃😉 you clearly know a lot and it will benefit more people . Hope you do not mind this suggestion Thanx for the vids and subscribed
Thanks! And you're absolutely right. I noticed myself that I'm cutting a bit too much silence for the sake of keeping things rolling. I should surely slow down a bit on those parts and cut less silence. :)
Maybe one of the BSDs could work? As for web browsing, there's always text browsers but those aren't all that great for anything other than news and reading stuff
There is a 32bit version of an actual OpenBSD - with an windows manager and a contemporary browser you also will have a slow but full featured internet experience.
Most of the distros simply refuse to install if a computer doesn't have the hardcoded amount of RAM like 128Mb or 256Mb. This is especially frustrating if you pick an old laptop that lacks just a few Mb taken by GPU.
That can be a pain indeed. My P3 laptop has just 256MB and is hardly able to run any modern stuff. This iBook has 3 times as much though. Not much by today's standards but it's not a bottleneck for installing Linux.
@@ex-itguy In terms of computational power, even the cheapest smartphones or wifi routers are now more powerful and usually better to do things like home network management (and often can run some kind of Linux too). But a PC or laptop is just more convenient and a bit nostalgic, especially if you replace the mechanical HDD with an SD adapter giving it a second wind.
Absolutely. Gutting it and throw a raspberry pi in it's case and you'll have a more powerful _and_ less energy consuming system haha, but still it's fun to tinker with the old stuff
Arctic Fox - which is a fork of palemoon, which by itself is a fork of Firefox 45 - runs on Debian 12 ppc 64bit. If I remember correctly, there is also a 32bit Version.
I have no idea haha I have used cans of compressed air a lot, and they work great... but they condensate and start spraying liquid after a while which can harm your hardware, so I use that with some caution.
@@ex-itguy it runs in UTM SE(which is why it will be slow),and yes,it's unusable(Fedora won't boot at all,Puppy and Adelie are Usable(but hellish) You can install UTM with sideloading,but enabling JIT is just a little bit harder Then again,you can run Linux on a Wii U
I used a 2004 ibook G4 running Debian 7 as my daily driver from 2013-2015. It chugged but was borderline usable running a single GUI application with a window manager. It bogged down completely when I tried to start a desktop environment like xfce or gnome. I learned to do most of my work in CLI without X running, and it was plenty fast in that mode. I wrote my homework assignments in LaTeX and compiled them to a PDF. Back then the package support was very good. I even got Wi-Fi working with the broadcom b43-xx driver.
Kali may be able to install the firmware-b43-installer package directly from a Debian PPC repository if you add it to your repository list. No idea if that would break your system though
Oh and my keys would sometimes stop working, it was usually a hair or bit of leaf inside the contact area. You can gently pry up a key cap to check if it needs cleaning or not
I don't think Kali has a ppc variant, does it? And debian packages on Aldélie won't work, but I might be able to extract the files from there indeed. Thanks!
It seems like the keyboards on all of these things are bad. Could not find a used one with all the keys intact.
Solved the delete key on this new keyboard btw. The rubber thingy under the keycap, pushing down on the sensor, had come loose and out of place.
And I thought exporting OpenOffice docs to PDF when I was in uni was being heroic... You were way beyond that!
Laptop as a server is great imo
- small form factor/footpring
- built-in battery backup
- sips power
maybe not this particular one, but laptops in general...
Well this one used about 25W idle (without the battery plugged in) while a cheap N100 mini pc will perform better with less. That, and most laptop batteries this old are dead. Just like this one. But you certainly have a point there. :)
The keyboard part at the beginning got me laughing 😂. Great Video
Thanks 😆
I almost thought you were Endermanch bruh
このノートパソコンが実用的だとは思わないが、レトロな外観はクールだ。素晴らしいビデオをありがとう。
Thanks! 😊
You certainly tried to make it function!👍👍
Thanks 👍
@@ex-itguy It's a pity that Puppy Linux was not configured for PowerPC., Macs.
I think Adélie is just as good, but it does need a better browser haha
@@ex-itguy Is it possible to upgrade that laptop with an SSD., and more ram., and perhaps a more powerful CPU,?
Ram is limited to 1.5GB, so yes there is room for more but it's not going to be anywhere near today's standards.
An SSD would be possible but you'll have to take half the laptop apart to get to it, so I didn't bother haha!
I don't think you can upgrade the CPU.
i'm a simple person, I see xfce on the thumbnail , I click it
The world is in dire need of more simple persons in that case haha, thanks!
love your videos been playing with this kind of thing a lot too for a few years now
May i just suggest you slow down a tad on the explanations ; sometimes it is hard to grasp or follow steps ; it will be more accessible to more people if you do that ... 🙃😉 you clearly know a lot and it will benefit more people . Hope you do not mind this suggestion
Thanx for the vids and subscribed
Thanks! And you're absolutely right. I noticed myself that I'm cutting a bit too much silence for the sake of keeping things rolling. I should surely slow down a bit on those parts and cut less silence. :)
Very Cool! Have you tried T2-SDE linux ?
Interesting! I was today years old when I learned about that. Will check it out, thanks!
Mooie video
Dank je wel!
Maybe one of the BSDs could work? As for web browsing, there's always text browsers but those aren't all that great for anything other than news and reading stuff
I guess a BSD might work as well indeed. Not a big fan of text browsers haha, but yeah that should work. :)
There is a 32bit version of an actual OpenBSD - with an windows manager and a contemporary browser you also will have a slow but full featured internet experience.
@@jensputzlocher8345 Sound good, I have never really used a BSD (other than MacOS). Guess it's never too late to try. :)
Leuke video!
Dank je wel! 😊
I am running Ubuntu Mate on the same PowerPC ibook G4...
Really? A current version? Guess I missed that.
GOOD
Most of the distros simply refuse to install if a computer doesn't have the hardcoded amount of RAM like 128Mb or 256Mb. This is especially frustrating if you pick an old laptop that lacks just a few Mb taken by GPU.
That can be a pain indeed. My P3 laptop has just 256MB and is hardly able to run any modern stuff.
This iBook has 3 times as much though. Not much by today's standards but it's not a bottleneck for installing Linux.
@@ex-itguy In terms of computational power, even the cheapest smartphones or wifi routers are now more powerful and usually better to do things like home network management (and often can run some kind of Linux too). But a PC or laptop is just more convenient and a bit nostalgic, especially if you replace the mechanical HDD with an SD adapter giving it a second wind.
Absolutely. Gutting it and throw a raspberry pi in it's case and you'll have a more powerful _and_ less energy consuming system haha, but still it's fun to tinker with the old stuff
plz try Debian sid, mintppc or Fienix instead ...
Debian and mintppc aren't up to date, never heard of Fienix. I'll check it out!
Debian still supports it via Debian ports.
On 32 bit ppc?
Follow up: Install KDE Plasma 5/6 on PowerPC
Oof. On a 64-bit G5 maybe. 😅
Done: ua-cam.com/video/e7-aFqzdC_E/v-deo.html
@@awilfox awesome! What distro were you using there? Maxed out the memory of the machine?
i have an iMac G5 running OpenBSD... it's good enough
also, debian definitely supports this machine
According to the website, only until Debian 8, which is quite old already.
Maybe I should try BSD indeed, never thought of that!
That's 64-bit PowerPC, which has more support than the 32-bit G4 series and below.
Hey You an Install firefox too action retro did that on his video!
There's no Firefox available. On Adélie's website you can check available packages. Firefox isn't there on ppc.
@@ex-itguy Firefox ESR is, no? I could swear I saw it.
Not for ppc unfortunately
Arctic Fox - which is a fork of palemoon, which by itself is a fork of Firefox 45 - runs on Debian 12 ppc 64bit. If I remember correctly, there is also a 32bit Version.
What brand of air duster is that?
Parkside. It's a tiny compressor. Doesn't blow that hard unfortunately.
@@ex-itguy What would you recommend above that?
I have no idea haha
I have used cans of compressed air a lot, and they work great... but they condensate and start spraying liquid after a while which can harm your hardware, so I use that with some caution.
@@ex-itguy I see. Thank you for the information bro 👍
Hi. You can run wine on ppc?
Good question. I don't think so. DOSBox might work...
@@ex-itguyDosbox is only for DOS games.
I know that. I just don't think you'll be running Windows games on a G4.
I know that. I just don't think you'll be running Windows games on a G4.
Could be worse,you can run Linux on an iPad(slow without JIT)
Can you? I thought Linux only ran from within iOS on those things?
Never tried it. I don't have iPads around.
@@ex-itguy it runs in UTM SE(which is why it will be slow),and yes,it's unusable(Fedora won't boot at all,Puppy and Adelie are Usable(but hellish)
You can install UTM with sideloading,but enabling JIT is just a little bit harder
Then again,you can run Linux on a Wii U
Thats why they say PowerPC 😂 (!)
I'm a dumbass and I don't get the joke 😋