Filed under: OS, Open Source
PowerPC flavor of Ubuntu becomes 'unofficial'
Attention people who run Ubuntu on your PowerPC Macs! Good, I think I have managed to get the attention of the 3 people that fall into that category. The PowerPC distribution on Ubuntu will be classified as 'unofficial' as of version 7.04.What does that mean? It means that if there are any bugs in the Ubuntu code that really break things on the PowerPC side, the release will not be held up to fix them. Furthermore, the Ubuntu PowerPC Architecture Team will be responsible for supporting the codebase for the PowerPC distribution. If you would like more details about this decision check out the PowerPCReview page on the Ubuntu wiki.
I have fooled around with Ubuntu, and it is a nice, solid OS (heck, Peter Rojas loves it and that's gotta count for something) but I can't say this is a surprise. Apple isn't pumping out any PowerPC machines anymore, so clearly support for that chipset will wane over the years.
[via MacSlash]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Victor Agreda Jr said 6:43PM on 2-14-2007
Oh, I don't know, I bet Ubuntu running on one of the old clamshell iBooks is pretty cute-- I still want a Key Lime edition...
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biddlebubbly said 8:53PM on 2-14-2007
Hey, I run ubuntu on a G3 iMac. Don't be hatin'.
Actually, it's virtually useless to me. It's nigh impossible to get flash working, and a 333mhz G3 ain't what it used to be. i just keep it around for giggles.
But still, it's a shame those with G4s and other more useful Macs won't have this option.
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joshua said 9:26PM on 2-14-2007
I think the PS3 owners will be happy to see this.
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Maddles said 2:59AM on 2-15-2007
Well this kinda sucks. I was hoping on taking back the PowerBook I gave to my sister once she bought a MacBook later sometime and installing Ubuntu on it. At least some people will keep it going
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Christian said 3:09AM on 2-15-2007
Ubuntu goes with the flow of architectures, while Debian will continue supporting the powerpc port (along with the other less popular 14 architectures). There are enough powerpc-powered machines which aren't Macs out there and we don't really need Ubuntu, do we?
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Richard said 7:10AM on 2-15-2007
Well I bought a G5 iMac just before the Intel's came out and I still have not managed to boot a *nix Live or install DVD/CD, plus Ubuntu just hides all that raw OS power with a GUI like OSX, so I hope Fedora will boot one day!
Long Live PPC Arch !!!
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Chris said 10:20AM on 2-16-2007
This is a bit of a shame as xubuntu on old flavored imacs is quite popular in the 'cheap and free' computing circles. Not to mention that apple isn't the only company that has used the powerpc chip. Oh well, I guess it couldn't keep going forever...
Chris
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