Apple Macintosh PowerBook G3
How-to
| • | Partition your hard disk |
| • | Configure X windows |
| • | Configure AfterStep |
| • | Make the PowerBook sleep |
| • | Set up the modem for PPP |
| • | HotSync a Palm Pilot via IrDA |
| • | Go wireless! |
Links
| • | Apple Computer |
| • | Linux Documentation Project |
| • | PowerBook G3 Series: Description |
| • | PowerBook G3 Series: General FAQ |
| • | PowerBook G3 Series: Technical Description |
| • | Yellow Dog Linux |
Update
With the advent of Mac OS X, I no longer needed to run Linux on my PowerBook since I do general Unix development, not anything Linux specific. Hence I bought a new PowerBook G4 and sold the PowerBook G3 you see described on these web pages. I still like Linux and I loved this PowerBook. Even though I no longer own this PowerBook, I'm leaving these web pages up to help others who want to run Linux on a PowerBook.Introduction
Since all of my software development is for Unix systems, I wanted to get my own Unix system at home; but I also wanted to be able to sit at coffee houses and hack, so the obvious answer is a laptop.![[Linux]](images/linux-penguin.jpg)
Since I'm a Mac fan, my dream computer would be a Mac
that could run both
MacOS and Unix.
In recent years, this dream can be realized now that
Linux
has been ported to the PowerPC microprocessor
and the Macintosh platform.
HardwareI bought an Apple Macintosh PowerBook, specifically, the last model in the '99 G3 Series, aka, "Lombard" (the one having the translucent, bronze colored keyboard) with a 400 MHz CPU, 192 MB RAM, 10 GB hard disk, DVD drive, ethernet, 56K modem, PCMCIA slot, two USB ports, and an IrDA port. (One of the nice features is that both the battery and DVD drive are hot-swappable.) I also bought a second AC power adapter (so I don't have to carry it back and forth between home and work) and a second battery (that can be swapped in place of the DVD drive yielding several hours of run-time on a single charge from both batteries). Software
I bought Yellow Dog Linux after having done a Google Groups search comparing it to LinuxPPC, one of the other major distributors of Linux for the PowerPC and PowerMac. Pretty much all of what I read favored Yellow Dog over LinuxPPC. Configuration
Linux (and Unix in general) still isn't to the point of being a "mass consumer" operating system meaning that it requires quite a bit of configuration. Via the How-to links at left, I'll detail some of the things I did to get my PowerBook configured correctly.