Installing Debian Linux on VirtualPC for Mac

[exitwound]

I've been doing a network install of Debian 3.1 (Stable) under VirtualPC 7.0.1 (7.0.2 is latest but has many many bug reports) for Mac OS X this afternoon. It's a fascinating process, not quite as arcane as I expected.

Anyone else here use Linux, especially Debian? I'm looking to get more familiar with use, and eventually get my hands on a cheap (or preferably, free except for shipping) PC to start running it natively.

[BAD BOY BUBBY]

hey EW, i saw your post on IH,
thanks!!! :D
i'll chat to you soon here about it eh ;)

[FiremanDave6024]

I've been doing a network install of Debian 3.1 (Stable) under VirtualPC 7.0.1 (7.0.2 is latest but has many many bug reports) for Mac OS X this afternoon. It's a fascinating process, not quite as arcane as I expected.

Anyone else here use Linux, especially Debian? I'm looking to get more familiar with use, and eventually get my hands on a cheap (or preferably, free except for shipping) PC to start running it natively.

I use Slackware 10, FreeBSD and occasionally Mandrake. I prefer Slackware, it's the most UNIX like Linux flavor I've seen. FreeBSD is perfect as a server OS, and Mandrake is among the friendliest of the Linux clans. I'll do some digging... I might be able to come up with a system you can have to experiment with Linux on. It'll be an IBM clone and not a Mac, but it doesn't matter TOO much with Linux.

[exitwound]

I've been doing a network install of Debian 3.1 (Stable) under VirtualPC 7.0.1 (7.0.2 is latest but has many many bug reports) for Mac OS X this afternoon. It's a fascinating process, not quite as arcane as I expected.

Anyone else here use Linux, especially Debian? I'm looking to get more familiar with use, and eventually get my hands on a cheap (or preferably, free except for shipping) PC to start running it natively.

I use Slackware 10, FreeBSD and occasionally Mandrake. I prefer Slackware, it's the most UNIX like Linux flavor I've seen. FreeBSD is perfect as a server OS, and Mandrake is among the friendliest of the Linux clans. I'll do some digging... I might be able to come up with a system you can have to experiment with Linux on. It'll be an IBM clone and not a Mac, but it doesn't matter TOO much with Linux.

That'd be great! I need to get my hands on some spare x86 machines in preparation for Apple's switch of the Mac over to the x86 platform....and to get more comfortable with Linux!

I've started hanging out in #itshappening on undernet again if you're interested....I'm also in #macosx and #macosxdev on the same network....and my AIM screen name is "dalaixerces"....

[FiremanDave6024]

I want to get my hands on a G5, but I can't afford that kind of powertoy. My wife is really into graphic design, and I don't like the Winblows platform for that. Windows is great as a gaming platform, but it lacks in several key areas for me, like graphic design, software development, server capabilities, you know?

[exitwound]

I want to get my hands on a G5, but I can't afford that kind of powertoy. My wife is really into graphic design, and I don't like the Winblows platform for that. Windows is great as a gaming platform, but it lacks in several key areas for me, like graphic design, software development, server capabilities, you know?

You could get a refurbished basic Mac Mini for $399.....or a new iMac G5 for $1299....the new ones that just came out are much faster, have Radeon X600 graphics, all kinds of cool new shit. 17-inch widescreen on the entry level model is pretty bad-ass...

[FiremanDave6024]

I want to get my hands on a G5, but I can't afford that kind of powertoy. My wife is really into graphic design, and I don't like the Winblows platform for that. Windows is great as a gaming platform, but it lacks in several key areas for me, like graphic design, software development, server capabilities, you know?

You could get a refurbished basic Mac Mini for $399.....or a new iMac G5 for $1299....the new ones that just came out are much faster, have Radeon X600 graphics, all kinds of cool new shit. 17-inch widescreen on the entry level model is pretty bad-ass...

The Mac Mini looks too much like a toaster for me. Besides, I like to mod my cases, and from what I understand the mini is packed so tight that you can't do much of anything to the case.

I'll look into a G5 next month, I think...

[exitwound]

The Mac Mini looks too much like a toaster for me. Besides, I like to mod my cases, and from what I understand the mini is packed so tight that you can't do much of anything to the case.

I'll look into a G5 next month, I think...

In person the Mini looks way dead sexeh, but maybe that's a matter of taste :-)

It's true, there's almost no space on the inside of one of those puppies.

Case modding and such is the domain of the PowerMacs. Although I can't imagine how one could possibly come up with a way to improve the PMG5 enclosure....it's the best tower case ever designed, IMHO!

[FiremanDave6024]

The Mac Mini looks too much like a toaster for me. Besides, I like to mod my cases, and from what I understand the mini is packed so tight that you can't do much of anything to the case.

I'll look into a G5 next month, I think...

In person the Mini looks way dead sexeh, but maybe that's a matter of taste :-)

It's true, there's almost no space on the inside of one of those puppies.

Case modding and such is the domain of the PowerMacs. Although I can't imagine how one could possibly come up with a way to improve the PMG5 enclosure....it's the best tower case ever designed, IMHO!

My desktop PC has a bank of switches on the side that have to be thrown in a precise order to actually turn the system on. Just one of my security measures. I do a lot of hardware hacking, and I have this mental problem that makes me want to mod my case and hardware to the point that it's OBVIOUSLY a personal machine. LOL

[exitwound]

My desktop PC has a bank of switches on the side that have to be thrown in a precise order to actually turn the system on. Just one of my security measures. I do a lot of hardware hacking, and I have this mental problem that makes me want to mod my case and hardware to the point that it's OBVIOUSLY a personal machine. LOL

That's pretty cool shit....although I'm fairly happy with my dynamically encrypted home directory :devilish:

[FiremanDave6024]

My desktop PC has a bank of switches on the side that have to be thrown in a precise order to actually turn the system on. Just one of my security measures. I do a lot of hardware hacking, and I have this mental problem that makes me want to mod my case and hardware to the point that it's OBVIOUSLY a personal machine. LOL

That's pretty cool shit....although I'm fairly happy with my dynamically encrypted home directory :devilish:

Of course, if they can't turn it on, they can't get to the files... and my critical stuff is encrypted on a removable USB key that I take with me. They can have the operating system if they want. I still have my CD... LOL

[dnbkid]

Had to bump this... I remeber installing mandrake on a Virtual PC along time ago. Just for the hell of it I guess. I'm downloading Debian for PPC (Sarge release) right now. I'm gonna put it on an old imac and an imac G5. Hopefully it works out. I'm gonna have to recompile the latest kernel in order to try to get some airport extreme support.

[exitwound]

Had to bump this... I remeber installing mandrake on a Virtual PC along time ago. Just for the hell of it I guess. I'm downloading Debian for PPC (Sarge release) right now. I'm gonna put it on an old imac and an imac G5. Hopefully it works out. I'm gonna have to recompile the latest kernel in order to try to get some airport extreme support.

Definitely let us know how that works out! And welcome to the forum, BTW :)

:welcome:

I haven't used VirtualPC in ages, now that I'm using Intel Macs primarily, but I might start playing with it again now that I have my PowerMac G5 dual 2.5GHz back from server duty (it operated as Xerces' main server, and TBH's home, for most of the past year).

[dnbkid]

Thanks for the welcome exitwound... I'm on some other boards you post on, different name though.

Anyways right now I'm currently installing debian (decided on the etch release) via the net on an blue and white G3 iMAC. I burned a small "business card" iso image onto a mini CD (you know those smaller then normal ones, that only hold like 150 to 200 MBs) and then booted from that. Since this is gonna be a linux only computer, I didn't have to worry about the partition. So far everything is going off without a hitch. I'm pretty familiar with linux and BSD on the mac. I was using MKLinux when it first came out, have also used YDL, Mandrake PPC, LinuxPPC on PowerPCS and Debian (on an old Quadra I believe, my memory is shot). I've also used some different BSD flavors but never liked it as much as linux.

The G5 is having some hardware issues, but the computer has had them under OS X as well. Essentially the keyboard and mouse freezes up sporidically. Mainly when the fans come on. Really wierd. It also seems to refuse to boot from Mac OS X discs but boots fine from the Debian disks. Ahh well I'll look at it over the weekend. I have alot of freetime on the weekends because of some personal stuff that has arisen lately.

Alright I've got a class now but I'll keep up with the updates.

[dnbkid]

I've got Ubuntu Edgy up and running on the imac G5. Only one keyboard freeze so far. Its still very weird. It must be a hardware issue.

Ubuntu is really nice, I'm definatly going to install it on this laptop (dual boot) when I have the time.

[exitwound]

Good stuff! Definitely keep us updated. I'm thinking a lot about using my PowerMac G5 as a testbed machine for any number of things that will run on it including anything that works decently in VPC....but of course, most of those things work better on my actual Intel Macs anyway. So I'm mostly looking for things that work best natively in PowerPC code as well as anything that might be useful on any spare Intel Mac(s) that I'm left with after I sell whichever of them someone snatches up.

[dnbkid]

Switched the imacG5 to Debian

[exitwound]

Switched the imacG5 to Debian

sweet! :)