Low End Mac's Incomplete Guide to Linux and BSD on Older Macs

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Low End Mac publishes an ongoing series of Compleat Guides to things like Mac OS 9 and different computer lines, but we can't do that with Linux and BSD - they are moving targets. Both families of operating systems are under constant development, thus this incomplete guide.

The specific focus of this family of articles is running these Unix-derived operating systems on "classic" Mac hardware - that is, Macs that can run the Classic Mac OS without the need to resort to an emulator. That means any 680x0 or PowerPC Mac that can run a version of BSD or Linux.

Linux Distros for Classic Macs

Debian
- Debian on Motorola 680x0 (68020 - 68040, some Macs not supported)
- Debian for PowerPC (Old World and New World Macs, but no PowerPC 601 support)
Fedora, PowerPC G3 or later (no Live CD)
Linux/mac68k, most 68030 and 68040 Macs are supported with some limitations (serial and SCSI often "broken"), 68LC040 problematic, no updates to this distro since April 2006.
MkLinux, PowerPC only distro (PowerPC 601-604 Macs, Kanga and WallStreet PowerBooks, G3 Power Macs, authorized Mac clones), no longer maintained
openSUSE, PowerPC (Old World and New World Macs)
Slackintosh, PowerPC (New World Macs), designed for experienced Linux users
Ubuntu, PowerPC version is community supported (New World Macs)
- Kubuntu, PowerPC version is community supported (New World Macs)
- Xubuntu, PowerPC version is community supported (New World Macs)
Yellow Dog, PowerPC only distro

version 4 dropped Old World Mac support
version 6 dropped G3 support

BSD Distros for Classic Macs

FreeBSD/ppc (New World Macs with G3 or G4 CPU - AltiVec and G5 not supported, SMP not supported, ADB keyboards not supported)
NetBSD
- NetBSD/mac68k (68020 - 68040)
- NetBSD/macppc (PowerPC with Open Firmware, no PPC 601 support)
OpenBSD
- OpenBSD/mac68k (68020 - 68040)
- OpenBSD/macppc (PowerPC with New World ROMs)

Checklist

LiveCD available?
bootable from FireWire or USB?

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