 LinuxPPC on my Powerbook G3
After the recent crash of my hard disk, I was forced to reformat the drive, losing my Linux partitions, which meant I now had to rebuild two operating systems!
LinuxPPC R4 runs beautifully on the Powerbook G3. I'm using kernel 2.1.127 with additional support for my PCMCIA ISDN modem, and a new X server that provides ATI graphics acceleration. Woo-Hoo!
Netscape 4.0.5 is rock solid, and is much faster than either Explorer or Comunicator 4.5 under the MacOS. In fact, on evenings when I'm going to do some serious web surfing, I'm just as likely to do it under Linux as in MacOS.
Below is a recent snapshot of my newest Linux installation.
Window Manager: KDE 1.0. Its main interface is a browser window. If you look in the lower right corner, you'll see what looks like a Finder window with folders, but upon closer inspection, notice the URL (file:/) and the browser buttons for Back, Forward, Refresh, Bookmarks, etc. I don't have to use Netscape to web browse, any K-window can browse, or even ftp! This takes a little getting use to because the contents of a window are not automatically updated, you need to refresh it just as you would in any web browser.
The Menu Bar: On the far left of the menu bar is a tab that functions similar to that of the Apple control strip. Pushing the tab rolls-up the entire menu, except for the "K" icon - the equivalent of the Apple menu. In KDE, the menu bar is really more of a dock. Any files, folders, or actions can be attached to it. Moving elements on the dock is as easy as clicking and dragging. The four buttons with roman numerals represent four virtual desktops. I love this feature! I'll have email on one desktop, browser on another, desktop files on a third. You can Alt-Tab to cycle desktops, and through a contextual menu, send any window to any desktop.
Desktop Icons: The Linux Floppy icon opens a Finder-like window for my Linux partition. Starlink is a MacOS partition that I use for transfering files between the two OS's. The other folders are links (aliases) to Linux directories. Any item can be placed on the desktop since the desktop is really just another directory - just like in MacOS, except this desktop folder isn't hidden! The Trash icon behaves just as it does on a Mac, and is emptied using a contextual menu.
Previous Ramblings on Linux:
With every release, LinuxPPC boasts an easier installation procedure, better stability, and support for more peripherals. This latest install on my Powerbook was the easiest yet.
The key to this new user friendliness was the use of a new utility called BootX.
In Linux, the equivalent of the MacOS System suitcase in the Linux kernel - vmlinux. BootX lets you keep the kernel in your Mac system folder. Then when you use the BootX control panel to switch to Linux, the kernel from the MacOS System folder is loaded, and the switch begins.
Make no mistake, this is not emulation like VirtualPC and Softwindows. The MacOS system is completely removed. The computer does the equivalent of a restart, and by using the kernel already loaded into memory, starts the Linux boot process.
Above is the BootX window that the program's extension displays early in the MacOS startup process. If left alone for a few seconds, the normal Mac startup process continues. Select Linux, and the kernel is loaded from the Mac system folder and you will boot that OS.
This is an enormous improvement over the old Open Firmware boot process (which is still available, but soooo ugly, I don't even want to discuss it!).
BootX also allows you to boot into a Red Hat installer ram disk to simplify the Linux installation procedure.
The downside? Currently, the Linux partitions cannot be formatted as Mac HFS+. On my current Powerbook 3400, this isn't a problem because Linux is installed on my VST expansion bay drive. Later this week, when my new Powerbook G3 arrives, I will have to reformat the internal drive to HFS and repartition it before I can install Linux.
The picture above shows my current Linux installation with the K Desktop Environment (KDE). The drive called Starling is actually a Mac HFS partition that I share between the two OS's. While I have chosen a rather Mac-like desktop, it could just as easily look like NEXTStep, Windows 95, or Solaris.
The Roman numerals in the menu bar represent my four virtual desktops. While there are programs like Virtual Desktop that try to provide the same feature on the Mac, the implementation in Linux is outstanding. Each desktop can have a different desktop picture, and I will often have a different program open on each window.
That is one of the impressive qualities about the Linux window environments, or window managers, is how easily they are to customize. More on that later...
Other Linux sites of interest:
Previous Linux Screenshots from my Powerbook 3400c
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Linux uses a three button mouse (emulated on the Mac). Each button accesses a different contextual menu like the one featured.
On the right side is the dock. Buttons can access more buttons, programs, and can contain little apps like the clock and virtual desktop manager (Pager).
(800x600, click for larger image) |
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