Will Linux make a significant difference? Want to play movies on iBook G3 800Mhz...

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Hey guys,

Been reading MacRumors for a loooooong time but never bothered to join the forum. Now I kinda need some advice, hopefully someone can help me out.

I have this old iBook G3 800Mhz with 640MB RAM that I'm trying to convert into a portable DVD/DivX player. The problem is that DVD playback is extremely jerky and DivX (using VLC) skips every other frame, making it unwatchable. Overall it's pretty sluggish... It's currently running Panther.

Now my question: Would installing Linux make it significantly snappier? I have no important data on that computer so I'm willing to experiment. I've always wanted to try Linux and since the iBook is just collecting dust right now I might as well give it a go.
Not looking for guides on how or what to install (always welcome though :) ), just interested in the performance boost it would give this antiquity. Thanks!
 

cwa107


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Hey guys,

Been reading MacRumors for a loooooong time but never bothered to join the forum. Now I kinda need some advice, hopefully someone can help me out.

You mean Mac-Forums.com, right? Or is this just your second stop after trying there first?

I have this old iBook G3 800Mhz with 640MB RAM that I'm trying to convert into a portable DVD/DivX player. The problem is that DVD playback is extremely jerky and DivX (using VLC) skips every other frame, making it unwatchable. Overall it's pretty sluggish... It's currently running Panther.

Sounds about right for a machine of that vintage. Although PCs of the day could play DVDs, many of them had hardware codecs that took the work of DVD playback away from the system.


Now my question: Would installing Linux make it significantly snappier? I have no important data on that computer so I'm willing to experiment. I've always wanted to try Linux and since the iBook is just collecting dust right now I might as well give it a go.
Not looking for guides on how or what to install (always welcome though :) ), just interested in the performance boost it would give this antiquity. Thanks!

Probably not. Not unless you had an extremely stripped down Linux distro. And even then, it would be a lot of hassle to find a PPC port that has the drivers specific to your machine. It simply doesn't make a whole lot of sense to invest that kind of energy when you could pick up a portable DVD player for less than $100.
 

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