Linux CD won't run on Power Mac G4

Hi,

I just recently bought a Power Mac G4 and I inserted a Linux CD into the cd/dvd drive and held down "C" while it was booting up and it the only thing it did was show the finder logo and a question mark blinking. Also I don't think it is reading the hard drive I have in it. Currently, the hard drive that is in it is a blank hard drive with nothing on it.

What version and distribution of Linux? Not all Linux CDs can boot a PPC machine, only certain ones. And as far as the hard drive goes.... if it's not formatted and nothing is on it, it won't be seen.

chscag said:

What version and distribution of Linux? Not all Linux CDs can boot a PPC machine, only certain ones. And as far as the hard drive goes.... if it's not formatted and nothing is on it, it won't be seen.

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oh ok. And I put in a PPC compatible linux distro and it didn't read the CD when I held down the "C" key. Maybe my cd/dvd drive doesn't work. I mean it shows an orange light on the drive. But it may be green. I can't tell.

Did you burn the image as an image file or did you simply burn the ISO to the disc? In other words, does the disc contain a bunch of files or just the ISO?

vansmith said:

Did you burn the image as an image file or did you simply burn the ISO to the disc? In other words, does the disc contain a bunch of files or just the ISO?

Click to expand...

It's an ISO.

I want to make sure that it will read CD's before I go buy a Panther CD. Also I am not quite sure how I can fully erase the hard drives I have.

You have to make the Linux CD/DVD an Image and not just burn the ISO to the CD. Otherwise it will never boot.

Your drive could be shot, but be sure the linux CD you made is bootable. How did you make the cd?

macuser1232 said:

It's an ISO.

Click to expand...

That's your issue here. Open up Disk Utility and go to Images > Burn.

vansmith said:

That's your issue here. Open up Disk Utility and go to Images > Burn.

Click to expand...

Nevermind it isn't an ISO. Because I did go to Disk Utility and go to images and burned it.

Sounds like the Optical drive in the Power Mac maybe shot. There is no OS on the G4?

Do you know the basic specs on that PM G4?

dtravis7 said:

Sounds like the Optical drive in the Power Mac maybe shot. There is no OS on the G4?

Do you know the basic specs on that PM G4?

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Yes, It does not have an OS. Before I assume the optical drive is shot, I am going to test PPC version of Linux Mint. I will post my results.

macuser1232 said:

Yes, It does not have an OS. Before I assume the optical drive is shot, I am going to test PPC version of Linux Mint. I will post my results.

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I was asking the specs for a reason. G4 Power Macs were picky with some optical drives as far as booting but I had good luck with Lite On and Plextor drives in my old PM G4's in case you have to replace the drive.

dtravis7 said:

I was asking the specs for a reason. G4 Power Macs were picky with some optical drives as far as booting but I had good luck with Lite On and Plextor drives in my old PM G4's in case you have to replace the drive.

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You asked for the specs? Well it's a Power Mac G4 "Sawtooth" AGP graphics. I actually upgraded the graphics to a Radeon 9200.

Ok the PPC version of Linux Mint worked! So know I know the CD/DVD drive is working. The only problem is that the Linux Mint is frozen on the languages menu.