[Novalug] Ubuntu on PPC - "Solved" update

[Mark A. Metz]

Thanks to all who offered suggestions on how to get this machine to work.

Following Beartooth's advice, I convinced Nate to try Fedora so we downloaded the newest distro for the PPC, Fedora 12.

Everything is working out of the box so far.  It's kind of cheating, but we're rationalizing this as a strength of the Linux community.  There are a lot of distros to try so you don't necessarily have to be a terminal jockey to get things to work.

He can get wireless, only 128-bit WEP encryption, but he can connect.

He can get some desktop effects, but now he's hitting the hardware barrier, I think.  I'm not familiar with RPM, but he's running Gnome and applications aren't quite the same as in Ubuntu.  He only has a few settings he can change for desktop effects and I can't find the Simple Compiz Settings Manager in the Add Software area.  We may try to add this through the terminal.  When he turns on desktop effects his panels are visible, but his desktop disappears (i.e., no icons, no wallpaper, just black).  He can't change the desktop backgrounds and he can initialize cube rotation with the middle mouse button as with my machine.  If he turns desktop effects back on, his desktop comes back.

We'll keep plugging, but he's pretty pleased.  His mom, the artist, today helped him customize a desktop background from a doodle he made himself.

Overall, it's been a very rewarding experience for all of us.  He's jazzed about Linux and he wants to load it on his Gateway touchscreen desktop now.

Thanks again to everyone.  Happy New Year.

Mark