Installing Windows on Mac (wasn't sure where to put this)

I know it's possible to install Windows on some of the newer Macs with Intel processors, but is it possible to do it on an older one? I recently obtained an old clamshell iBook.

PPC G3 300mhz
160mb RAM
5gb HD

I only bought it because I got it from the high school, and the money from it goes towards new computers for the tech lab.

I want to put Windows 98 on it. If it isn't posible with it, which Linux distro would you guys suggest for it?

Windows will not go on that old of a Mac. There may be an extremely remote chance of it but I doubt it. I don't think Linux will either.

windows will not boot on that, however a version of linux that is design fro PPC will boot on that.

The popular distros of Linux have PPC versions that you can install on a PPC-based Mac (some such as Ubuntu require a G3 or better, versions of BSD *nix are freely available that you can run on hardware as old as a non-PPC Mac SE-30 if you wanted to).

You can install Windows on a PPC-based Mac with virtualization software such as VirtualPC however because Windows is working in emulation you will see a performance hit. To install Windows on an intel-based Mac you would need to install the BootCamp beta which will allow you to partition your drive into two sides, one for OS X and one for XP. Or you can buy virtualization software such as Parallels that will allow you to install multiple VMs of any x86-based operating system you want, and you can run them standalone or in a window alongside OS X with no (or at best a very minimal) performance hit.

I do not recommend using OS X 10.3 or 10.4 on that iBook, 10.2.8 is the highest OS you'd want to go. Even if you upgraded the RAM and HD that model iBook uses a Rage video chip which will not be fast on anything beyond 10.2 "Jaguar". OS 9 would be your safest bet, that might be what it has on it right now so you'd save some cash not having to buy it, and you can probably find an older version of VirtualPC on eBay that will allow you to install and run Windows 98 at a decent speed (Connectix used to make VirtualPC in those days).

No x86 = No Windows.

Off the top of my head, I know Ubuntu and Gentoo work with the PowerPC.

Almost all linux distros that don't base themselves off other distros will have a PPC arch version

people here have been somewhat vague in their responses, to make this clear, the G3 is powerpc (ppc) and windows 98/2k/xp simply cannot be installed and booted natively on any ppc based computer, the only macs it will boot on are the new intel based models.

you could try virtual pc as posted above but chances are it will not run at a usable speed as the cpu is relatively slow and the memory is low. your best bet is probably linux, you may want to try ubuntu, kubuntu, yellow dog, debian, or gentoo.... gentoo will be a bit of a challenge if you are less then a strong intermediate to advanced linux user.

I wouldn't recommend using Gentoo on a machine that old unless you are very patient, compile times will be very long. A binary distribution such as debian would be a good idea. I'd avoid ubuntu or kubuntu because of the desktop environments they use, Gnome and KDE are both relatively heavy on RAM for a machine that old. You could give xubuntu a try or use straight debian with a lightweight window manager such as fluxbox.

You could still run Windows with Parallels I believe that is what replaced Virtual PC, but it's going to be slow and clunky. You MAYBE can run 2000 on that book but may have to go back to 98, DEFINATELY not XP though.

Didn't NT have a PPC port at one point? I'm not sure it was released, though.

Actually MS has kept the builds of powerpc for theirs os'es up to date. Similar to how apple did with x86 since osX. Yes NT has a powerpc version, as well as alpha, mips and x86. The xbox360 runs a modified version of the 2003 kernel on powerpc.

Why don't they release it, I wonder?

I don't think I'd mind NT on this thing.

Also, if I upped the RAM to 256, you think it would run Ubuntu comfortably? It uses PC100, and a friend of mine will sell me a 256 stick for $20.

256 should be enough for ubuntu. If it seems slow, just install a lightweight wm instead of kde or gnome (eg fluxbox, icewm, etc).

I'd go NetBSD. I'm sure some one will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe most Linux Distros that have a PPC port do not fully support the PPC architecture. At least when I was researching putting linux on my g4 powerbook, I got that impression. BSD's are similar to Linux, and if you are brand new to nix/bsd, you won't notice any difference. I think the NetBSD support for PPC is more mature than most Linux's.

What do you mean "don't fully support the ppc architectue?" AFAIK, they don't run anything in emulation.

I think the hardware support is there, but I think the biggest weakness is the software support. I think it is similar to most amd64 ports. It will detect and run all of your hardware, but you might not be able to run every program you want to. I am not 100% sure exactly, so don't take my word for it, just take it as something to look in to further if you want to try it.

splat said:

I think the hardware support is there, but I think the biggest weakness is the software support. I think it is similar to most amd64 ports. It will detect and run all of your hardware, but you might not be able to run every program you want to. I am not 100% sure exactly, so don't take my word for it, just take it as something to look in to further if you want to try it.

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Agreed, sort of.

If someone has tried PowerPC Ubuntu or another PPC distro, please jump in and tell me more, as I'd like to know how the support is on the other side.

Ok, I grabbed Ubuntu. My only problem is the CD drive for the laptop is dead. I have another drive, but it's at a friends house, and he's gone until next week. Is there a way to install it through OS 9.1? I can hook up an external CD drive, but it won't boot from it. It won't detect the drive until everythings all done booting.

Captain Newbie said:

If someone has tried PowerPC Ubuntu or another PPC distro, please jump in and tell me more, as I'd like to know how the support is on the other side.

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I've used Ubuntu on my iBook and found it to run great, and quite a bit faster then OS X that's for sure. I couldn't get the Airport to work, but other then that the video and sound was great.