2026 PowerPC Challenge, is it happening?

[phunguss]

This website looks useful.

Yes, as it turns out I was confused. The single pump LCS I was working on is actually from the dual 2.5GHz that I converted to air last year. I thought it was the quad G5, because of the large metal plate on the bottom. But it does not line up with the G5 Quad... so looking at the dual pump LCS from the quad, it appears I don't have the bottom plate. I either misplaced it, have it in storage somewhere, or recycled it. So I ordered some PC air coolers and will convert the quad to Air Cooling using some MacGyver tricks.

 

[PowerRCP-G3]

VLC or HandBrake should be able to transcode to something DVD Studio 4 could handle?

Thanks for the advice. I am rather new to DVD Studio 4. So, I am open to suggestions on which video format is best suited for DVD Studio 4. I tried .mp4, .mov and .ts. I’ve read somewhere where it recognizes .mpg files tho.

 

[iBookSpeedster88]

I noticed that, for some reason, people on the MacRumors forums insist on continuing to use, or even set up for the first time, w1ckn1x's Lubuntu 12.04 Remix and 16.04 Remix distributions, long after they have been deprecated. I took it upon myself to subject my 1.5 GHz Mac Mini G4 to this experiment, one that absolutely proved wrong the idea that w1ckn1x's Lubuntu spin-offs (while a great band-aid solution when they were new) are inappropriate for today's use, and all Linux attention should be directed toward Void Linux, which pretty much works perfectly out-of-the-box after you get past the hurdle of manually partitioning your boot drive. It was even said by w1ckn1x in 2020 that Lubuntu 12.04 Remix "absolutely FLIES on my mac mini G4 and G5" (https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/lubuntu-16-04-remix-updated.2204742/), but I had found in 2025 that 16.04 Remix was actually a superior experience over 12.04 Remix (spoiler alert for my next post). Furthermore, these spin-offs were released in 2020, which is now the better half of a decade ago, and like with anything dependent upon the internet to access some faraway server for updates and software installation, like Linux heavily is, the entire thing essentially becomes a paperweight and comes crashing down like a deck of cards as it is dependent upon the contributions of strangers online and can hardly function by itself offline as a capable operating system like Mac OS X and Microsoft's Windows (pre-10). This wouldn't be a problem if w1ckn1x continued cobbling together new updates to his Lubuntu projects, but he has long since moved on. So, scratching my head as to why that Lubuntu thread on MacRumors still sees activity from users who ask for help on something regarding to Lubuntu 12.04/16.04 Remix installation and compatibility with some desired Macintosh model, I sought out to see for myself why, and the results are utterly incongruent with how Lubuntu 12.04/16.04 Remix was praised for when it was new, for reasons I have already mentioned. Over time, any particular Linux distribution that stays unmaintained breaks and becomes unusable. One day, the Void Linux repository mirrors, too, will be taken offline and you will be left with nothing, whereas Mac OS X Leopard, for example, will continue to function offline and be 100% just as usable with its vast collection of software in 2040 as it was in 2007 for so long as there is a functioning PowerPC Mac out there. Well, 2040 is the limit to how far HFS+ can count time and I don't know how one can fix that blemish, but I digress. I can still install my collection of 500+ .dmg installers on Mac OS X whenever I please whereas with Linux/BSD, if you're not connected to the internet or if you are connected to the internet but you have no software repository to connect to, then you're screwed.

Case in point: the experience with Lubuntu 12.04 Remix in a nutshell:

This is a capture of the stock programs within the live CD environment. I set up a user account and installed the operating system and set out to attempt to install software from an obscure mirror of Lubuntu's now 14-year old version to get additional software not included on the disc, heavily outdated software that we cannot upgrade to newer versions probably because of the old kernel or something that launches the user into escaping Linux dependency hell, but additional software nonetheless. A mirror like old.lubuntu.something or whatever it might have been called. Well? NOT POSSIBLE. Nearly all of the software threw up an error. I have no photograph for this, but let's just say that I tried at least 15 programs I wrote down in an .rtf document that I wished to install but the Lubuntu mirror failed to fetch. I know qmmp was a program that actually DID fetch and install to my Lubuntu 12.04 Remix system, but for whatever reason the audio was glitched and thus audio playback was all but worthless.

First, a list of detriments I noticed that I had written down in a .txt file I made on that day:

1. the Caps Lock key doesn't light up when pressed (I personally used Apple's tenkeyless
2. the Mac Mini is in a constant state of overheating as the fan ramps up constantly
3. over half of the software I attempted to install are, from what I could tell, not available from Lubuntu's repository mirror any longer, which happened sometime between 2021 and 2025, apparently
4. Qmmp's audio playback is reduced to a screeching static sound
5. Lubuntu 12.04 Remix does not "fly" on any Mac Mini if it was as sluggish and stuttered as often as as it did on mine
6. The cross-platform software that is actually able to be installed here is often even OLDER than its counterpart on Mac OS X Leopard
7. I had to turn off my Mac Mini because Archive Manager hung the entire system when failing to extract a tar.gz file

So, in my next post, I'll be giving you all the rundown of when I then next tested Lubuntu 16.04 Remix to see if it warranted the continual use by individuals on MacRumors who still wish to attempt to use it over using the superior Void Linux and then still complain to w1kcn1x when something naturally breaks on their system when using Lubuntu 16.04 Remix.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Wouldn't this post be more effective over on MR? - The forum where the thread is actually located with the folks using/talking about it? Have you looped in wicknix to discuss your concerns directly with him? I recall @wicknix was using Void for his PowerPC Linux experience last time we chatted which was probably 2 years ago now? I am sure he would be in full support of you committing your time and energy to an up-to-date PPC Linux solution (maybe Void based?) for PowerPC based macs.

 

[wicknix]

Just chiming in.

1) Yes both remixes are now both quite old. Still newer and slightly more secure than 10.5.8 Leopard (including Sorbet) however. Also the browsers included, though now outdated themselves, are still using a newer code base than anything available for 10.4/10.5 which are based on Firefox 45/48 (tenfourfox/interwebppc/aquafox). The browsers in the remixes were based on Firefox 52/60 (except for Arctic Fox). So there’s that.

2) I think people still recommend the remixes because of the “live” cd / installer. They can be tested before install to see if it works with their hardware. Also the installers do all the hard work of automatically partitioning and setting up the boot loader unlike most of the other newer distros that require work-a-rounds or dropping to console to do that stuff. They make it easier for a “linux newbie” to get started with.

3) Void Linux PPC has been unmaintained with no updates since 2023. So by suggesting to somebody to use that instead is a double standard. You claim my remixes are old and unmaintained (which they are), but so is VoidPPC. Why not suggest something like Debian or ArchPower that are current and actively maintained?

4) Yes, people still complain about this or that on those old remixes. It’s the nature of the beast. Even if they were still updated and/or current, there would still be “those” people. Once you develop or create something and make it publicly available be prepared for both praise and hate. That’s how the internet works.

5) Not my fault Ubuntu moved, then lost, chunks of their archived repositories. There was a time when those repo’s worked.

6) 12 Remix does fly, and has many posts agreeing with my statement. You might have just forgot a few tweaks or boot parameters during or after install. I know it’s a lengthy thread to read through, but the answers and testimonies are there. Some had great results, some didn’t. I put all the tweaks in for various machines that i knew of at the time. I also didn’t have every PPC Mac to personally test with. Results will vary.

I have long since removed myself from doing anything PPC related and most of the PPC community. I donated 5-ish years to creating or porting multiple apps, remixes, etc for free because i found it fun. Life changes, priorities change, hobby's change, etc etc. If people still enjoy my free products great. If not, i don’t really care. I’ve moved on to other things.

Enjoy the rest of the 2026 PPC challenge. I’m out.

 

[PowerRCP-G3]

Day 12: While my DVD continued to process, I played around with two emulators and watched some YouTube to pass the time.