how to boot my G5 into Ubuntu?

I saw these instructions on the forums to boot the latest version of Ubuntu:

download the iso.

Macintosh-HD -> Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal
hdiutil burn image.iso

Place cd in drive
power off machine
hold down option key
power on machine.
click on cd
click on right arrow

I burned the CD, put it into the drive, booted holding Option, and nothing happens - the screen is blank, the monitor shows a yellow light (like it's not getting a signal), and the keyboard Caps lock light won't come on. The computer is humming and on, but not showing me any choices for boot drives. What am I doing wrong?

thanks,

Mike

G5, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Dec 3, 2010 5:42 PM

17 replies

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Dec 5, 2010 12:21 PM in response to Michael Levin

I'm not 100% positive, but I don't think it'd be possible to boot from it if it doesn't recognize it as bootable.

Have you seen this...

Booting the installer

*

Download the CD image from http://www.ubuntulinux.org/download/ and burn it to a CD. Use the Disk Utility (or similar CD burner) to burn the CD - don't just open up the .iso file into the Finder and burn from there as this won't work!

PowerPC

*

To boot the CD on "NewWorld" Power Macs (from the blue-and-white G3 onwards), hold down the c key when booting your computer, or else Command-Option-Shift-Delete. "OldWorld" Power Macs (beige G3 and older) will not boot from CD and are not currently supported by Ubuntu.
* If your mac does not react to the 'c' key (maybe because you have a third party wireless keyboard), follow these steps:
o boot into OSX, open a terminal
o

sudo nvram autoboot?=false - this will get you into the openfirmware prompt when booting (on some macbooks, you need to set the auto-boot? variable instead)
o reboot
o at the openfirmware prompt, type: boot cd:,\\:tbxi

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/PowerPC

It'll be another day or 3 before the CD finishes downloading here for me to test.

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Dec 5, 2010 2:11 PM in response to Michael Levin

Had to borrow something faster than Dial-op to get the job done, the Ubuntu CD does not show up in the Startup Disk pref pane as a choice, but the Option Boot Manager it does show as a choice & does boot.

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how to boot my G5 into Ubuntu?