Not sure if this is possible, have an ancient(in computer years) Imac, 2.33 Ghz dual core with 2 G RAM. Currently runs on safair 4.1.3 which is not supported by anything and not capable of upgrading or so I think. Is there a LINUX system I can install to make this at least a functioning web browser?
In reply to porschenut :
This one?
https://everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/specs/imac-core-2-duo-2.33-20-inch-specs.html
I've gone down the "put linux on an ancient computer" path a couple of times and it's never worked. Fun as a toy or hobby, but could never really use them as computers. New hardware is cheap-best just to upgrade.
Lubuntu seems like it might be a great option. Here's something I glanced at which might be informative;
https://andrewjthom.medium.com/reviving-a-2009-macbook-pro-with-lubuntu-71c4f8ff77d0
There's also ravynOS (which used to be called airyxOS) which aims to create a FreeBSD-based *nix for Apple hardware. Probably not ready for what you're wanting though it might be of interest;
You might be best off figuring out a good low-cost RAM upgrade and tweaking a recent version of OSX for better performance.
porschenut said:Not sure if this is possible, have an ancient(in computer years) Imac, 2.33 Ghz dual core with 2 G RAM. Currently runs on safair 4.1.3 which is not supported by anything and not capable of upgrading or so I think. Is there a LINUX system I can install to make this at least a functioning web browser?
I'd have to do a little more digging, but I see no reason why Linux Lite or Linux Mint couldn't work. Lite is particularly meant to work on old hardware that can be reused.
https://www.linuxliteos.com/index.html
What year and iOS version is it running? Before 2006-2007 they don't have the option to boot from flash drive I believe.
2GB RAM is going to be barely usable for light web browsing and office work these days, you'll need a very lightweight distro for sure, even Lubuntu or Mint LXDE would be a tight squeeze in that amount of memory.
I've had good results with Linux on ancient and modern computers though.
What about Chrome OS? Unless you're wanting Linux for a specific reason. I have an old Macbook Air that I plan on turning into a Chromebook this week just to see what it's like. And it's free.
-Rob
I want to use this for watching TV. For now comcast, netflix and any other streaming services. It has a nice big display and good sound, plus a wireless keyboard and mouse.
Tried to sell it a few years ago and everyone wanted the wireless stuff, no one wanted the computer. So if I mess it up there is no loss.
In reply to rob_lewis :
IIRC ChromeOS is Linux underneath, just locked down and with telemetry sent to Google.
In reply to porschenut :
I'd give it a shot, maybe starting with a regular Linux with a lightweight desktop like Lubuntu or Xubuntu. Worst case you may have to reinstall macOS.
There are lighter weight Linux distros out there that might be worth looking into, but at the end of the day the likely performance bottleneck is going to be your browser.
The main concern I would have is if the distro of choice recognises the keyboard and mouse because I wouldn't be that surprised if they run a proprietary protocol, although they might not. Only one way to find out.
BoxheadTim said:In reply to porschenut :
I'd give it a shot, maybe starting with a regular Linux with a lightweight desktop like Lubuntu or Xubuntu. Worst case you may have to reinstall macOS.
There are lighter weight Linux distros out there that might be worth looking into, but at the end of the day the likely performance bottleneck is going to be your browser.
The main concern I would have is if the distro of choice recognises the keyboard and mouse because I wouldn't be that surprised if they run a proprietary protocol, although they might not. Only one way to find out.
That is not a problem, I have wired stuff too. Means I can sell the wireless stuff since that is what everyone wanted before.
So Xubunto, Linux Lite or Lubuntu? Any one better than the others? Will try this afternoon, too cold to work on the car.
I generally like the Ubuntu variants (X/L)ubuntu as they're common and well supported. The UI of xfce (the window manager used by Xubuntu) isn't that far away from macOS so it might make it a little more comfortable if you're not that familiar with Linux.
No experience with Linux Lite, so I can't comment how it compares to the Ubuntu variants.
Xubuntu is a decent choice but may still be too much for the amount of RAM this system has, if that doesn't work try Lubuntu or Mint LXDE. Beyond that, any lighter distros will be much less user-friendly for someone new to Linux.
BoxheadTim said:The main concern I would have is if the distro of choice recognises the keyboard and mouse because I wouldn't be that surprised if they run a proprietary protocol, although they might not. Only one way to find out.
Wired mouse/keyboard are just standard USB, although the placement and keycap decoration for things like the alt and windows keys may be different.
I haven't tried using a "magic" mouse on something other than macos, I expect you might well lose the touch-sensitive scrolling and other gesture stuff on it.
porschenut said:So Xubunto, Linux Lite or Lubuntu? Any one better than the others? Will try this afternoon, too cold to work on the car.
No idea, but Linux Lite is just based on Ubuntu anyway.
There is this path;
https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/5300DDR2S4GP/
4gb ram kit. Call them to make 100% this is applicable but it should be per quick research/selection. $20 bucks seems very reasonable to me.
4gb isn't amazing but it's a huge increase and should make things a bit easier.
With 4GB RAM you could run Xubuntu for sure, or even Mint MATE which is a full-fat desktop distro.
A 20 dollar investment is no big deal, but do I need the extra RAM to watch a movie on netflix?
I feel like the extra ram is going to make the desktop experience, including web browser use, just a bit nicer all around.
If it were me, I would do the upgrade, see what you can do with OSX like turning off visual extras and such, and then try Firefox on it and see how that goes. If it's not acceptable I would then start thinking about an alternative OS.
In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :
I'm assuming that the machine is rather old and thus it might not be possible to upgrade it to a supported version. That's generally not a good idea from a security perspective. Even if you might still be able to get an old version of macOS that will work on this machine, you very likely won't get any security patches and I wouldn't use a machine like that on the Internet.
First attempt failed. I made a boot disk with lubuntu but the computer did not give me an option of booting from USB. Did some research, it is a late 2006 model, which may be the problem. Another thing is I made the boot disk from a windows PC, not sure if that matters. Will play around more tomorrow.
porschenut said:First attempt failed. I made a boot disk with lubuntu but the computer did not give me an option of booting from USB. Did some research, it is a late 2006 model, which may be the problem. Another thing is I made the boot disk from a windows PC, not sure if that matters. Will play around more tomorrow.
Yeah, that's old. I'm pretty sure that boots from CD, not from USB flash drives.
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