Linux traffic


The Linux based traffic here has increased a large amount. It has finally took the place of Windows as the 2nd most used OS by the visitors here, with OS X being 1st of course.

Back in August and September, the Linux traffic here was maybe 15-18% of the total, and it is now 30%+ every single day. I average about 250-300 unique visits per day, with page loads hitting 400-500, so it's good to see that many people are using Linux generally, and interested in reading about PowerPC Linux specifically. This is very encouraging indeed, especially when you consider many are using Macs, and they have decided to take the plunge.

People are obviously realizing that to embrace Linux, you don't have to abandon Mac OS 10.5 or older, but rather give each OS its own role, or at least discover what they could be while they learn. That is how anything moves forward. When people adopt something into their tech life, they often like a comfort level right from the start, which scares most away from Linux, because it lacks familiarity for most.

Another encouraging thing is that about 70% of the google search bot hits here are PowerPC Linux related, by people often using either Mac OS or Windows. This tells me that even those that have not took the plunge yet are interested. Very encouraging.

I will continue to write helpful content to help smooth the transition. As always, I encourage reader ideas for content so that I can share my insight, while also writing some specific content that people request.

5 comments:

  1. Hi there,
    i'm trying to install Lubuntu on an old G3 iBook. I reboot, hold down C the disk stutters a bit as if it's loading then gets ejected and the computer boots in OSX. Admitidely the drive isn't in the best condition and i can here it catching slightly as the disc spins, is this the problem? i have an external drive, can i use this or is there some other way to instal? I used the same disk to succesfully instal on my G4 Powerbook.
    ta

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    1. Lubuntu is known for not liking many G3 systems and it sounds like the optical drive is bad. You could try a USB install from either a thumb drive or an external USB optical. The page with the USB instructions is here:
      https://help.ubuntu.com/8.04/installation-guide/powerpc/boot-usb-files.html

      Debian is a much better Linux for G3 chips so I would give it a try. LibreCad should run fine on it also since Lubuntu is Debian based.

      You can get Debian here:
      http://www.debian.org/ports/powerpc/

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  2. I'm also planning to instal on an old eMac kicking around once i get a bigger HD installed (is it SATA?). I'm more into Audio than Video, is there an iTunes alternative that i can hold all my music and manage to sync an iPod to?
    ta

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    Replies
    1. I am not the zen.master, so I am not AS qualified to answer this, but there is banshee, there is rhythm box, there is mplayer, there is songbird...none of them are truly itunes like, and that's a good thing in my book. Songbird is no longer actively developed for linux, but the older versions are in the repositories and work fine,for the most part and have very itunes like skins. There is the nightingale project which is carrying songbird forward for linux, it was a little buggy the last time I looked at it.

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    2. I am not much of an iPod person at all and the only one I have is a Shuffle. I have never tried using it with Linux since it connects to my R2D3 system which is my music server and runs OS X.

      In terms of just playing music off the the HD or a CD in Linux I like Audacious. Simple but effective.

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