The Ultimate Installation Guide Linux on Mac G3

This is the ultimate guide to giving new life to an old mac
Anyone who has a mac G3 knows that they are useless in this century.
Thanks to LUbuntu and this guide, a third generation mac could be a part of your life again.

What you'll need:

• CD-R 
• Copy of Ubuntu ISO from ubuntu.com (You will need to download the Mac (PowerPC) and IBM-PPC (POWER5) desktop CD option)

• iMac G3
• Internet connection

Once you have lubuntu downloaded onto your computer you can burn it to your CD. This process is fairly simple but if you need instructions I would recommend following the instructions here for a PC or here for a mac.

 

Once you have lubuntu downloaded onto your CD-R, you can put it into your iMac. First power your mac off. At this point the disk should be inside your mac and the mac is off. Press the 'C' key and hold it down, do NOT let up on the 'C' key and turn the computer on, while still holding the 'C' key until it powers onto this screen

It will go through a pretty independent process and you just need to press 'enter' a couple times when it asks about language and the type of keyboard you're using. You're computer should be connected to the internet and it will ask if you want to update. While Lubuntu is a solid operating system, unless you get the updates it's not going to run youtube or anything that people actually use computers for. So, you're going to want the updates. It takes a real long time so feel free to leave it to update by itself for a while, watch a movie, or take a walk, recognize the fact that you have a lot of time on your hands.
It's going to be a black screen with white text running pretty much non stop. My computer didn't start the x-server, which is the system that runs the graphic user interface which meant it was stuck as a black screen with white writing that you could code.
Linux Command List
You can try to type in the command: "startx" and if it launches x-interface, that's awesome! But, if it didn't open automatically after the updates, it's probably not going to start with that command, mine didn't anyways.
If it doesn't, you'll have to change the configuration file.
Once you change the configuration file, all you have to do is "startx" and you're good to go, your Mac G3 is running as a linux computer. You can watch youtube videos and everything. The only thing mine hasn't been able to do is open emails from outlook. However, with a download of thunderbird, it will no longer be a problem.
Hope this helps anyone who needs it!
Thanks so much.