Re: [gNewSense-users] How to voluntarily follow gNewSense / FSF guidelines on my Ubuntu Apple PPC?

[Brian Greer]

Karl Goetz wrote:
> I run Etch on my Apple(s) here.

The only major thing I had to do with Etch was to run 
dpkg-reconfigure fontconfig-config and say "NO" to bitmap fonts, and 
for the most part, all was well.

> However some free drivers contain non-free code (iirc our ATI driver, or
> NV?).

Oh man, I have to know about NV.  If it isn't truly free then I'm 
off to pay for a card and support a vendor that will do my gNewSense 
desktop box justice.

> Remember gNS is about providing a free system. not a 'freeish' system ;)

Looks like the Apple is out then, or at least I'll just try to make 
it as free as possible as a personal project.  I'll choose more 
wisely next time.

> I decided not to bother with 2.x because upstream (ubuntu) no longer
> offically support PPC, so any problems would be our problem
> (exclusively).

Here's the secret about official ppc support: You can still get it, 
right up to Intrepid, but you have to know where they have hidden it.

It only means that you can't buy a support contract for it, bugs in 
the latest releases won't hold up the release of the official 
architecture releases, the repos have been removed from the mirrors, 
but are available at a single new repo site.

You can still get the ppc live-cd, alternate, and server versions 
right up to the daily Intrepid for ppc releases in the * ports * 
directory of cdimage(dot)ubuntu(dot)com.  They just don't mention 
this on the "official" corporate download site.  Otherwise, the devs 
are still cranking out releases, and I was surprised that they have 
kept so up to date with their release timing.  Hardy 8.04 LTS works 
a treat on my G5 iMac.  So in the end, the loss of official support 
a few years ago really didn't affect me at all.  Good news for 
Sparc, and other architectures too in the ports directory.  Of 
course they could drop it completely tomorrow, but so far so good!

If you decide to pursue gNS on Apple again, I'll be glad to help in 
any way.  And if something like wireless or ethernet isn't 
supported, then I'm off to find a truly free alternative for it even 
if that means hanging something off a usb port.