[NBLUG/talk] Linux on PowerPC - Blue and White G3

[Dave Sisley]

Hey, Everybody:

Apropos of Rob's and Lincoln's thread on the older Beige PowerMac and 
whether they can run Linux, I have a similar question about a Blue & 
White G3 I have sitting around at work.  I've managed to turn it into a 
very attractive doorstop.  It may be that it has a hardware problem, but 
I'm curious if anyone else has a clue for me as to getting it to run Linux.

It was running OSX, which I would have been happy enough to leave alone, 
but it would freeze up fairly often, and I was unable to run the 
Software Update without it crashing.  I tried a reinstall of OSX, but no 
luck - it would crash.  I was able to install Upbuntu and Fedora Core 4 
and was trying to get Yellowdog on there when I finally threw up my hands.

After a 'successful' install of Ubuntu or FC4 (meaning I got all the way 
to point where I'm asked to reboot the machine), the machine won't 
boot.  It hangs during the second stage of the boot loader, or rather it 
just kind of loops through and keeps trying the second stage.  I've 
tried reformatting the disk with the OSX install CD disk utilites.  No joy.

I've googled a bunch, but I haven't found anything that really helps.  
I'm thinking there's something wrong with the hardware at this point, 
but is there anything specific to the Blue & White (B/W) G3 that I 
should know?  Is there a way to clear out the drive and start from scratch?

Thanks.

-dave.