Supported Hardware

Ubuntu does not impose hardware requirements beyond the requirements of the Linux kernel and the GNU tool-sets. Therefore, any architecture or platform to which the Linux kernel, libc, gcc, etc. have been ported, and for which an Ubuntu port exists, can run Ubuntu.

Rather than attempting to describe all the different hardware configurations which are supported for PowerPC, this section contains general information and pointers to where additional information can be found.

Supported Architectures

Ubuntu 8.04 supports three major architectures and several variations of each architecture known as “flavors”. Three other architectures (HP PA-RISC, Intel ia64, and IBM/Motorola PowerPC) have unofficial ports.

Architecture Ubuntu Designation Subarchitecture Flavor
Intel x86-based i386    
AMD64 & Intel EM64T amd64    
HP PA-RISC hppa PA-RISC 1.1 32
PA-RISC 2.0 64
Intel IA-64 ia64    
IBM/Motorola PowerPC powerpc CHRP chrp
PowerMac pmac
Sun SPARC sparc sun4u sparc64
sun4v    

CPU, Main Boards, and Video Support

There are four major supported powerpc subarchitectures: PMac (Power-Macintosh or PowerMac), PReP, APUS (Amiga Power-UP System), and CHRP machines. Each subarchitecture has its own boot methods. In addition, there are four different kernel flavours, supporting different CPU variants.

Ports to other powerpc architectures, such as the Be-Box and MBX architecture, are underway but not yet supported by Ubuntu. We may have a 64-bit port in the future.

Kernel Flavours

There are two flavours of the powerpc kernel in Ubuntu, based on the CPU type:

powerpc

Most systems use this kernel flavour, which supports the PowerPC 601, 603, 604, 740, 750, and 7400 processors. All Apple PowerMac machines up to and including the one marketed as G4 use one of these processors.

powerpc64

The powerpc64 kernel flavour supports the following CPUs:

The POWER3 processor is used in older IBM 64-bit server systems: known models include the IntelliStation POWER Model 265, the pSeries 610 and 640, and the RS/6000 7044-170, 7043-260, and 7044-270.

The POWER4 processor is used in more recent IBM 64-bit server systems: known models include the pSeries 615, 630, 650, 655, 670, and 690.

Systems using the Apple G5 (PPC970FX processor) are also based on the POWER4 architecture, and use this kernel flavour.

Power Macintosh (pmac) subarchitecture

Apple (and briefly a few other manufacturers — Power Computing, for example) made a series of Macintosh computers based on the PowerPC processor. For purposes of architecture support, they are categorized as NuBus (not supported by Ubuntu), OldWorld, and NewWorld.

OldWorld systems are most Power Macintoshes with a floppy drive and a PCI bus. Most 603, 603e, 604, and 604e based Power Macintoshes are OldWorld machines. Those pre-iMac PowerPC models from Apple use a four digit naming scheme, except for the beige colored G3 systems, which are also OldWorld.

The so called NewWorld PowerMacs are any PowerMacs in translucent colored plastic cases and later models. That includes all iMacs, iBooks, G4 systems, blue colored G3 systems, and most PowerBooks manufactured in and after 1999. The NewWorld PowerMacs are also known for using the “ROM in RAM” system for MacOS, and were manufactured from mid-1998 onwards.

Specifications for Apple hardware are available at AppleSpec, and, for older hardware, AppleSpec Legacy.

Model Name/Number Generation
Apple iMac Bondi Blue, 5 Flavors, Slot Loading NewWorld
iMac Summer 2000, Early 2001 NewWorld
iMac G5 NewWorld
iBook, iBook SE, iBook Dual USB NewWorld
iBook2 NewWorld
iBook G4 NewWorld
Power Macintosh Blue and White (B&W) G3 NewWorld
Power Macintosh G4 PCI, AGP, Cube NewWorld
Power Macintosh G4 Gigabit Ethernet NewWorld
Power Macintosh G4 Digital Audio, Quicksilver NewWorld
Power Macintosh G5 NewWorld
PowerBook G3 FireWire Pismo (2000) NewWorld
PowerBook G3 Lombard (1999) NewWorld
PowerBook G4 Titanium NewWorld
PowerBook G4 Aluminum NewWorld
Xserve G5 NewWorld
Performa 4400, 54xx, 5500 OldWorld
Performa 6360, 6400, 6500 OldWorld
Power Macintosh 4400, 5400 OldWorld
Power Macintosh 7200, 7300, 7500, 7600 OldWorld
Power Macintosh 8200, 8500, 8600 OldWorld
Power Macintosh 9500, 9600 OldWorld
Power Macintosh (Beige) G3 Minitower OldWorld
Power Macintosh (Beige) Desktop, All-in-One OldWorld
PowerBook 2400, 3400, 3500 OldWorld
PowerBook G3 Wallstreet (1998) OldWorld
Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh OldWorld
Workgroup Server 7250, 7350, 8550, 9650, G3 OldWorld
Power Computing PowerBase, PowerTower / Pro, PowerWave OldWorld
PowerCenter / Pro, PowerCurve OldWorld
UMAX C500, C600, J700, S900 OldWorld
APS APS Tech M*Power 604e/2000 OldWorld
Motorola Starmax 3000, 4000, 5000, 5500 OldWorld

PReP subarchitecture

Model Name/Number
Motorola Firepower, PowerStack Series E, PowerStack II
MPC 7xx, 8xx
MTX, MTX+
MVME2300(SC)/24xx/26xx/27xx/36xx/46xx
MCP(N)750
IBM RS/6000 40P, 43P
Power 830/850/860 (6070, 6050)
6030, 7025, 7043
p640

CHRP subarchitecture

Model Name/Number
IBM RS/6000 B50, 43P-150, 44P
Genesi Pegasos I, Pegasos II

APUS subarchitecture

Model Name/Number
Amiga Power-UP Systems (APUS) A1200, A3000, A4000

Nubus PowerMac subarchitecture (unsupported)

NuBus systems are not currently supported by Ubuntu/powerpc. The monolithic Linux/PPC kernel architecture does not have support for these machines; instead, one must use the MkLinux Mach microkernel, which Ubuntu does not yet support. These include the following:

  • Power Macintosh 6100, 7100, 8100

  • Performa 5200, 6200, 6300

  • Powerbook 1400, 2300, and 5300

  • Workgroup Server 6150, 8150, 9150

A linux kernel for these machines and limited support is available at http://nubus-pmac.sourceforge.net/.

Non-PowerPC Macs

Macintosh computers using the 680x0 series of processors are not in the PowerPC family but are instead m68k machines. Those models start with “Mac II” series, go on to the “LC” family, then the Centris series, and culminate in the Quadras and Performas. These models usually have a Roman numeral or 3-digit model number such as Mac IIcx, LCIII or Quadra 950.

This model range started with the Mac II (Mac II, IIx, IIcx, IIci, IIsi, IIvi, IIvx, IIfx), then the LC (LC, LCII, III, III+, 475, 520, 550, 575, 580, 630), then the Mac TV, then the Centris (610, 650, 660AV), the Quadra (605, 610, 630, 650, 660AV, 700, 800, 840AV, 900, 950), and finally the Performa 200-640CD.

In laptops, it started with the Mac Portable, then the PowerBook 100-190cs and the PowerBook Duo 210-550c (excluding PowerBook 500 which is Nubus, please see the section above).

Graphics Card Support

Ubuntu's support for graphical interfaces is determined by the underlying support found in X.Org's X11 system. Most AGP, PCI and PCIe video cards work under X.Org. Details on supported graphics buses, cards, monitors, and pointing devices can be found at http://xorg.freedesktop.org/. Ubuntu 8.04 ships with X.Org version 7.3.

Multiple Processors

Multiprocessor support — also called “symmetric multiprocessing” or SMP — is available for this architecture. However, the standard Ubuntu 8.04 kernel image does not support SMP. This should not prevent installation, since the standard, non-SMP kernel should boot on SMP systems; the kernel will simply use the first CPU.

In order to take advantage of multiple processors, you'll have to replace the standard Ubuntu kernel. You can find a discussion of how to do this in the section called “Compiling a New Kernel”. At this time (kernel version 2.6.24) the way you enable SMP is to select “Symmetric multi-processing support” in the “Platform support” section of the kernel config.