This page is meant to help you compare Linux distributions for PowerPC™ and Power systems. Some distributions may be missing from this list; if you are aware of any distributions that presently support PowerPC™ or Power systems, please send a note.
Submissions for distributions that have long ceased operation, such as Puppy Dog Linux or Finnix-PPC, will be ignored.
Note that this list denotes minimum ISA level or CPU. Any CPU newer than the specified chip should work fine (i.e., if a distribution says "G3" for 32-bit, it will run on G4 as well).
| Distribution | 32-bit | 64-bit BE | 64-bit LE |
| Adélie Linux | G3 | G5/970 | No |
| Alpine Linux | No | No | Power8 |
| Chimera Linux | No | No | Power8 |
| Debian Ports | G3 | G5/970 | Power8 |
| Fedora | No | No | Power8 |
| Gentoo | Theoretically any Stages built with -mcpu=powerpc ("pure" 32-bit) |
Theoretically any Stages built with -mcpu=powerpc64 ("pure" 64-bit) |
Theoretically Power7 Stages built with -mcpu=powerpc64 ("pure" 64-bit) glibc stage unlikely to work without Power8 |
| Guix | No | No | Power8 |
| openSUSE | No | G5? | Power8 |
| RHEL (Alma, Rocky, etc) |
No | No | Power8 |
| Ubuntu | No | No | Power9 (20.04 LTS: Power8) |
For 32-bit systems, there aren't many options left. Your best bet is probably Gentoo, if you have an external build server and you feel comfortable with crossdev. If you don't know what any of that means, you should probably stay with Debian or Adélie. Debian will be an exercise in frustration, and Adélie is still a work-in-progress and not finished yet. (They gladly welcome contributors, and are quite a friendly bunch, if you want to help out.)
Big endian 64-bit systems are in a similar lot, though they have the interesting alternative of openSUSE. I have no personal experience with this port; the last time I used SuSE on a daily basis was in 2007. Still, it is a pretty cool thing that they brought it back.
Little-endian 64-bit systems have a wide range of choices. Since these will mostly be used as servers, it makes more sense to choose what you are familiar with or are already using in your existing server environment.
Verified for technical accuracy: February 4, 2024
Verified for editorial accuracy: February 4, 2024