So there's a PowerMac G5 "quad core" for sale locally $40. No hard drive and no OS. I have a hard drive that actually will fit it (SSD even, 480GB) onhand, and obviously I'd want to put linux on it. Therein lies the problem. I've never followed Macs. I know it's 64-bit power pc, but is it the full ppc64el that all modern power pc distro's support? I'd love to play around with this just for S's & G's, maybe max out the ram (16 GB in 8 slots!!). I mean, quad core 16 GB ram would still be a reasonably nice system today!!

If it does support the ppc64el, has anyone used this before and is it easy to install linux nowadays? I know the few reviews I read of putting linux on the power pc Macs it was mostly horror, but they were also all 10 years old.

I believe it technically is, but the ppc64el Debian wiki says old Macs are not targeted. I wouldn't be surprised if it struggles with the boot ROM or won't even work at all. Perhaps worth a try if you have CDs to spare and use as a possible test.

My PowerBook G3 has too little RAM to get through the Ubuntu 16.04 installer, but you almost certainly could install the Ubuntu 16.04 PowerPC version since your machine is much more powerful: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/16.04/release/

Ubuntu 16.04 has support for a little longer. I was installing Debian on the G3, which would be similar enough with the New World ROM and all, if you have questions.

What video chipset does it use? I remember the Broadcom chipset on my PPC G4 Mini Mac, watching videos was terrible. During other things was okay. The only distro I used on it is Debian.

No idea, doesn't say in the ad.