Debian Testing for my iBook G4

by

I was thinking about which OS to install on iBook yesterday. I just got over a pretty frustrating experience in that department and was looking for something not too easy but more enjoyable. So Jessie is now stable and since my iBook is my "testing" machine why not install Stretch on it? The freeze is probably lifted for testing so I want to see how long I can ride before my sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade results in me getting hit with a serious bug. This is what a "testing" machine is for right? ;-) So I went and got the netinst iso from Debian and began the install. When the cd boots it asks how you want to install and I chose the options install desktop=xfce. I really like XFCE, it is not as lightweight as LXDE but it has some more features that I prefer on my DE. The rest is pretty much what you would expect on a Debian install. It just worked. Once your system reboots remember you need to enable KMS if you have any desire for a good DE experience. I use the following setting on my iBook:

Linux radeon.modeset=1 video=offb:off video=1024x768-32 video=radeonfb:off radeon.agpmode=-1

Then when your login to the desktop you will need to make the changes permanent. Sudo does not come installed you can su to root and install it or you could just run nano -w /etc/yaboot.conf as root and add those parameters like below:

image=/boot/vmlinux
label=Linux
read-only
initrd=/boot/initrd.img
append="quiet splash radeon.modeset=1 video=radeonfb:off video=offb:off video=1024x768-32 radeon.agpmode=-1"

image=/boot/vmlinux.old
label=old
read-only
initrd=/boot/initrd.img.old
append="quiet splash radeon.modeset=1 video=radeonfb:off video=offb:off video=1024x768-32 radeon.agpmode=-1"

If you want to find out what screen resolution you need to set for your machine it can be fount at the everymac website. Remember to run this command after you finish editing to apply your changes sudo ybin -v. Setting up wireless was pretty straight forward. You will need to add contrib and non-free to the /etc/apt/sources.list file and run sudo apt-get update. Since I have Broadcom BCM4318 chip I just need to install the firmware-b43-installer package and reload the b43 module. On G4 iBooks and PowerBooks to get sound to work you will need to manually load the snd-aoa-i2sbus module and add it to the /etc/modules file. Then run the command alsamixer to set the PCM channel to 80. You need to install the pauvcontrol package as well. I also added the pmu_battery module so I can have a working battery indicator. This basically what I did to get a working system. The only issue I ran across was the xfdesktop4 service was consuming 100% cpu when I would right click on the desktop. There was already a related bug that I added my comments. I spent the rest of the evening theming my desktop. I am huge fan of Numix themes and icons so below are some screenshots. BTW does anyone want to take a guess as to how long I can ride in testing before an upgrade really hurts me?


Published on

24 comments:

  1. John M29 April 2015 at 17:05

    Huge thanks for this post!! The boot parameter you spelled out here allowed me to successfully boot my iBook G4 into Jessie for the first time... even the 3D graphics are up. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. rican-linux30 April 2015 at 07:38

      To whether or not you are using hardware accelerated graphics see Dan's post here.

      Delete
  2. ja1 May 2015 at 14:18

    what's the benefit?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thomas Carlson2 May 2015 at 18:21

    Sorry, Debian, I don't have a lot of time on my hands these days and am still trying to get Jessie to play nice with my ATI Radeon 9000 Pro graphics card. Guess I'll stick with Wheesy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. rican-linux4 May 2015 at 12:30

      did you try the boot options I used? Do you have G3 machine?

      Delete
    2. zen4 May 2015 at 19:15

      Tom,

      I thought your Debian machine was headless? That was the last you told me at least. I have Jessie stable running very well on my dual 450mhz Mystic with a Radeon 7500. Out of the box also.

      What type of install did you do?

      Delete
    3. Thomas Carlson5 May 2015 at 03:28

      I was running my Quicksilver headless with Wheezy, but tried to install Jessie numerous times with a monitor attached to see if there were any changes in Debian's GUI. Each time I ended up with a blank screen upon boot. Other than "install desktop=lxde", I went with a standard install. What other boot options should I be using to make this work?

      Delete
    4. rican-linux6 May 2015 at 12:28

      The boot parameter above beginning with Linuix.

      Delete
    5. Thomas Carlson9 May 2015 at 10:06

      I tried the boot parameter you suggested... still no go. So, I swapped out my graphics card with a Radeon 7500 and Jessie installed and worked just fine. Thanks, Zen, for the suggestion. I like OSs that just work "out of the box".

      Delete
    6. zen9 May 2015 at 10:29

      Glad you got things working. Of all the ATI cards, the Radeon 9000 GPU is the most troublesome one they ever made. It has many issues with many games also; command and conquer generals is one example.

      The 9000 and 9200 are both based on an underpowered 8500, but out of those 3 very similar GPU, the 9000 is the only one I have ever known to have issues with it.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous5 May 2015 at 06:25

    Hi!

    Great article! I'm currently using MintPPC on an iBook 800mhz with LXDE desktop environment.
    Can I use this pmu_battery module that you mentioned?

    THX
    Dave

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. rican-linux6 May 2015 at 12:27

      Yes you can

      Delete
    2. Anonymous7 May 2015 at 00:08

      Thanks!
      I tried it. Added to /etc/modules, too.
      But nothing had happened.

      I looked the System profiler and it said No batteries found on this system.
      Why? Sorry, I'm a totally linux newbie.

      THX
      Dave

      Delete
  5. rican-linux7 May 2015 at 07:49

    did you run sudo modprobe pmu_battery?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8 May 2015 at 00:24

      Yes. But it says nothing after the password.

      Delete
    2. rican-linux8 May 2015 at 08:05

      You need to add the battery indicator applet on lxpanel

      Delete
    3. Anonymous9 May 2015 at 10:29

      Added but it's a blank field...

      Delete
    4. zen9 May 2015 at 10:42

      I certainly don't speak for rican, but you need to figure out some of this stuff on your own. Have you even bothered looking for a solution yourself?

      If you get spoon-fed every little step then you will take little to nothing from the experience, and will need to be spoon-fed everything after that.

      Linux is very much a DIY OS, and what you're trying to do here is an extremely remedial task, so it shouldn't be this difficult for you.

      Again, I don't speak for rican; only myself.

      Delete
    5. zen9 May 2015 at 20:17

      I should add... I'm all for helping people, but just not to the extent that I (or rican in this case) am doing all the work for the one in need of help.

      It's for your own good that you learn at least a decent portion of things on your own.

      Remember, you're not using Windows or Mac OS; it's Linux. Win and Mac are checkers, and Linux and UNIX are like playing 6 games of chess at once when you're first learning things. You can't learn it in a few days like the mainstream OS.

      Patience, dedication and fearlessness are the best skills you can possibly have with Linux.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous10 May 2015 at 14:06

    Thanks Zen. As I mentioned, I'm a beginner.
    Just love powerpcs. I've got four. Sawtooth, Mini, TiBook, iBook.
    I would like to use them, and looking for how can I use them.
    Then I've found Linux. I've found MintPPC. Then searched the net to find useful PPC linux links. I've found this site and PPC Luddite. Great sites!
    Finally I've got a useful working iBook with Debian Wheezy on it.
    So, I just want to thank you for your work. Keep on and I try to learn more and more from it.

    Dave

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. rican-linux10 May 2015 at 18:05

      Dave,

      There are plenty of great on-line resources that will help you with Linux on PowerPC. Here is one that still use often. If you are willing to take the time and learn you can bring new life into your machines!

      Delete
  7. Unknown9 July 2015 at 13:30

    Hi rican-linux,

    Thanks for the post, was very helpful by installing Jessie. Only the sound has not yet succeeded, it's still a problem, unfortunately.
    Cheers,

    Lucas

    ReplyDelete
  8. Unknown21 September 2015 at 18:01

    Hi rican-linux,

    I'd love to know where to find the wallpaper you're using in these screenshots.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Saptech25 December 2015 at 21:26

    I'm not getting a smooth display experience. I followed the suggestions, sound is working but watching videos are not running as should. I have my G4 Mini connected to a HDTV. I may have to go back to OSX.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)