PowerPCFAQ
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And now navigate around to enable other options that you may need. (Ex: wireless drivers, tvcards, low-latency kernel, etc.) If you don't enable what you need, you won't have it! Press space bar to enable support as a module. This is generally desired over built-in modules in most cases. If you forget something, you can always go back to this step later and recompile your kernel. | And now navigate around to enable other options that you may need. (Ex: wireless drivers, tvcards, low-latency kernel, etc.) If you don't enable what you need, you won't have it! Press space bar once to enable support as a module <M>. This is generally desired over built-in modules <*> in most cases. If you forget something, you can always go back to this step later and recompile your kernel. |
This is work in progress see http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=377978
Many more general questions have answers at ["CommonQuestions"]
ContentsBRTableOfContents(2) |
General Questions
Which Macs are compatible with Ubuntu?
All NewWorld Macs should work. This means iMacs, iBooks, blue & white G3s, Lombard G3 PowerBooks and newer. The minimum system requirements are 256 MB of RAM and 3 GB of hard disk space.
Currently as of Feisty for iBooks/Powerbooks sleep, wireless, and external display are all supported with models having ATI graphics. Owners of the 12" Powerbook G4 models with the Nvidia graphics chip: sleep is not possible, because of insufficient hardware information from Nvidia.
Is Ubuntu supported on PowerPC?
Ubuntu 6.10 was the last officially supported PowerPC version of Ubuntu. Future versions will be community supported. This was [https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-announce/2007-February/000098.html announced] on the mailing list.
Is Ubuntu still available on PowerPC?
Yes, although it is not officially supported. Future versions may not be on all mirrors. Feisty disc images can be found at http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/feisty/release/ .
Mirrors
Most ubuntu mirrors no longer have PowerPC images. Please add any that you find that do.
ftp://ftp.gnome-db.org/mirror/cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/7.04/release/
Buying disks
The Linux store sell discs containing the whole ubuntu repositories. http://www.thelinuxstore.ca/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1302
Where can I find Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu ... for PowerPC?
Kubuntu images are at http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/ports/releases/7.04/release/
Edubuntu images are at http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/edubuntu/ports/releases/feisty/release/
There does not appear to be any Xubuntu images for Feisty final, but there are ones for Feisty beta. It would be possible to install with this and then upgrade to the final release. http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/ports/releases/7.04/beta/
Installing a derivative from an ubuntu install disc
You will need to install using the Ubuntu cds (see above). Then [wiki:InstallingSoftware install] the required *-desktop package. For example kubuntu-desktop.
To remove gnome, and the gnome apps run
sudo apt-get remove ubuntu-desktop sudo apt-get autoremove
If you are confident with the command line, you can do a minimal or server install from the alternate cd, and then add the required *-desktop package. This removes the need to uninstall Gnome.
What about OldWorld Macs?
All Macs prior to the original iMac are known as [https://help.ubuntu.com/community/OldWorld OldWorld] Macs. You will need a Mac OS 9 install CD to correctly set up Ubuntu on an [https://help.ubuntu.com/community/OldWorld OldWorld] Mac. Read this wiki for more help on installing:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/OldWorldMacs
Installation
How do I get a Mac to boot from CD?
The simplest method is to hold down the 'C' key (for x86 Macs use the 'D' key) as you turn the power on. Once you hear the CD drive reading the disk you can release the key.
Yaboot Configuration
The file /etc/yaboot.conf can be edited to change the booting behavior of your PowerPC Linux machine.
Edit the file with root privileges:
sudo nano /etc/yaboot.conf
After editing and saving the file, you must run this to write changes to the boot partition:
sudo ybin -v
To have more boot menu options include these lines in your yaboot.conf:
enablecdboot enableofboot enablenetboot
To have yaboot default to booting to OS X include this line in your yaboot.conf:
defaultos=macosx
To change the colors of the yaboot screen include these lines below. Alter as desired. These settings below create a color screen similar to the OS X open firmware colors.
fgcolor=black bgcolor=white
To boot into single user mode type this at the yaboot prompt:
Linux single
Multimedia
Java, video codecs, and DVD playback
Add the http://medibuntu.sos-sts.com/index.php Medibuntu repo to your /etc/apt/sources.list
wget -q http://medibuntu.sos-sts.com/repo/medibuntu-key.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -
sudo wget http://medibuntu.sos-sts.com/sources.list.d/feisty.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ibm-j2re1.5 ppc-codecs libdvdcss2
Flash and flash video
sudo apt-get install gnash vlc
Gnash has support for most basic flash webpages.
To view Youtube (and probably similar websites too), you can't watch the movie in the browser with Gnash, however you can download it to your hard disk and then watch it. Firefox users can simply use the VideoDownloader extension https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2390 (you will need to add the extension to the file - .flv for youtube). More generally, you can see this page http://1024k.de/bookmarklets/video-bookmarklets.html to download the video file.
Then simply open that .flv file in VLC. Enjoy your youtube video. Note: You must have gnash installed, otherwise youtube will redirect you, claiming there is no flash installed.
Windows Media 9 codecs, Quicktime H.264 and others
VLC will play almost every codec on the planet, including the most recent windows media audio and video codecs.
Multimedia browser plugin
Some have had great success with the mplayer mozilla plugin with such video as trailers from apple.com
sudo apt-get install mozilla-mplayer
You might have to remove the totem plugin, as it will confict with the mplayer-plugin.
sudo apt-get remove totem-mozilla
Realplayer
Download Realplayer 10.0.4 for PowerPC Linux here: https://player.helixcommunity.org/2005/downloads/
Look for the "RealPlayer 10.0.4 Gold 04/22/2005" Installer link for Linux-ppc, about halfway down the page on the right.
Download the file, the type
chmod + x realplay[press tab to autocomplete]
and press enter to make the installer executable.
Then,
sudo ./realplay[press tab to autocomplete]
and hit Enter.
For the install directory, type /opt/RealPlayer
Configure system wide links: hit Enter. Default is fine.
Type realplay in a terminal and RealPlayer will start.
Drivers and Hardware
Will my wireless work?
The original airport wireless cards work fine straight out of the box on ubuntu.
Airport extreme wireless cards require some setting up. See ["WifiDocs/Driver/bcm43xx"] for pre-Feisty information.
In Feisty the Airport Extreme support is built in, but you must fetch the firmware. Simply type
sudo apt-get install bcm43xx-fwcutter
and reboot. Your airport extreme will now work.
Enable sound with my Powerbook
The Feisty install fails to add the proper sound module to /etc/modules. To fix this,
sudo nano /etc/modules
and the at the bottom add snd-powermac to the list. Ctrl-X and 'Y' to save. Reboot, and sound will work.
Note: for TiBooks, there is currently a bug with sound. Read here for more info: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-source-2.6.20/+bug/87652/
Current work around is to install a pre-2.6.20 kernel in Feisty.
Enable DVI out on my Powerbook
Note: this is for a 15" TiBook. You may have to alter the MetaModes and CloneMode values according to your notebook. This should work with any ATI based *book.
This configuration creates mirroring. A dual-extended display is perhaps possible.
Edit your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file as specified below. Connect your second display.
Then press Ctrl+Alt+Backspace [Delete key] to restart X.
Your second display will then turn on.
You'll have to unplug the second display, and restart X again to revert back.
Section "Device" Identifier "ATI Technologies Inc Radeon R250 [Mobility FireGL 9000]" Driver "ati" BusID "PCI:0:16:0" #Option "UseFBDev" "true" Option "AGPMode" "4" Option "AGPFastWrite" "true" Option "EnablePageFlip" "true" Option "RenderAccel" "true" Option "AccelMethod" "exa" Option "backingstore" Option "UseFWPLL" "true" Option "MergedFB" "true" Option "CRT2Position" "Clone" Option "MetaModes" "1280x854 1024x768 800x600" Option "CloneMode" "1280x854" EndSection
How do I control trackpad behaviour?
Install the package
powerpc-utils
To enable tap, run:
trackpad tap
to disable tap, run:
trackpad notap
see
man trackpad
for more details.
3D drivers, Beryl, Compiz
There are no official ATI nor Nvidia 3D drivers for PPC Linux. Neither company has developed any, nor released hardware specs to create a good open source driver. However, the current open source developed ati driver works well for most ATI chips, and has somewhat stable 3D support.
You do not need to download drivers from nvidia or ati's website. (There aren't any there for PPC Linux.) Currently, PPC Linux uses drivers which are built into the Linux kernel.
For ATI chips, make sure that your /etc/X11/xorg.conf has the driver specified as 'ati' or 'radeon' specifically for Radeon cards.
For Nvidia chips, make sure your /etc/X11/xorg.conf has the driver specified as 'nv'.
There is no DRM under PPC Linux for Nvidia chips, unfortunately.
The Nouveou project http://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/ hopes to have 3D drivers for Nvidia very soon.
Beryl/Compiz should work under PPC Linux, assuming you have stable ATI drivers and good 3D going. Some ATI cards do not work well with 3D in PPC Linux, and others (particularly the recent iBooks/Powerbooks) seem to have very good results.
To test if your 3D is working (required for beryl or compiz), type:
glxinfo
in a terminal and look for "direct rendering: Yes" in the output, as well as a listing of glx extensions. You should be able to run glxgears to test that 3D is working:
glxgears
Beryl/Compiz tips:
Right click on the Beryl Manager, and pick Advanced Beryl Options>Rendering Path>Copy
And for Select Window Manager> Pick Compiz. Selecting Beryl makes the Beryl Manager crash and resort to the fall back window manager for some.
You may have to possibly add the following to the drivers section of your /etc/X11/xorg.conf:
Option "DRI" "true" Option "GARTSize" "64" Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "true"
This page has tips for ATI Radeon users:
http://www.howtoforge.com/ubuntu_feisty_beryl_ati_radeon
And here is the Feisty Beryl Wiki with PPC Linux info:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BerylOnFeisty
Sharing a printer with OS X
OS X can print directly to a Linux cups printer. There is no need to mess with samba or create users. To share your Linux cups printer with other OS X machines, simply replace your /etc/cups/cupsd.conf with the cupsd.conf file below, then restart cups (sudo /etc/init.d/cupsys restart).
Note: This is not PowerPC Linux specific and will work for any Ubuntu computer.
# /etc/cups/cupsd.conf # Simple CUPS configuration file for a print server # which serves printers within a private local area network. # - There is no need for additional security within the print server, ie only authorized # people can access the machine. # This setup also allows access to the CUPS "Administrative tasks" system # via your web browser to http://localhost:631 # File based on Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger) (Linux version 2.6.12-10-386) # Server Directives are explained in http://localhost:631/sam.html # 25/04/2006 # DavidTangye@netscape.net ConfigFilePerm 0600 LogLevel info Printcap /var/run/cups/printcap RunAsUser Yes Port 631 Include cupsd-browsing.conf BrowseAddress @LOCAL BrowseAddress 10.0.0.0/8 BrowseAddress 172.16.0.0/12 BrowseAddress 192.168.0.0/16 <Location /> AuthType None Order Deny,Allow Deny From All Allow From @LOCAL Allow From 10.0.0.0/8 Allow From 172.16.0.0/12 Allow From 192.168.0.0/16 </Location> <Location /jobs> AuthType None Order Deny,Allow Deny From All Allow From @LOCAL Allow From 10.0.0.0/8 Allow From 172.16.0.0/12 Allow From 192.168.0.0/16 </Location> <Location /printers> AuthType None Order Deny,Allow Deny From All Allow From @LOCAL Allow From 10.0.0.0/8 Allow From 172.16.0.0/12 Allow From 192.168.0.0/16 </Location> <Location /admin> AuthType None Order Deny,Allow Deny From All Allow From @LOCAL Allow From 10.0.0.0/8 Allow From 172.16.0.0/12 Allow From 192.168.0.0/16 </Location>
Troubleshooting
After logging in I get a blank brown screen?
This could be caused by a number of problems.
Clock set before 1970. See ["UbuntuDateBug"]
- Sound problems
- Press CTRL+ALT+F1. Log in at the text terminal, if needed. Type
killall esd
- Press CTRL+ALT+F1. Log in at the text terminal, if needed. Type
How do I get Ubuntu working on an iMac G3?
Do you get a blank screen after booting? The problem is that xorg.conf is not set up properly for the iMac G3.
Follow these steps to fix xorg.conf:
After booting is complete:
Type: ctrl-option-F1 (should give you a command prompt, may take a couple of tries)
Type: sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf (return)
In the Monitors section, change "HorizSync" to 58-62 and "VertRefresh" to 75-117.
- Disable DRI. In the the Modules section, put a hash mark (#) at the beginning of the line containing "load dri".
Type: ctrl-O (return) to write edited file
Type: ctrl-X to exit nano back to command line
Type: sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart (return) to restart Gnome. (In Dapper and Edgy, the restart command is broken. Use sudo killall -HUP gdm instead.)
What about WINE, ndiswrapper, Adobe Flash 9?
Wine and ndiswrapper require x86 hardware, and therefore will not work on PowerPC hardware. Adobe does not make flash for PPC Linux, but there are open source alternatives for PPC Linux users.
What is Mac-On-Linux?
http://mac-on-linux.sourceforge.net/
Mac on Linux (sudo apt-get install mol) will let you boot up the OS X partition of a dual boot system, inside Linux. It is not software-emulated, so the actual speed is very fast. MOL currently only works on pre-G5 processors. It has not been ported to work on G5 processors yet, but a proper ppc64 port may be in the works.
How can I configure and compile my own kernel under PowerPC Linux?
How to compile your own kernel. Useful to enable a low-latency kernel for audio work, or to have a recent kernel from kernel.org.
1. Fetch a kernel from http://www.kernel.org (The "F" link at the top right is the stable kernel) and save to your home directory.
2. Open a terminal, and type
$ sudo -s
to get a root shell. Install the dev tools needed, if you haven't already:
$ apt-get install build-essential ncurses-base ncurses-dev
3. Then change to the linux source directory
$ cd /usr/src
4. Move the kernel you downloaded from your home directory to /usr/src
$ mv /home/[your username]/linux-2.6.21.1.tar.bz2 /usr/src/
5. Unpack the kernel sources:
$ tar -xvjf linux-2.6.21.1.tar.bz2
6. Make a link to the new kernel like this:
$ ln -sfn linux-2.6.21.1 linux
7. Change to the new directory
$ cd linux/
8. Now time to make a default kernel configuration.
For G5 machines, type:
$ make g5_defconfig
For all other macs, including G4 machines, type:
$ make pmac32_defconfig
9. When that is done, type
$ make menuconfig
And now navigate around to enable other options that you may need. (Ex: wireless drivers, tvcards, low-latency kernel, etc.) If you don't enable what you need, you won't have it! Press space bar once to enable support as a module <M>. This is generally desired over built-in modules <*> in most cases. If you forget something, you can always go back to this step later and recompile your kernel.
Suggestions for a low-latency audio kernel:
Kernel Options>Timer Frequency>1000 HZ
Kernel Options>Preemption Model>(X) Preemptible Kernel (Low-Latency Desktop)
Wireless support:
Networking>enable all IEEE 802.11 options as <M> module
Airport and Airport Extreme support:
Device Drivers>Network device support>Wireless LAN (non-hamradio)><M>Broadcom BCM43xx wireless support
Device Drivers>Network device support>Wireless LAN (non-hamradio)><M>Apple Airport support (built-in)
as well as enabling other wireless drivers as needed. If unsure of your wifi chipset, just enable all wireless drivers in this section.
Then when you are finished, keep hitting ESC to exit and say 'Yes' you want to save.
10. Now type
$ make && make modules_install
to compile everything. If you have a dual processor, type
$ make -j4 && make modules_install
to use both CPUs to compile this in less time.
11. Ok you have a compiled kernel. Now you must add it to the bootloader in order to boot from it.
In the terminal, first back up your working bootable kernel:
$ cd /boot
$ mv vmlinux vmlinux.old
Now copy the new kernel there.
$ cp /usr/src/linux/vmlinux /boot/vmlinux
$ cp /usr/src/linux/System.map /boot/System.map
12. Now edit yaboot. Change the line initrd to the new image, /boot/vmlinux
$ nano /etc/yaboot.conf
## yaboot.conf generated by the Ubuntu installer ## ## run: "man yaboot.conf" for details. Do not make changes until you have!! ## see also: /usr/share/doc/yaboot/examples for example configurations. ## ## For a dual-boot menu, add one or more of: ## bsd=/dev/hdaX, macos=/dev/hdaY, macosx=/dev/hdaZ boot=/dev/sda2 device=/ht@0,f2000000/pci@5/k2-sata-root@c/k2-sata@0/disk@0: partition=3 root=/dev/sda3 timeout=100 install=/usr/lib/yaboot/yaboot magicboot=/usr/lib/yaboot/ofboot enablecdboot enableofboot enablenetboot macosx=/dev/sda5 #defaultos=macosx image=/boot/vmlinux label=Linux read-only initrd=/boot/vmlinux # initrd=/boot/initrd.img append="quiet splash" image=/boot/vmlinux.old label=old read-only initrd=/boot/initrd.img.old append="quiet splash"
13. Cntl-X and save. Now write the changes to the boot partition.
$ ybin -v
14. Reboot, and you will boot into your new kernel.
Where can I get more help?
One of the best places for Ubuntu PowerPC help is in the [http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=133 forum]
PowerPCFAQ (last edited 2021-06-10 03:07:53 by guiverc)