PowerPCFAQ

Revision 19 as of 2007-05-04 23:30:20

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This is work in progress see http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=377978

Many more general questions have answers at ["CommonQuestions"]

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 official supported PowerPC version of Ubuntu. Future version 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 official supported. Future versions may not be on all mirrors. Feisty disk images can be found at http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/feisty/release/ .

Mirrors

Most ubuntu mirrors no longer have powerpc disks. 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 disks 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 disks are at http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/ports/releases/7.04/release/

Edubuntu disks are at http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/edubuntu/ports/releases/feisty/release/

There do not appear to be xubuntu disks for feisty final, but there are feisty beta disks. 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 disk

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.

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.

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.

For flash video, use a bookmark from http://1024k.de/bookmarklets/video-bookmarklets.html to download the .flv flash video file from youtube. 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.

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

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 in your Gnome session, press Ctrl-Alt-F1 and login at that terminal, issuing 

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart

to restart X. Your second display will then turn on. Press Ctrl-Alt-F7 if it does not bring you back to your X session.

You'll have to unplug the second display, and restart gdm 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.

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

      and press enter. Press CTRL+ALT+F7 to return to the desktop. Go to Gnome's Sound Prefs and uncheck the 'ESD' box.

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:

  1. Type: ctrl-option-F1 (should give you a command prompt, may take a couple of tries)

  2. Type: sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf (return)

  3. In the Monitors section, change "HorizSync" to 58-62 and "VertRefresh" to 75-117.

  4. Disable DRI. In the the Modules section, put a hash mark (#) at the beginning of the line containing "load dri".

  5. Type: ctrl-O (return) to write edited file

  6. Type: ctrl-X to exit nano back to command line

  7. 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.)

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]