HOW TO: Install Lucid on an iBook g4 1.3 Ghz 12"

[sha.goyjo]

MAJOR EDIT:

Sorry folks. I no longer have this iBook (it exploded) so I really can't field any further questions about it. If you have updates that you would like included in the howto please PM me and I'll make certain that they go in at the top.

/EDIT

Hello folks. Sorry this took me so long, but I was fiddling with trying to get KMS working for about a week till I realized that it was probably broken and decided to drop it and use userspace DRI. Lo and behold, it was faster than I think I've ever gotten out of this model before. I'm aware that KMS supposedly supports the Mobility Radeon chip in this machine, but until I can find an easy way to get it to work, I'm probably going to stick with UMS. That being said, if anybody can get KMS working, I'd LOVE to change the tutorial around a bit.

That being said, I'd like to take a moment to address a few things. This is not a tutorial for all iBooks, or all PPC Macs for Lucid. I cannot stress enough that your mileage may vary, and you should not hold me responsible for your individual situation. That being said, I have tried to be careful not to make any mistakes in my command strings, and if there are any mistakes or questions, I would be happy to deal with them quickly and efficiently.

So, here we go. Enjoy.

EDITED 6/3/2010:
Added a few new lines in the xorg.conf section. Also commented on the removable disk drive bug.
EDITED 8/13/2010:
Fixed a typo in the last apt-get line.


1. Install the system.

First things first, press the power button, and then insert the Ubuntu 10.04 PowerPC Desktop Live CD. Hold down the "C" key as you do this. Holding down the "C" key causes the system to boot from the inserted disk. If you miss it the first time, you can always shut off the computer and try it again. Regardless, you should hold down the button until you get to a prompt that asks you to input the boot options. I very much advise you to boot with the options

live video=radeonfb:1024x768-24@60 radeon.modeset=0

Because when you install the system this will be automatically added to the yaboot.conf. Not a huge issue, since we're going to have to change that file later anyways, but it'll save you about 12 seconds of typing and about a week of confusion if you are as stupid as I am.

Other than that, this part is fairly standard for PPC systems. Select your language and time zone. Select use entire disk, choose user options, let run. Make sure to leave "install boot loader" in the advanced options checked. When you are done, reboot the system using the live cd (do not hard reboot with the power button), and after it ejects the cd, press the enter key to finish rebooting the system.

2. Clean up after the installer.

First things first. Before the system explodes from overheating, go into the terminal and code the following

$sudo modprobe therm_adt746x
$sudo apt-get update
$sudo apt-get install cpudyn

(Thanks to dmillard10 for reminding me to update repos ::slaps own hand:
Contrary to the ubuntu powerpc known issues page, cpudyn works just fine on this machine, scaling the processor well with no additional configuration. Maybe it's a little heavier than powernowd, but i still can't get that program to work as well as cpudyn. If someone can give me confirmed working instructions for using powernowd in this situation, I'd be happy to put it here as an alternative.

Now that you have prevented immediate overheating, you should prevent it in the future. In order to do so you need to make sure that the fan module is loaded during boot.

$sudo gedit /etc/modules

In the file that opens, at the end add the line

therm_adt746x

And, while you are at it, remove the erroneous duplicate line

snd-powermac

Which is just silly. snd-powermac will be re-written by modprobe as snd_powermac, so there is no point to having it twice in the file. Save the file and close up.

Now that you have prevented the imminent and future heat death of your system, it is time to move on.

3. Installing Wireless drivers.

I advise doing this in the terminal, as I've had jockey wuss out on me a couple of times now. Use this command.

#sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter

Should do the trick just fine. Make sure to say yes when it asks you the important question. You know, the question the program was designed for. The question about whether or not you want it to fetch the firmware.

Yes, I'm an ***. I just don't know anyone who uses b43-fwcutter to cut firmware locally. Okay, I promise, I'm done with my rant now.
Please note that I've attached a 7z of the firmware folders. The uncompressed folders can be placed in /lib/firmware for the same effect.

4. Compiling a new kernel.

Why compile a new kernel, you ask? Well, a number of reasons. First off, because I want the best support for everything. Second of all, this system gets loads better performance if you install the PostFactum Kernel patch set. Although it takes a little work, it's worth it.

first, you need an up to date 2.6.34 kernel from kernel.org. Second, you need the PostFactum patch set 2.6.34-1 (as of now), which you can get from the postfactum site, or on softpedia. Get superuser rights, and copy them both into /usr/src. Then open a terminal and CD into that directory

Now, follow my lead

$sudo su
#apt-get install patch kernel-package libncurses5-dev
#tar -xjf linux-2.6.34.tar.bz2
#bunzip2 patch-2.6.34-pf1.bz2
#ln -s linux-2.6.34 Linux
#cd Linux
#patch -p1 < ../patch-2.6.34-pf1
#cp /boot/config-'uname -r' ./.config
#make oldconfig

(Thanks to crazyphysicist and jbwilliams for finding my typo in the patch command! )
Now, this last command will unleash a flurry of options and choices. Accept the defaults on all of them. We'll deal with fine tuning in a moment. If you want to skip all of this, I've included a pre-tuned config that you can use.

Moving on...

#make menuconfig

Now, you need to change two settings and remove two parts of the kernel. Go into kernel options and set the timer to 1000hz and the desktop to low-latency. Battery life will suffer, but speed will be snappy. Now, for the important parts. Go into device drivers-->scsi drivers-->low level scsi drivers--> and remove ALL support for the IBM Power Raid adapter. This will completely bork your kernel compile if you don't remove it.

You also need to go into device drivers-->sound and remove ALL support for the open sound system (oss), including OSS preclaim. Save yourself a lot of time and just disable the tree from the top. It doesn't hurt anything important, unless you have very special reasons for needing it.

Now, leave menuconfig, making sure to save your config file when you leave (you will be prompted, do not choose "save alternate config"). Now...

#make-kpkg clean
#make-kpkg kernel_image kernel_headers

Now, take a nap. This will take quite some time. Also, while we are here, a note. Some of you may be wondering why I didn't choose to add --initrd to the make-kpkg line. I tried. For some reason, it never got made. Ever. So I'm going to show you how to use update-initramfs instead.

Once your kernel has finished compiling, you'll need to do the following..

#dpkg -i linux-image-2.6.34-pf1_2.6.34-pf1-10.00.Custom_powerpc.deb
#dpkg -i linux-headers-2.6.34-pf1_2.6.34-pf1-10.00.Custom_powerpc.deb
#update-initramfs -c -k 2.6.34-pf1

You have now installed your custom kernel and created a new initrd.img.
Now we are ready too....

5. Edit /etc/yaboot.conf.

Please note that I've attached a yaboot.conf, which you can use instead of editing, if you like. I recommend learning how to edit your own.

We begin..

#sudo gedit /etc/yaboot.conf

You need to create a new stanza above the old stanzas, which will read like this.

image=/boot/vmlinux-2.6.34-pf1
	label=PostFactum
	read-only
	initrd=/boot/initrd.img-2.6.34-pf1
	append="quiet splash video=radeonfb:1024x768-24@60 radeon.modeset=0"

While you are at it, you might want to add

enableofboot
enablenetboot
fgcolor=black
bgcolor=white

to the configuration options at the top, if you so desire. These will max out your boot options at the first boot splash screen, and give you a nifty white yaboot. Save the /etc/yaboot.conf, and

#sudo ybin -v

And, if you've never run this command before, proceed to laugh your *** off. I don't need to tell you why. You'll see.

6. xorg.conf

I have attached a pretty damn verbose xorg.conf to the bottom of this post. I'd advise using it. Kudos to the ArchLinux folks. You guys rock. To use it, just download, decompress, and code

$sudo cp {path to xorg.conf} /etc/X11/xorg.conf

And it should be working when you restart X. If, for some reason the xorg.conf I've attached gives you trouble, use the command..

$sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

To auto-rebuild your xorg.conf. (And thanks to Praxicoide for the contrib)

Please post any rebuilt xorg.conf (that works) along with the output of

$lspci

And we can help fix the problem for anyone else.

7. All the little things.

Now for the small things. Run

$sudo apt-get install hdapsd gpmudmon-applet

(Shout out to j_anthony for spotting my typo)
in order to get yourself inertial dis
k-parking and a working battery monitor. hdapsd (disk parking) should run by default, Also, for those of you that don't know, Medibuntu is done actively supporting PowerPC as of Lucid, but the packages for libdvdcss2 and ppc-codecs are still available from the website. You have to get libstdc++5 from the debian package site though, although I've attached all three files for convenience.
d

$sudo dpkg -i {path to file}

To install those packages.

AND YOU'RE DONE!

As far as I know, everything works, but I know as soon as people start using this I'll be editing, so please, don't hesitate to ask me to correct things.

EDIT FOR MAJOR BUG:
I hate to do this to everybody, but there is still one major bug in lucid (which I cannot figure out). Lucid (and karmic before it) do not automount the CD's and DVD's properly via gnome-mount. You can still mount them manually (by editing your /etc/fstab and using sudo mount), or you can boot with the CD or DVD in in order to mount it. Please note this does not affect CD or DVD playback, as both totem and vlc can run without mounting the disks.

Jason

[Praxicoide]

I just installed Lucid in an iBook G4 using your How-to. I can't thank you enough, especially for including the necessary packages.

The xorg was blurry using the parameters given here, but performing dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg fixed it. I don't know if this is a different G4 or what.

Thank you once again.

[sha.goyjo]

I just installed Lucid in an iBook G4 using your How-to. I can't thank you enough, especially for including the necessary packages.

The xorg was blurry using the parameters given here, but performing dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg fixed it. I don't know if this is a different G4 or what.

Thank you once again.

Please do me a favor and make a post with your new xorg.conf attached. Also, can you explain how it was blurry? That might be helpful. If there is something definite I can work with I'd be happy to make a change to the faq.

Also, the output from

#lspci

Would let us know whether or not you have a different video card.

Thanks.

[coolcourt]

Hey thanks for this article, i am trying to install 10.04 on my G3 ibook, i d/l the alternative iso from the site. i was gonna post a thread asking for help. but im sure if i cant at least get it somewhat working from this. i can ask here or start a thread.

in a nutshell from what u wrote so far. the only thing i cant do is get to boot it in 1024 and once i install it a lot of the terminal commands end up being a pain. let alone trying to copy some files to the system and upgrading things through the shell in such a hectic enviornment lol.

have a good day and thanks for the article im off to work on it

[sha.goyjo]

Hey thanks for this article, i am trying to install 10.04 on my G3 ibook, i d/l the alternative iso from the site. i was gonna post a thread asking for help. but im sure if i cant at least get it somewhat working from this. i can ask here or start a thread.

in a nutshell from what u wrote so far. the only thing i cant do is get to boot it in 1024 and once i install it a lot of the terminal commands end up being a pain. let alone trying to copy some files to the system and upgrading things through the shell in such a hectic enviornment lol.

have a good day and thanks for the article im off to work on it

Okay, the g3 is a FUNDAMENTALLY different beast. Different video cards, so you can't use the boot options I gave. I recommend that if you want to do that you start a new thread and ask a lot of questions, and then write a new howto from that for people to use. This tutorial won't be that much help for you, beyond the very basic similarities.

[coolcourt]

Yes I plan on doing that, ill use your write up as a skeleton to maybe make a tutorial. thanks

[dmillard10]

Thanks for this!

Just as a note, I needed a

sudo aptitude update && sudo aptitude safe-upgrade

before installing anything.

I was wondering why cpudyn wasn't found anywhere and then it hit me.

Easy (at least for me) to forget after a new system install.

[crazyphysicist]

Hi, on running #patch p1 < ../patch-2.6.34-pf1
I get nothing but "HUNK Failed at..." for each entry is this supposed to happen?

[svtguy88]

Now, you need to change two settings and remove two parts of the kernel. Go into kernel options and set the timer to 1000hz and the desktop to low-latency. Battery life will suffer, but speed will be snappy.

Jason

I'm in the process of compiling my first custom kernel as I type this, and I just got done researching (and selecting) the options I wanted. The only thing that caught my eye with your setup was the low-latency desktop. Just wondering what made you enable that...everything I've read says that it is more for machines running one/few dedicated processes.

Low-latency guarantees 95% of the CPU cycles will go to your primary application. If you are running Audacity for mixing or recording music, then 95% of the CPU cycles will go to Audacity. This is helpful if you are recording a 2-hour concert directly to disk and you don't want any interrupts in recording.

The downside is that the mouse is sluggish and any other application that doesn't hook into the real-time kernel will only only get 5% of the CPU, so low-latency is not good for general desktop use. That is why you need to boot into it separate from a regular kernel.

It works well. If you run 'top' you can clearly see that 95% of the CPU goes to your primary application. Everything else gets postponed until the primary appliation is finished doing what it needs to do.

If you are doing anything "Live" such as recording, streaming to the web, or just want better video or audio editing performance then low-latency can help out. Don't expect a responsive machine otherwise for desktop use.

from http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-445198.html

[linuxopjemac]

If you are in the process of compiling kernels, maybe you could help a brother in need:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1519878

It's probably only editing one line in the source code and recompiling with the same conf file as the stock Ubuntu kernel.