Ubuntu on PowerPC iBook G4

[Josh22799]

Hello,

Everything seemed to be working out fine the other day. Everything was updating nicely and the machine was wired into my network switch while it was doing so. WiFi was installed eventualy, but I had to wait for a whole load of updates to install.

Since the machine doesent know it has a battery, it shut off half way through installing updates and now when I log in to the machine, everything is missing and it prompts me to do a partial upgrade. I would, but the buttons are missing from the window.

I am looking to fix this instead of reinstalling. Reinstalling being my last resort due to the drive reading CD's extremely slow.

Thanks in advance for help. Also, thanks to everyone who has helped so far. I wouldn't be here without you!

[este.el.paz]

Josh:

Best practice--keep the unit plugged in while doing upgrades. Can you get to a console? If so, use it to run:

sudo apt-get update

Let it run through the list until it returns to a prompt:

sudo apt-get upgrade

Apt should either run whatever hasn't been upgraded, or tell you something about it . . . if it doesn't work, post back.

e...

[Josh22799]

Hi,

The problem has seemed to have fixed itself after I left it to update. But when one problem is fixed, several more come to my attention. One of them being that the machine is lacking required drivers for many functions such as sound.

I also need to get the drivers so that the machine can be used as a laptop. But I cant seem to find any way to get them.

I hope to get it working properly so that I can deploy it into a environment where it will be frequently used. I just brought a new battery for it a few weeks ago and would hate to see it go to waste due to it not knowing how to power manage for a battery.

Thanks alot for your help so far, I greatly appreciate it.

[este.el.paz]

Hi,

One of them being that the machine is lacking required drivers for many functions such as sound.

I also need to get the drivers so that the machine can be used as a laptop. But I cant seem to find any way to get them.

it not knowing how to power manage for a battery.

Sounds like you've installed 14.04?? That is a "known issue" . . . and there should be data on how to fix your sound and possibly power management issues in the "PowerPCFAQ" . . . there are some threads on the forum here "How to get sound in 14.04?" . . . . Some iBooks are "easy" to get sound back, and others require a bit more effort . . . . If you google "PowerPCFAQ" as I did a few days ago, the top three hits should give you the FAQ, the Known Issues page, . . . and something else.

e..

[Josh22799]

Hi,

I have been looking through there but haven't found certain answers to my specific problems. But did figure out how to fix my battery problem... Well. Sorta, The battery doesent know when I take the charger out and always thinks its fully charged when it isn't.

I currently cant use my CD/DVD drive, sound and c̶a̶n̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶c̶l̶o̶s̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶l̶i̶d̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶p̶e̶r̶l̶y̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶u̶n̶i̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶o̶n̶.̶ (Fixed)
Also, I am having problems with my touch pad. After about 10 minutes of use, the touch pad freezes up and fails to function. I believe it thinks there is a finger on it when there isn't. But I am not totally sure.

Currently, I have 12.04 installed on my iBook. I didn't know that 14.04 was available for the PPC G4 processor... Would it work with 768 MB of RAM?

Thanks

[este.el.paz]

My touchpad on my iBook died a few years back, you could apparently buy the part of the case that holds the touchpad on ebay . . . but, question is is it worth it? Otherwise I did have some touchpad problems in my MBPro and the best I did was to check the box on "disable touchpad while typing" and that seemed to clean up problems I was having . . . possibly the speed is turned up ***too high** or sensitivity . . . and just holding your hand over it is giving inputs, etc???

12.04 is one of the best OSs for PPC going, pretty well worked out, I'd be more inclined to look at hardware issues than software . . . and sure, 14.04 runs fine on my iBook with 646MB RAM . . . but 14.04 is a little more "glitchy" for PPC . . . usually no sound right out of the box, dragging windows is jaggy . . . but, it works . . . .

e....