OK, before I continue I’ll warn you I haven’t completed this post. I will when I get round to it (a time consuming business is installing stuff not designed for what you are installing it on to) but hopefully some of the information will be useful to someone.
My set up is:
Apple Powerbook G4 | Machine Model PowerBook5,2 | Build 8L127
Which versions of Ubuntu work on my Powerbook G4?
I have drawn up this simple table to show which versions of Ubuntu I have had success with and which I have not. I plan to add my findings relating to wireless internet, bcm43xx, and other mods for keyboard and the like as soon as I have worked them out.
This is only for my specific machine. It may not be the same for you. For more reference, see here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Linux_distributions#Architecture_support and here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_%28Linux_distribution%29#Releases
Problem Booting Powerbook G4 Using Ubuntu Live CD
I had trouble getting Ubuntu and Kubuntu 6.06, 6.10 and 7.04 on my Powerbook G4 to boot correctly using either of the two following suggested commands:
live
Or
live video=ofonly
After some reading I found this post at http://robrohan.com/2007/12/10/moving-from-mac-to-ubuntu/ which helped and on my Powerbook G4 (Machine Model PowerBook5,2) the following works well across all version to boot from the live CD:
live resolution=1024x768 vga=795
Of course I assume that this will work for any Powerbook G4, and in fact any machine as long as the resolution and vga values match those of your machine.
Error Messages - e.g
Booting then worked fine with 6.06, 6.10 and 7.04 (7.10 on a Powerbook G4 fails to boot completely - see here) and everything started fine, but I then got 9 pop-up alerts when I got to the desktop:
- Sorry, the program “bonobo-activation-serve” closed unexpectedly.
- Nautilus can’t be used now due to an unexpected error.
- The panel encountered a problem while loading “OAFIID:GNOME_ClockAplet”.
- The panel encountered a problem while loading “OAFIID:GNOME_NotificationAreaAplet”.
- The panel encountered a problem while loading “OAFIID:GNOME_ShowDesktopAplet”.
- The panel encountered a problem while loading “OAFIID:GNOME_MixerAplet”.
- The panel encountered a problem while loading “OAFIID:GNOME_WorkspaceSwitcherAplet”.
- The panel encountered a problem while loading “OAFIID:GNOME_WindowListAplet”.
- The panel encountered a problem while loading “OAFIID:GNOME_Panel_TrashAplet”.
I tried versions 6.06 and 6.10 of both Ubuntu and Kubuntu but still had the same errors. After a lot of reading I found this post http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=353378 which showed similar problems and then this post http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=244685&highlight=hwclock which solved my problem completely. It turns out that if your internal battery is dead and /or your system clock has reset (my Powerbook had been turned off and not charging for nearly a year..), GNOME applications will not work correctly and display the errors I have been seeing.
This is relatively easy to solve, and I first tried:
date mmddhhmmyyyy
This works fine after logging out and loggin back in but of course this needs to be entered again after every time the computer is shut down. A more permanent solution I found in the second link is:
hwclock -w
date mmddhhmmyyyy
Finally, set the hardware clock again:
hwclock -w
This worked great for me and I have shut down, restarted and used my Powerbook both plugged in to mains power and from the battery with no more system clock problems. Many thanks to Ubuntu forum users Javahead and DirtDawg respectively.
Wireless Internet / Airport - Card BCM43xx
Curse this wireless card.
I have been following the instructions on https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/bcm43xx/Feisty after a fresh install of Feisty.
I could not for the life of me get wireless working, although I could connect my network and use WPA after following the above.
So I then tried step 4 of the above link (Configuration Of WPA) despite it telling me that I did not need to do this. I did it anyway and still nothing. Before at least I could see my network and connect to it by clicking on the network image on the top bar, but now there is no wireless network showing up. Hmm..
I then restarted, deleted the /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf file I had just created, deleted the following line I had added to /etc/network/interfaces:
auto ethX
iface ethX inet dhcp
wireless-essid <your accesspoints essid>
wpa-driver wextwpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
I then reinstalled the bcm43xx (I got from here http://packages.ubuntu.com/feisty/utils/bcm43xx-fwcutter) and wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.o (I got here http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.o) then:
sudo modprobe bcm43xx
iwconfig
sudo iwlist ethX scan
Wireless worked. No restart, no log out. Interesting to note that when I have done this before, on typing
iwconfig
my Bit Rate has always been 1 Mb/s (despite trying to change this in /etc/interface/network as shown here) and my Nickname has always been the say as my network name (my ESSID).
I now get:
IEEE 802.11b/g ESSIS:”my network name” Nickname:”Broadcom 4306″
Mode:Managed Frequency=2.437 GHz Access Point: 00:15:E9:CF:BD:92
Bit Rate:11 Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm
RTS thr:off Fragment thr=off
Link Quality=58/100 Signal level=-65 dBm Noise level=-69dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:3 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
On looking in /etc/network/interface, this is what I now have:
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp
auto eth1
iface eth1 inet dhcp
auto eth2
iface eth2 inet dhcpauto ath0
iface ath0 inet dhcpauto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
Hmm… I have put nothing I have read to add in there, but did I have that bottom line before when I have tried this?
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
I wish I could remember, maybe it would be of use.
Immediately the wireless started working I got a prompt to upgrade software which I am currently doing in the hope than when I restart I will still have wireless connection.
- On Log out then Log In (no restart)I still have connection.
- On restart I am back to where I was before. In the top bar network menu I can see my wireless network again, I am asked for a WPA key when I try to connect (this is right) but then my computer cannot connect to the network.
Frustrating.
My /etc/network/interface file is the same.
And on typing iwconfig, my data rate is back to 1 Mb/s, although my Nickname is still Broadcom 4306. Also, my Access Point is invalid
If i run iwconfig while connecting to the network (after entering WPA and while connecting) I get the results I had before.
Interesting…
But on reinstalling as I did before, nothing… This is frustrating. I don’t know how what happened before happened and is not now.
Not specifying a Network Name (ESSID) defaults you to wireless roaming.
If you choose wireless roaming you need to select the network (which shows up) from the top bar network icon.
If you don’t select a network, you get an access point but 1mb/s data rate and no internet connection. down gives you ifdown: interface eth1 not configured and up gives you Ignoring unknown interface eth1=eth1.
I then selected my wirelessnetwprk and entered my WPA password. The network seemed to connect and showed signal, but I have also tried entering false passwords, and these work too connecting in the same way. Datarate was first 11mb/s and access point is valid but then on trying firefox this dropped to 11mb/s and access point became invalid. Even after sudo ifdown eth1 sudo ifup eth1 which return ifdown: interface eth1 not configured and Ignoring unknown interface eth1=eth1 respectively still on 1mb/s.
If you choose static ip you get 11m after sudo ifdown eth1 sudo ifup eth1 but would not connect to internet and had no where to enter WPA.
Using DHCP showed an access point and 11M after sudo ifdown eth1 sudo ifup eth1 but would not connect to internet and had no where to enter WPA.
in etc/network/interfaces you need to have an entry :eth1 for sudo ifup eth1 to work.
you can’t do ifdown if ifup has not been done
just put nothing, it works!!