Elton One

Solution:

Install X11 from your OS X install disc. The downloads from the Apple site DO NOT WORK.
If you don’t have your disc try this link for download locations of X11 that work.

I wanted to install X11 to run Eagle (a PCB layout editor) but in the past I have seen that X11 needs to be installed to run Open Office.

According to Apple:

“X11 for Mac OS X is compatible, fast, and fully integrated with Mac OS X”

From http://developer.apple.com/opensource/tools/X11.html

Hmm.. Is it now?

X11 is not installed by default with OS X although you can select to do this. Searching the Apple download site for ‘X11′ links through to this page. The install from this location DOES NOT WORK and always tells you there is a more recent version installed (which in my case there is clearly not). The 1.3 update here does the same .

To get around this luckily you can install X11 from your OS X install disc. Open the disc, scroll down and run the Optional Installs package, choosing to install only X11. I read here that installing the X11 SDK installs additional libraries so I installed this too by running X11SDK.pkg located in XCode Tools/Packages. After this to run X11 in Terminal you can type

open /Applications/Utilities/X11.app

Then launch what ever X11 application you are using. This worked fine for me!

The fact Apple has not picked up on this or rectified the problem reflects on their sustained lack of development of existing bugs and problems with their OS in favour of adding whistles and bells. And that’s why Open Source will win the day.

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

Version	Code name		Tested		Conclusion
4.10	Warty Warthog		No		NA
5.04	Hoary Hedgehog		No		NA
5.10	Breezy Badger		No		NA
6.06 LTS	Dapper Drake		Yes		Boots To GUI Desktop
6.10	Edgy Eft		Yes		Boots To GUI Desktop
7.04	Feisty Fawn		Yes		Boots To GUI Desktop
7.10	Gutsy Gibbon		Yes		Fails To Boot To GUI Desktop
8.04 LTS	Hardy Heron[55]		No		NA

 

 

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!!

I have for some time been using Transmission for downloading torrent files. I really like the application for a number of reasons; it’s simple and functional, it’s free, it’s open source and it works really well.

I have however discovered a little issue, or more a behaviour that can be counter productive on occassion. I have been using Transmission installed on a drive which contains the application and all my torrents and torrent files. This has worked fine for ages, but for some reason a while ago I opened Transmission up to find all my torrent files were still there, but had 0% downloaded (despite when I quit it last some of them were nearly complete). I couldn’t understand this, and the files themselves were the correct size, and not 0%. Very confusing. I started off the torrents again and no problem, but I did have to start again.

Then the other week, I couldn’t find Transmission. No idea what happened, possibly I deleted it when deleting torrent files. This made me think of what happened before, and I had no intention of starting some of the files I had downloading again, so I resolved to find out how I could re-install transmission but keep the torrent files in the same place and have them continue from where they left off.

Luckily enough it turns out that if you copy /User/??/Library/Application Support/Transmission and save it somewhere safe then re-install Transmission (I used to have mine in another folder and this time I installed it to Applications - everything was fine), open the application, quit it then replace the folder at /User/??/Library/Application Support/Transmission with the old one. Then re-open Transmission and everything should be back to normal.

Luuuuurvly.