PowerPC Linux Despair < scream >

[Dieter]

Hi out there - and apologies for not posting a specific question with
helpful logs and stuff - but I am going out of my head trying to get a
nice workable Linux dist going on (at least one of) my Macs. I freely
admit I am NOT a computer graduate (I'm a mutilple graduate but of the
vaguer arts type) but I did once managed to persuade Debian Slink to
run on an SE/30, and Woody.r1 to run on an 7300, and Woody.r2 (with
Ben's special ISO) to run on my Windtunnel G4 ... BUT ... whenever I
try to get X windows going, I get "no screens" and a whole host of 'not
founds'. There's instructions for a 'bug report' there too, but I'm
sure it's just me stuffing up somewhere along the line.

Am I going wrong at the PCI:xx:xx:xx stage? I run 'lspci' (and
struggle with the hex) but I'm not sure what I'm really looking for,
and the format of the stuff tends to be xx:xx.x, which doesn't readily
translate to xx:xx:xx...

I've tried Mandrake, Yellow Dog, Gentoo ... there's always something
that goes wrong. Are there really people out there for whom Linux does
what it's told, with printing and all that 'normal' stuff?

So, my request is this: is there some infintely patient tolerant soul
out these who can help me untangle what I'm doing wrong?? I'm quite
prepared to follow instructions, and post useful logs - if only I know
what's useful to post!

Oh dear, all this makes me feel like a confused child ...

Dieter

[Jochen Rollwagen]

Post by Dieter
I've tried Mandrake, Yellow Dog, Gentoo ... there's always something
that goes wrong. Are there really people out there for whom Linux does
what it's told, with printing and all that 'normal' stuff?

Well, after some tweaking and fiddling, sure :-). Which Version of
yellowdog do you use ? I used 2.2, 2.3 and 3.0 and always got X
working.

Post by Dieter
So, my request is this: is there some infintely patient tolerant soul
out these who can help me untangle what I'm doing wrong?? I'm quite
prepared to follow instructions, and post useful logs - if only I know
what's useful to post!
Oh dear, all this makes me feel like a confused child ...

1. Calm down
2. You obviously have Console working. That should be helpful !
3. What Graphics card do you use ?
4. Enter 'dmesg' and look for the section where it detects your
graphics card. Is that correct ?
5. Look at /etc/X11/XFree86.log (or something like that).
6. Try to run Xautoconfig (should be in /usr/X11R6/bin) and see what
happens.

Post by Dieter
Dieter

[Dieter]

Post by Jochen Rollwagen

Post by Dieter
I've tried Mandrake, Yellow Dog, Gentoo ... there's always something
that goes wrong. Are there really people out there for whom Linux does
what it's told, with printing and all that 'normal' stuff?

Well, after some tweaking and fiddling, sure :-). Which Version of
yellowdog do you use ? I used 2.2, 2.3 and 3.0 and always got X
working.

Post by Dieter
So, my request is this: is there some infintely patient tolerant soul
out these who can help me untangle what I'm doing wrong?? I'm quite
prepared to follow instructions, and post useful logs - if only I know
what's useful to post!
Oh dear, all this makes me feel like a confused child ...

1. Calm down
2. You obviously have Console working. That should be helpful !
3. What Graphics card do you use ?
4. Enter 'dmesg' and look for the section where it detects your
graphics card. Is that correct ?
5. Look at /etc/X11/XFree86.log (or something like that).
6. Try to run Xautoconfig (should be in /usr/X11R6/bin) and see what
happens.

Post by Dieter
Dieter

Hi Jochen, and thanks for your reply.

Graphics card on my Windtunnel G4 is a ATI Radeon 9000, but it's harder
to say exactly what card is on the earlier PowerPCs, because as I
understand it it's not really a 'card' but my best guess is AAPL
343S1154 (this is a 7300/200)

As far as YDL is concerned I've tried 2.2, 2.3 and lastly 3.0.1.

I got somewhere with 3.0.1, but a flickery display, and an ill-fitting
resolution (there was only one resolution to 'choose') which left me
with an un-centred screen which hardly contained anything. Even though
I specified Gnome to install, it gave me KDE.

I've kept the /etc/X11/XFree86.logs - because that's where I've had
trouble with Debian. The last attempt (on the 7300) gave me this (at
the end)

Symbol fbPictureInit from module
/usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/fbdev_drv.o is unresolved!

Fatal server error:
Caught signal 11. Server aborting

However, I haven't tried running Xautoconfig, so perhaps that will help
me out.

Thanks

Dieter

[Thomas Jahns]

Post by Dieter
Graphics card on my Windtunnel G4 is a ATI Radeon 9000, but it's harder
to say exactly what card is on the earlier PowerPCs, because as I
understand it it's not really a 'card' but my best guess is AAPL
343S1154 (this is a 7300/200)

7300 has builtin graphics that's called control. There is a framebuffer
driver (controlfb) for linux but no native X driver because control does
not offer any graphics acceleration.

Thomas Jahns

[Jochen Rollwagen]

Post by Dieter
I got somewhere with 3.0.1, but a flickery display, and an ill-fitting
resolution (there was only one resolution to 'choose') which left me
with an un-centred screen which hardly contained anything. Even though
I specified Gnome to install, it gave me KDE.

That's a known bug. Just open the file /etc/sysconfig/desktop and
replace the line DESKTOP=KDE with DESKTOP=GNOME.

[huh]

Post by Jochen Rollwagen

Post by Dieter
I got somewhere with 3.0.1, but a flickery display, and an ill-fitting
resolution (there was only one resolution to 'choose') which left me
with an un-centred screen which hardly contained anything. Even though
I specified Gnome to install, it gave me KDE.

That's a known bug. Just open the file /etc/sysconfig/desktop and
replace the line DESKTOP=KDE with DESKTOP=GNOME.

Thanks for that one Jochen, and nic clean solution! I'll give YDL
another go, and see if I can't get to the next stage ...

[Dieter]

Post by Jochen Rollwagen

Post by Dieter
I got somewhere with 3.0.1, but a flickery display, and an ill-fitting
resolution (there was only one resolution to 'choose') which left me
with an un-centred screen which hardly contained anything. Even though
I specified Gnome to install, it gave me KDE.

That's a known bug. Just open the file /etc/sysconfig/desktop and
replace the line DESKTOP=KDE with DESKTOP=GNOME.

I did that. It made no difference. Selecting Gnome in the log window
similarly has no effect. No flickers this time, but still a small
uncentered display that does not relate to the the installation
display.

One more try?? Any other suggestions ??

Dieter

[Jochen Rollwagen]

Post by Dieter

Post by Jochen Rollwagen

Post by Dieter
I got somewhere with 3.0.1, but a flickery display, and an ill-fitting
resolution (there was only one resolution to 'choose') which left me
with an un-centred screen which hardly contained anything. Even though
I specified Gnome to install, it gave me KDE.

That's a known bug. Just open the file /etc/sysconfig/desktop and
replace the line DESKTOP=KDE with DESKTOP=GNOME.

I did that. It made no difference. Selecting Gnome in the log window
similarly has no effect. No flickers this time, but still a small
uncentered display that does not relate to the the installation
display.
One more try?? Any other suggestions ??
Dieter

Well,

the problem seems to be the internam video. If the 7300 has PCI slots
(it should), you could get a cheapo PCI card, preferrably an ATI (I
never had problems with an Mach64 XClaim 3d+, an ATI Rage128 and a
Radeon). They are recognized and configured correctly by XFree.

Assuming you live in Germany you could try

www.macverkauf.de or www.gebrauchtmac.de. PCI Cards go for about 50
Euros.

[Dieter]

Post by Jochen Rollwagen

Post by Dieter

Post by Jochen Rollwagen

Post by Dieter
I got somewhere with 3.0.1, but a flickery display, and an ill-fitting
resolution (there was only one resolution to 'choose') which left me
with an un-centred screen which hardly contained anything. Even though
I specified Gnome to install, it gave me KDE.

That's a known bug. Just open the file /etc/sysconfig/desktop and
replace the line DESKTOP=KDE with DESKTOP=GNOME.

I did that. It made no difference. Selecting Gnome in the log window
similarly has no effect. No flickers this time, but still a small
uncentered display that does not relate to the the installation
display.
One more try?? Any other suggestions ??
Dieter

Well,
the problem seems to be the internam video. If the 7300 has PCI slots
(it should), you could get a cheapo PCI card, preferrably an ATI (I
never had problems with an Mach64 XClaim 3d+, an ATI Rage128 and a
Radeon). They are recognized and configured correctly by XFree.
Assuming you live in Germany you could try
www.macverkauf.de or www.gebrauchtmac.de. PCI Cards go for about 50
Euros.

I notice there's suport for an ATI Rage 128 amongst that 'other' list
of kernel modules. Could be interesting (I have 2 free PCI slots on
the 7300/200). I think that G4 may be too new (and we all know how
helpful Apple aren't in providing data to Open Source poeple!)

Thanks Jochen

Dieter