Switching from Ubuntu

[Shawn H. Corey]

Hi,

I have a PowerBook G4 and I running Ubuntu 8.04 LTS.  I am not 
completely satisfied with it and I am thinking of converting to Debain.


Just how different is the 'Official CD/DVD images of the "stable" 
release'  from Ubuntu?  Does 
it use GNOME?  How hard is it to set up the internet (if I get that 
going, I can bug ask you about anything else)?


I have my /home mounted on a separate partition.  Can I easily remount 
it under Debian?  (I will make backups before I start).



--
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  Shawn

Programming is as much about organization and communication
as it is about coding.

I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.


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Re: Switching from Ubuntu

[Shawn H. Corey]

Andrzej Mendel wrote:

I'd say that if all you want is a desktop machine then stick to Ubuntu,
maybe upgrade to a newer version and see if it fixes your problems. What
exactly makes you unsatisfied? Debian uses Gnome as default (at least it
used to the last time I used it on a desktop). How do you connect to the
internet?


The worst problem seems to be that most of the graphics API was unloaded 
from the GPU.  Games that ran at 25 FPS in older versions now can do a 
frame in 2 or 3 seconds.  Not that I play many games but it effects all 
graphics.


Most of the work I've been doing was web-db.  But now I'm adding more 
and more graphics and the slow response is irritating.


I think I shall try a more recent version of Ubuntu.  And if that fails, 
perhaps I'll just rewrite the API ;)



--
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Programming is as much about organization and communication
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I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.


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Re: view flash website

[Shawn H. Corey]

Benjamin Cama wrote:
The only solution, if you want the original Adobe stuff, would be for 
them to open-source it, but I am very doubtfull about it.


The strange thing is that Adobe did open source Postscript and PDF.  Why 
don't they do Flash too?



--
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Programming is as much about organization and communication
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I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.


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Re: Switching from Ubuntu

[Shawn H. Corey]

Rogério Brito wrote:

When did this happen? During a stable release? I would think not, but,
then, I wouldn't make any assurances. :-)

I would bet that the opposite would be "the current way" that things are
going (not that I have powerful hardware---I'm still quite happy with
some 8 or 9 y.o. cards).

Anyway, Ubuntu are probably not changing things that much. The upstream
developers at Xorg probably make some major changes and those changes
are usually carried over to the distributions.


I think I shall try a more recent version of Ubuntu.  And if that
fails, perhaps I'll just rewrite the API ;)


Just grab a newer live CD of, say, karmic and see the results.


Apparent video is all buggered up.  My instincts were right, Debian is 
better:  http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=7615981#postmenu_7580152



--
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Programming is as much about organization and communication
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I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.


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Re: Fan control ?

[Shawn H Corey]

Niels S. Eliasen wrote:

hi guys

I have a small problem with my Lenny install on a TiBook(400Mhz) 
The fan is always running

And as much as I expect it to come whenever needed... Having it on even 
though you have a load of "0,00 0,00 0,01" ... is a bit too much


Any ideas ??


The obvious question: is the machine hot?  That is, is the fan running 
because it should?


If so, then the question is what is the machine doing that its CPU is 
running all the time?


If not, then what process turned on the fan and forgot to turn it off?


--
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Programming is as much about organization and communication
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I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.


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Re: Fan control ?

[Shawn H Corey]

Niels S. Eliasen wrote:

No .. it is not hot.. warm.. yes!.. but more like "warm as in 
working..." ... but hot no!


If so, then the question is what is the machine doing that its CPU is 
running all the time?
hmmm "something" is obviously running that causes this... but what 
exactly... and I tried .. just for the heck of it...
to reboot the Tibook.. and see if that would shutdown the fan... but 
no!... the fan was/is on all the time. during reboot even!


If not, then what process turned on the fan and forgot to turn it off?

exactly! but how to tell ?


Actually, I was asking those questions hoping to narrow down what was 
happening.


To find out which process is using the most CPU time, run `top`.  (To 
quit, press 'q'.)  Once you get its process id (pid), run `ps -AH` to 
see if its dependent on anything.


On the other hand, if it's running because it was forgotten, I would 
look at the power management processes.



--
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I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.


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Re: Fan control ?

[Shawn H Corey]

Niels S. Eliasen wrote:

top - 14:25:43 up 17:31,  5 users,  load average: 0.17, 0.11, 0.06
Tasks: 180 total,   1 running, 179 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
Cpu(s):  3.9%us,  1.3%sy,  0.0%ni, 94.5%id,  0.0%wa,  0.3%hi,  
0.0%si,  0.0%st

Mem:   1033084k total,   986920k used,46164k free,14912k buffers
Swap:  1380344k total,  120k used,  1380224k free,   555276k cached

  PID USER  PR  NI  VIRT  RES  SHR S %CPU %MEMTIME+  COMMAND
 2378 nse   20   0 24480  16m 5652 S  3.2  1.7   3:16.28 Xvnc4
17406 nse   20   0  3300 1424 1108 R  1.9  0.1   0:01.54 top
 2382 nse   20   0 13476 5272 2936 S  0.6  0.5   0:07.04 xterm
 2387 nse   20   0 23248  11m 7992 S  0.6  1.1   4:56.72 lxpanel
 3434 root  20   0 23356 6796 4656 S  0.6  0.7   1:10.40 Xorg
 3484 gdm   20   0 31684  17m 9.9m S  0.6  1.7   2:41.80 gdmgreeter


this is pretty standard.


So, it does look like a power management problem.  Unfortunately I don't 
know much about it.  Perhaps someone else can help.



--
Just my 0.0002 million dollars worth,
  Shawn

Programming is as much about organization and communication
as it is about coding.

I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.


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Booting from USB Drive

[Shawn H Corey]

Hi,

I have a PowerBook G4.  Is there any way to get it to boot from USB 
drive.  I can set it up but I need the correct initrd.gz to make it work.


Has anyone tried this?  Can anyone suggest a web site?


--
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  Shawn

Programming is as much about organization and communication
as it is about coding.

I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.


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Re: Booting from USB Drive

[Shawn H Corey]

Gaudenz Steinlin wrote:

AFAIK it's possible from within OpenFirmware. But there are no easy
aliases to access your USB drive. This you'll have to dig into
OpenFirmware commands. 

Probably you will also need a HFS partition with yaboot on it on your 
stick because OpenFirmware can only read from HFS.


Conclusion: While I believe it's possible in theory it's certainly not
an easy thing to do. Sorry I don't have any links ready, but I remember
that Colin Watson booted his Powerbook from a USB device.


I did before but I had the wrong initrd.gz.  It was configured to 
install from net.  It worked but not what I wanted.  I want to create a 
Live/Rescue USB pendrive.


I googled it but all of the links I found so far are for x86.  Sigh.


--
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  Shawn

Programming is as much about organization and communication
as it is about coding.

I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.


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Re: Booting from USB Drive

[Shawn H Corey]

Stefan Monnier wrote:
>> I have a PowerBook G4.  Is there any way to get it to boot from USB drive.
> 
> IIUC it depends on your "PowerBook G4".  E.g. my PowerBook 12" G4 was
> not able to boot from USB last time I tried.  But admittedly, I only
> tried using the "boot menu" rather than via OF commands.

On all of Apple's PowerPCs, you have to go thru Open Firmware to boot
from USB.  As I understand it, some of the G3s run OF only via an
external terminal :-/


-- 
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  Shawn

Programming is as much about organization and communication
as it is about coding.

I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.


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Mount error during boot

[Shawn H Corey]

Hi,

My hard disk was corrupted and I lost some of my mounts.  There was a
message about it during boot but it goes by so fast, I can't read it.  I
also don't know what log file it would be in.  How do I find it?

Techie stuff:

I running Ubuntu 9.10 on a PowerBook G4.

$ mount
/dev/hda3 on / type ext3 (rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
none on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)
none on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
none on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
none on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
/dev/hda5 on /home type ext3 (rw,relatime)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc
(rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/shawn/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon
(rw,nosuid,nodev,user=shawn)


$ uname -a
Linux mungo 2.6.31-14-powerpc #48-Ubuntu Fri Oct 16 14:11:44 UTC 2009
ppc GNU/Linux


-- 
Just my 0.0002 million dollars worth,
  Shawn

Programming is as much about organization and communication
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I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.


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Re: Bash shell hangs on lenny (powerpc)

[Shawn H Corey]

Raghavendra Uppalapati wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
>  
> 
> When I tried to run Lenny on MPC8358 powerpc based board, it hangs.
> 
> Ctrl-C, Ctrl-Z  are not working. And I cannot return  to bash shell.
> 
> Shell is not responding , but serial console  accepts characters.
> 
> Does anybody have same kind of problem. What could be the reason for
> such kind of behavior.

Have you tried Ctrl-Q?  See http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/control-Q


-- 
Just my 0.0002 million dollars worth,
  Shawn

Programming is as much about organization and communication
as it is about coding.

I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.

Eliminate software piracy:  use only FLOSS.


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Getting LXDE Debain

[Shawn H Corey]

Hi,

I'm currently running Ubuntu 9.10 on my PowerBook G4 and I'm tried of
it's flakiness and the GNOME bloat.  I found this image and I was
wondering if anyone had any experience with it.

http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/5.0.4/powerpc/iso-cd/debian-504-powerpc-xfce+lxde-CD-1.iso

Is there anything special I need to know before I start or is it like a
Ubuntu install (which I have done several times before)?


-- 
Just my 0.0002 million dollars worth,
  Shawn

Programming is as much about organization and communication
as it is about coding.

I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.

Eliminate software piracy:  use only FLOSS.


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Problems Creating A Rescue/Live USB Drive

[Shawn H Corey]

Hi,

I'm trying to create a Rescue/Live USB drive and I'm following the
instructions at
https://help.ubuntu.com/8.04/installation-guide/powerpc/boot-usb-files.html
but they don't seem right.

I took the following steps:

1. Plug in the USB drive

2. Unmount it:  sudo umount /media/usb_drive

3. Create the partitions:  sudo mac-fdisk /dev/sda
(commands not listed to save space but involve i,C,w,q)

The next step gives an error:  Mount the drive for copying the files
$ sudo hmount /dev/sda2
hmount: /dev/sda2: not a Macintosh HFS volume (Invalid argument)


Here's the partition map:

$ sudo mac-fdisk -l /dev/sda
/dev/sda
#type namelength   base(
size )  system
/dev/sda1 Apple_partition_map Apple   63 @ 1   (
31.5k)  Partition map
/dev/sda2 Apple_Bootstrap boot   2015168 @ 64
(984.0M)  NewWorld bootblock

Block size=512, Number of Blocks=2015232
DeviceType=0x0, DeviceId=0x0


What am I doing wrong?


-- 
Just my 0.0002 million dollars worth,
  Shawn

Programming is as much about organization and communication
as it is about coding.

I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.

Eliminate software piracy:  use only FLOSS.


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Where is libxfconf-0?

[Shawn H Corey]

Hi,

I have recently install Lenny with Xfce on my PowerPC.  Unfortunately,
it did not come with Suspend.  I downloaded xfce4-power-manager but it
needs libxfconf-0, which I can't find.

Does anyone know where I can get this?


-- 
Just my 0.0002 million dollars worth,
  Shawn

Programming is as much about organization and communication
as it is about coding.

I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.

Eliminate software piracy:  use only FLOSS.


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Re: Where is libxfconf-0?

[Shawn H Corey]

On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 18:59:10 +0100
Elimar Riesebieter  wrote:

> * Shawn H Corey [100326 11:46 -0400]
> > Hi,
> > 
> > I have recently install Lenny with Xfce on my PowerPC.
> > Unfortunately, it did not come with Suspend.  I downloaded
> > xfce4-power-manager but it needs libxfconf-0, which I can't find.
> > 
> > Does anyone know where I can get this?
> 
> $ apt-cache search libxfconf
> libxfconf-0-2-dbg - debugging informations for libxfconf
> libxfconf-0-2 - Client library for Xfce4 configure interface
> libxfconf-0-dev - Development files for libxfconf
> 

$ apt-cache search libxfconf
$

Apparently, it's not in my /etc/apt/sources.list
Where can I find it?

$ cat /etc/apt/sources.list
# 
# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 5.0.4 _Lenny_ - Official powerpc
xfce+lxde-CD Binary-1 20100201-00:57]/ lenny main

deb http://ftp3.nrc.ca/debian/ lenny main
deb-src http://ftp3.nrc.ca/debian/ lenny main

deb http://security.debian.org/ lenny/updates main
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ lenny/updates main

deb http://volatile.debian.org/debian-volatile lenny/volatile main
deb-src http://volatile.debian.org/debian-volatile lenny/volatile main


-- 
Just my 0.0002 million dollars worth,
  Shawn

Programming is as much about organization and communication
as it is about coding.

I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.

Eliminate software piracy:  use only FLOSS.


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Re: Where is libxfconf-0?

[Shawn H Corey]

On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:23:34 +0100
Elimar Riesebieter  wrote:

> * Shawn H Corey [100326 14:18 -0400]
> [...]
> > $ apt-cache search libxfconf
> > $
> > 
> > Apparently, it's not in my /etc/apt/sources.list
> > Where can I find it?
> 
> In sid.

OK, if I upgrade, will that give me sid or do I have to install it?


-- 
Just my 0.0002 million dollars worth,
  Shawn

Programming is as much about organization and communication
as it is about coding.

I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.

Eliminate software piracy:  use only FLOSS.


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Re: Where is libxfconf-0?

[Shawn H Corey]

On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:24:50 +0100
Elimar Riesebieter  wrote:

> * Shawn H Corey [100326 14:41 -0400]
> > On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:23:34 +0100
> > Elimar Riesebieter  wrote:
> > 
> > > * Shawn H Corey [100326 14:18 -0400]
> > > [...]
> > > > $ apt-cache search libxfconf
> > > > $
> > > > 
> > > > Apparently, it's not in my /etc/apt/sources.list
> > > > Where can I find it?
> > > 
> > > In sid.
> > 
> > OK, if I upgrade, will that give me sid or do I have to install it?
> 
> I'd tell apt to catch sid and dist-upgrade.

How do I "catch sid"?  I never heard of that phrase before.


-- 
Just my 0.0002 million dollars worth,
  Shawn

Programming is as much about organization and communication
as it is about coding.

I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.

Eliminate software piracy:  use only FLOSS.


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Re: yaboot failure on external drive

[Shawn H Corey]

On Sun, 28 Mar 2010 13:44:46 -0400
Greg Ward  wrote:

> yaboot-installer: mkofboot: Please add ofboot= where 
> is the OpenFirmware path to /dev/sda2 to /etc/yaboot.conf
> 
> Well that sounds straightforward... /dev/sda is my firewire disk
> (the internal disk is /dev/hda -- this Mac is pre-SATA).  So now I
> need to figure out how to say "/dev/sda2" in OpenFirmware's syntax.
> I'll go off and do the obvious google'ing, but any hints are welcome.

You will need ybin to transfer any changes to /dev/yaboot.conf to the
boot partition.

Below is an excerpt from an article I wrote on how to boot from USB.
USB are mounted as /dev/sdx devices, so it may help.

HOWTO Boot PowerMacs From A USB Drive In Open Firmware
The BIOS for PowerMacs is Open Firmware. It is the only way to boot
the machine for anything but the hard disk or the CDROM.

Note: Some older G3 models can access Open Firmware via an external
terminal. If you have one of these, you need an external terminal or
another PC that can emulate one.

Note: You may want to print this out before you start.

  Accessing Open Firmware
To access Open Firmware (OF): Plug in the USB drive before you
reboot. Reboot the machine and between the chime and the first screen,
hold down the "opt + cmd + o + f" keys. You should see the OF prompt.

 ok
0 >

  Determining The USB Drive
List all the devices on the machine. Write down the ones with "usb".

Note: *This is from my machine. YMMV*

0 > dev / ls
...
ff972e78:/u...@18
ff9a4fa8:  /mo...@1
ff97ab00:/u...@19
ff9a4f80:  /d...@1
...

In this case, the USB drive is "/u...@19". Write it down.

  Using the Device Alias
OF has aliases for the device to make using them easier. Find the
alias of the USB drive.

0 > devalias
...
usb1  /p...@f200/u...@19
...

In this case, it's "usb1". Write it down.

  Booting The USB Drive
The "boot" commands boots the machine.

0 > boot usb1/d...@1:2,\yaboot

After a bit, you should see the "boot.msg" you stored in the USB.
Choose the boot image you want to start. To get a listing of all the
images, press "TAB".

  To Boot The Hard Disk
To boot from the hard disk in OF, use:

0 > boot hd:,\\:tbxi


-- 
Just my 0.0002 million dollars worth,
  Shawn

Programming is as much about organization and communication
as it is about coding.

I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.

Eliminate software piracy:  use only FLOSS.


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Re: Where is libxfconf-0?

[Shawn H Corey]

On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 22:03:56 +
Clive Menzies  wrote:

> Beware, thar be dragons :-)
> 
> That you're asking these questions suggests it is a bit early for you
> to consider upgrading to sid (he's the one in Toy Story who breaks
> toys in spectacular fashion) aka unstable.
> 
> I guess you're running lenny/stable and I've just checked the
> apt-cache one of our ppc servers here and yes, it's not available in
> Lenny.
> 
> You may not need to upgrade the whole system to sid but you may be
> able to upgrade that package alone or more probably, xfce.

I finally found time to try your suggestion (which means I finally
found time to backup my data and not create anything new for a while)
but now it wants another library not listed in lenny.  I may have to go
with sid, or perhaps Xubuntu still it's built on sid but is a little
more stable.


-- 
Just my 0.0002 million dollars worth,
  Shawn

Programming is as much about organization and communication
as it is about coding.

I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.

Eliminate software piracy:  use only FLOSS.


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Re: Partition and Boot loader for Squeeze on G4

[Shawn H Corey]

Frédéric Massot wrote:

Hi,

4 years ago, I installed Debian with a software RAID 1 on a G4 for an 
LDAP server.  In the end, I did not use the G4 and it remained in a 
closet. I would again make use of this G4 server with a software RAID 1 
and LVM, I use the Squeeze installer.


- Is it always to be given at the beginning of the hard drives the two 
partitions "Apple_partition_map" and "Apple_Bootstrap"?


The first partition of any drive must be the partition map so the 
software can find it.  The Apple_Bootstrap partition must be the second 
partition in the map but, physically, it can be anywhere on the disk.




- Is that still uses Yaboot or Squeeze uses grub2 ?


PowerPCs always use yaboot.


--
Just my 0.0002 million dollars worth,
  Shawn

Programming is as much about organization and communication
as it is about coding.

I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.

Eliminate software piracy:  use only FLOSS.


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Re: Partition and Boot loader for Squeeze on G4

[Shawn H Corey]

Frédéric Massot wrote:
Do you know why there is a package Grub2 PPC (aka grub-ieee1275), it is 
for what computer?


I never heard of GRUB for the PPCs so I never tried it.  If you use it, 
please post your results.  :)



--
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  Shawn

Programming is as much about organization and communication
as it is about coding.

I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.

Eliminate software piracy:  use only FLOSS.


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Re: Partition and Boot loader for Squeeze on G4

[Shawn H Corey]

Rick Thomas wrote:

On Apr 26, 2010, at 7:10 AM, Shawn H Corey wrote:

PowerPCs always use yaboot.


Does yaboot know enough about LVMs and RAIDs to find the kernel and 
initrd in a root partition that's in a logical volume on a software raid-1?




I never used yaboot with RAID so I wouldn't know.


To be safe, I'd create a real, live, physical root (or at least a /boot 
-- not the same as the "Apple_Bootstrap") on each of physical disks of 
the RAID-1, and periodically mirror them from the "active one".  Then if 
the disk with the active root (or /boot) goes south, you can manually 
tell yaboot to use one of the mirrors.


The Apple_Bootstrap is need so that OpenFirmware can find it and load 
yaboot.  You do not need to mount it on Linux.  As you can see below, on 
my machine, /dev/hda2 is the bootstrap but it is not mounted.  The /boot 
directory would be on the Linux root partition.



$  sudo mac-fdisk -l
/dev/hda
#type name length   base 
  ( size )  system
/dev/hda1 Apple_partition_map Apple63 @ 1 
 ( 31.5k)  Partition map
/dev/hda2 Apple_Bootstrap untitled   1954 @ 64 
 (977.0k)  NewWorld bootblock
/dev/hda3 Apple_UNIX_SVR2 untitled5859376 @ 2018 
 (  2.8G)  Linux native
/dev/hda4 Apple_UNIX_SVR2 swap3013141 @ 75127019 
(  1.4G)  Linux swap
/dev/hda5 Apple_UNIX_SVR2 untitled   19531251 @ 5861394 
 (  9.3G)  Linux native
/dev/hda6 Apple_UNIX_SVR2 untitled   49732422 @ 25392645 
( 23.7G)  Linux native
/dev/hda7  Apple_Free Extra  1952 @ 75125067 
(976.0k)  Free space


Block size=512, Number of Blocks=78140160
DeviceType=0x0, DeviceId=0x0

$  mount | column -t
/dev/hda3  on  / type  ext4 
(rw,errors=remount-ro)

proc   on  /proc type  proc(rw)
none   on  /sys  type  sysfs 
(rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)

none   on  /sys/fs/fuse/connections  type  fusectl (rw)
none   on  /sys/kernel/debug type  debugfs (rw)
none   on  /sys/kernel/security  type  securityfs  (rw)
udev   on  /dev  type  tmpfs   (rw,mode=0755)
none   on  /dev/pts  type  devpts 
(rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)

none   on  /dev/shm  type  tmpfs   (rw,nosuid,nodev)
none   on  /var/run  type  tmpfs 
(rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
none   on  /var/lock type  tmpfs 
(rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none   on  /lib/init/rw  type  tmpfs 
(rw,nosuid,mode=0755)

/dev/hda5  on  /usr  type  ext4(rw)
/dev/hda6  on  /home type  ext4(rw)



I've never actually tried that, myself.  The configuration I use 
personally is slightly less reliable but much easier to set-up.  I have 
3 disks, one small one and two big ones.  The two big ones are setup in 
a raid-1 and partitioned with LVM.  All user data resides on the 
RAID/LVM.  The small disk has everything necessary to boot the system, 
find the LVM and so on, but nothing that can't be reconstructed by 
re-installing -- i.e. no user data.  If the root disk goes south, I can 
replace it and use a live-cd to restore it from backups or re-install it 
from scratch using an install CD.


Have you tried a Live USB yet? 
http://mac.linux.be/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=85



--
Just my 0.0002 million dollars worth,
  Shawn

Programming is as much about organization and communication
as it is about coding.

I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.

Eliminate software piracy:  use only FLOSS.


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Re: Auto-booting USB stick in OF

[Shawn H Corey]

Risto Suominen wrote:

Hi,

Strictly speaking, this is not a Debian issue, not even Linux, but
since I don't know of any Open Firmware list, and it may be just a
matter of time before someone else tries this...

I wrote the following two lines into OF nvramrc parameter with
'nvedit' (Read this to the end before trying yourself!):

devalias usb /p...@f200/u...@19/d...@1
dev /options " usb" open-dev dup if close-dev " usb:,\\:tbxi" "
boot-device" property else drop then

I ran this manually with 'nvrun' and achieved what I wanted: (1) if
there was a USB stick plugged-in on boot, the boot-device shown by
'.properties' was changed to 'usb:,\\:tbxi' (The boot-device shown by
'printenv' does not change.), and saying 'boot' booted Linux from the
stick, (2) if no USB stick was present, the boot-device remained, thus
allowing to boot from hard disk.

Then I made the fatal error, I ran 'nvstore', 'setenv use-nvramrc?
true' and 'shut-down'. Now the machine won't boot anymore. The chime
is there but the display remains black.

The machine in question is an iBook G3 Dual USB 500 MHz.

Risto




Have you tried the ifixit site?  http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/search/ibook+g3


--
Just my 0.0002 million dollars worth,
  Shawn

Programming is as much about organization and communication
as it is about coding.

I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.

Eliminate software piracy:  use only FLOSS.


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Re: video problem on powerbook g4 in squeeze

[Shawn H Corey]

On 10-07-12 11:27 AM, drz wrote:

symptoms:
If I watch video (no matter which player I use (mplayer and vlc)) I get a
picture that is vertically 'distorted'. Kind of every 5 pixels
(horizontically) the picture is moved 5 pixels (vertically)



Does it look like this? 
http://sites.google.com/site/shawnhcorey/Home/stuff/DSCN0349.JPG?attredirects=0


Sadly, I still haven't figured out how to fix it.  :(


--
Just my 0.0002 million dollars worth,
  Shawn

Programming is as much about organization and communication
as it is about coding.

The secret to great software:  Fail early & often.

Eliminate software piracy:  use only FLOSS.


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Re: booting gparted live cd

[Shawn H Corey]

On 10-07-13 08:46 PM, Rogério Brito wrote:

Depending on how much RAM you have, you might like to use a live CD (like
Ubuntu's) and run gparted from there (without mounting any partition from your
hard drive, of course).



If you're going use Ubuntu, download the Alternative CD.  The Desktop CD 
won't fit on a standard CD.



--
Just my 0.0002 million dollars worth,
  Shawn

Programming is as much about organization and communication
as it is about coding.

The secret to great software:  Fail early & often.

Eliminate software piracy:  use only FLOSS.


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New Member

[Mr. Shawn H. Corey]

Hi,

I have recently signed up to your mailing list and would like to 
introduce myself.  (I have been lurking for a few days to get a feel for 
this list.)


I have been using computers for many, many years and UNIX since S5R4. 
And yes, that means I have done some sysadmin.  (I even have a B manual, 
B the language before C; I never used it but I can answer questions you 
may have on it.  In other words, I am very comfortable with *NIX.)


I have a PowerBook G4 running Ubuntu 7.04.  And it's crappy.  So, I'm 
looking for alternatives.


First, I'd like to know how to convert my system over to Debian.  I have 
looked at the website (and noticed that a complete Debian is 22 CDs), so 
I'm asking what's the best way to convert my machine to Debian?


Second, what's involved in this "install from network"?  The website 
says you must know what you're doing but leaves no clue about what 
information I need to do it successfully.


Third, how do I determine what drivers I need?  Ubuntu really sucks at 
this.  I'm trying to avoid a repeat.


Just in case you want to know what inspired me, see:
http://www.magma.ca/~shawnhcorey/200707/1183732322.html
http://www.magma.ca/~shawnhcorey/200707/1184097840.html

I guess that what I'm really asking is, "Can Debian give me a system I 
use?"  A tough question which I don't expect you to answer.  That is, 
not directly.  But I'm dipping my toe in the waters to see if I like it.


Any comment would be welcome.


--
Just my 0.0002 million dollars worth,
   Shawn

"For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by 
doing them."

  Aristotle


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Re: Not building for powerpc any more

[Mr. Shawn H. Corey]

On Tue, 2008-04-15 at 14:07 +0200, Wolfgang Pfeiffer wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 15 2008, at 10:23 +0200, Michel Dänzer wrote:
> > On Mon, 2008-04-14 at 16:46 -0400, El Amigo De La Playa wrote:
> > > -Are we talking about the death of the ppc mailing-list, or the death
> > > of Debian PPC branch ?
> > 
> > Neither - as should have been clear from my previous post (?) [ ... ]
> 
> No question mark being necessary ... :) ...  It was very clear from
> your email that you were writing *only* about this specific package,
> and nothing else 

Of course, if the Subject was, "Not Building xaralx for PowerPC
Anymore", all of this worry wouldn't have happen.

When writing subject lines, please make the meaningful and specific.


-- 
Just my 0.0002 million dollars worth,
Shawn

When I was in college, my Karate instructor said,
"The first hundred are easy."
Since then, I discovered he'd lied.
Life's too big to describe in hundreds.

Re: 12" G4 Powerbook with heat issues

[Mr. Shawn H. Corey]

On Sun, 2008-06-08 at 02:02 +0200, Cyril Brulebois wrote:
> On 07/06/2008, Matthew Ray wrote:
> > /sys/devices/temperature/sensor*temperatures
> 
> JFTR: /sys/devices/temperatures/sensor*temperature
> 
> > which reports 52 and 67 C and the fan runs frequently.  I opened it up
> > and it runs at 50 and 65 C and the fan seems to be off, but that still
> > seems really hot.
> 
> With a G4 iBook, I got 44/47 with no fan running. I seem to recall it's
> quite depending on the surface/texture on which your box is used. On the
> skin, on a pillow, etc., it gets considerably hotter, with fan running
> continuously, while on a flat surface (say: a wood table) everything is
> fine. You could try and maximize the distance between the bottom of the
> box (just below the screen, if Powerbooks and iBooks are similar) and
> where you're putting it, maybe using some “patafix” below the feet, so
> as to ease air cooling.
> 
> Mraw,
> KiBi.

The last update I did was Ubuntu.  See
http://www.magma.ca/~shawnhcorey/200805/1209648064.html

I had to prop up my Titanium to to cool its underside.


-- 
Just my 0.0002 million dollars worth,
  Shawn

http://www.magma.ca/~shawnhcorey/

Shangri La: 40,000 KM -->

The map is not the territory,
the dossier is not the person,
the model is not reality,
and the universe is indifferent to your theories.


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PowerBook G4 has video problems when booted

[Mr. Shawn H. Corey]

Hi,

I have a PowerBook G4 Titanium running Ubuntu 8.04 LTS.  When I reboot
it it doesn't always set the graphics mode correctly.  The yaboot starts
and I can read the text but when it switches to graphics, I get a
speculated dark blue screen.  The computer (otherwise) seems to boot
properly, at least, it makes all the correct sounds.

Does anyone have an idea to the cause of this?


-- 
Just my 0.0002 million dollars worth,
  Shawn

Programming is as much about organization and communication as it is about 
coding.

"It would appear that we have reached the limits of what it is possible to 
achieve with computer technology, although one should be careful with such 
statements, as they tend to sound pretty silly in 5 years."
  --John von Neumann, circa 1950



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