Ubuntu / Apple :: Installing OS Apple Powerbook G4 Ubuntu?
Mar 14, 2011
I've had a Apple Powerbook G4 for a while now, but being mostly a Windows user I've never used it. I remember when it ran it's native OSX (Which I can't for the life remember) Probably Tiger? Anyways... I tried installing Ubuntu on it about a year and a half ago, the installation was botched and I left it sitting there with no purpose in life. :O
So I've decided to dust the laptop and give it another go. I've progressed a little further with my Linux experience, having installed and tested a few distros and even switching over to Ubuntu 9.10 for about 4 months. Enough of my life story and more to the point.Has anyone installed Ubuntu, or any distro for that matter on the Apple Powerbook G4? I know there are different versions of the G4 and I'm not entirely sure what my version is, It's the 1.6Ghz version with The Nvidia card (Err I think) and extra Wireless card installed. I am not very capable with Mac - After checking Apples website I believe it's the 15inch.
I've read the FAQ thread and will begin trying to install Ubuntu tonight at home, I just wanted some suggestion and some pointers in the right direction. What distro would be most suitable for my hardware? and What is easiest to set up?
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May 15, 2010
Well currently I am having a problem on the installation, when it goes to step 3 "keyboard layout" and I press forward it just stays there loading and does not proceed. It does not freezes or anything but stays there forever and does no proceed to next step. Burned another live-cd thinking it may be the disk itself but still no luck.
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Aug 7, 2010
Anyway, I've a decent understanding of the various Linux console commands and know how to work my way around a text editor or file system. But I can't seem to fix what's wrong with my computer. I'll list my info here and then discuss the most pressing issues that I need help with.
It's a 17" PowerBook G4, with Airport Extreme (which I understand is a headache all on its own: I'll likely get to that later)
Results of ~$ lspci:
I downloaded the most recent .iso for the PowerPC from [url], specifically the 4.4 GB DVD copy.
During installation, I told it to install only the Desktop Environment and Base System. Installation went through without a hitch, though it failed to connect properly to my Wireless card.
The first issue I encounter after booting is during the login. When logging in as a non-root user, I'm told to change my password immediately (root enforced). I've done this every time I've logged in. Immediately after when I log in I'm told that the system clock is wrong: It's currently set to Jan. 1, 1970. If I try to change it, I get a message saying that I can't, and my desktop won't load properly. If I ignore the system clock issue and try to change it in System > Administration > Time and Date later, after entering my admin password I get a message that says
Failed to run time-admin as user root.
Failed to communicate with gksu-helper.
Received:
Changing password for root.
While expecting:
Apparently the password issue is related to the Time and Date settings (according to Google), but I can't fix those because it wants me to change my password.
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Jul 17, 2010
I have a Powerbook G4, 550MHz, and I had 10.04 on it, but the wireless wouldn't work. I know that there are tons of variants, but I am sick of wasting disk, time downloading, testing, ect. Has anyone found a really good version of linux that will work? Or am I better off with OS X 10.4?
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Apr 30, 2010
Just did a fresh install of Ubuntu 10.04 and I can't enable the Extra Visual Effects. I get the error "Desktop effects could not be enabled".
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Apr 19, 2011
i installed ubuntu 10.10 on old powerbook g3 (6g hard disk, i think it lombard)m with xfce as desktop (xfce and not xubuntu wich is slower). anyway, everything works fine, but for some reson my vlc just cannot run video file. each time i play him it show a black screen and fall. i tried config his outpot video, and it still dont work, in smoe mode the audio working but the other not.i tried another movie player, and only totem, kaffeine and xine works ok, although very slowly (the video work not smoothly). kaffeine works fine, but not enough. when i had ubuntu 8.04 in the same computer vlc was the movie player i chose and he did his job perfectly.
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Mar 15, 2010
I want to use an old Powerbook i have as a music juke box and am thinking of using ubuntu to run it - assume that i will dual boot with a small partition for osx? and then run an external hard drive with flac encoded music - into laptop then usb dac to hifi Will ubuntu run ok on this machine? I have removed all the stuff on the old hDD - anything else i need to do?
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May 14, 2010
I'd like to try Ubuntu netbook remix 10.04 on my 12" G4 Powerbook, but I can't seem to find it. Does it just not exist? Apple have a range of older 12" models that are no longer supported that Ubuntu would work great on.
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Jun 27, 2010
I am trying to find out how to get the visual effects working on my PowerBook G4. I have 10.04 installed, and it's running an ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 M10. I can't access the xorg.config because it doesn't exist.
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May 29, 2011
I have an Apple Powerbook G4 17" Feb'2005 (1.67GHz PPC G4 CPU, 1Gb RAM, 100Gb hdd) at home. Having the infamous "vertical lines" problem, I need to use use an external 1440x900 DVI monitor (same resolution as braindamaged Apple LCD). I also have some USB-serial hardware (weather station, Arduino, etc) and a Nokia N900 configured as a router (this lets me use a fixed IP on the Powerbook).
I had Ubuntu 9.10 running 24h/24 up to yesterday, so I just updated the yaboot.conf in /dev/hda2 (the boot partition) and booted natty off hard disk and USB pendrive (great thing having an yaboot on a bootable partition). Since Apple separated me from 2900 bucks (ouch!!) six years ago, I don't want to abandon this Powerbook until its very end. But it seems Natty is not a viable option...
[code]...
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Feb 21, 2010
I just installed Karmic on a PowerBook G4 Titanium. The install went fine after I figured out that I had to set the date in the open firmware because the PRAM battery is dead. Now when I boot, I get a white screen with black text telling me it's found the display then the splash screen shows up but I never get the login screen, just a blank screen. I can switch to the virtual consoles and fool around, but I haven't gotten it to work yet.
Edit: I've attached .xsession-errors (Has UF always required file extensions?)
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Mar 17, 2010
I am trying to install on my Powerbook G4 version 9.04. IT went well and I rebooted it boots up and appears to be loading... In fact says "Loading, please wait"
But the screen begins slowly to fade to white until I can't see anything.
There is one error that might be related I noticed "Radeonfb invalid rom contents".
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Mar 20, 2011
Installed Ubuntu 10.10 on my new-to-me Powerbook 1.67Ghz. PowerPC, as a platform, is most definitely *not* dead. Installation went normal. I installed with network connected to Ethernet rather than Wireless. Installed Wireless firmware. Then I had wireless.
Backlighting didnt work until I added 'i2c-dev' to /etc/modules. Restart, and backlight works, although its a little too sensitive. Hardware acceleration wasn't enabled, so I had to add this to a file called Radeon-kms.conf in /etc/modprobe.d/
"radeon options modeset=0"
Reboot. Then I had hardware acceleration and Compiz.
Install/run sensors and sensors-detect. Run as root. Detected HD temp, CPU, GPU temps and fan speed. Make sure this is in /etc/modules: therm_adt746x. Thats the thermal control stuffs. I then installed openjdk and netbeans and eclipse. OpenJDK is slow, but I feel that is due to OpenJDK itself, and not PowerPC.
This gave me a working CPU ondemand throttling:
apt-get install cpufrequtils
Installing this gave me a working battery-applet that reported a percentage:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:iaz/battery-status && sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install battery-status
/usr/lib/battery-status/battery-status --indicator
I get really good battery life, and everything that shipped on this laptop actually works as designed. Forever PowerPC, Forever Ubuntu
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Jan 8, 2010
I've just installed Ubuntu 9.10 on an old PowerBook G4 I have, and when I go to Power Management, it doesn't provide the tab for battery-related settings (nor do I get the little battery/charge icon in the upper-right panel). I'm comparing this to the version of Ubuntu 9.10 I installed on my EeePC netbook, where those things are present. Is there anything I can do to get the Power Management preferences to recognize that the machine has a battery?
If it helps: the PowerBook had Ubuntu installed on it using the 9.10 "alternate" .iso, as I was having trouble burning the "desktop" .iso to a CD.
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Feb 12, 2010
I have a Good Way Technologies BU2220 CardBus USB 2.0 card which works fine on this same Mac under OS 9.1. It also works fine on a more modern mac with OS X. But I cannot understand why it's not working in Ubuntu 9.10. I had it recognized (I think??) when I had Kubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger) installed on this system. I have an old dog - a PowerBook 3400c 240 Mhz 80MB Ram, with a 40 GB HDD. I have Mac OS 9.1 installed on a 5GB partition, and the rest is Ubuntu 9.10, using the LXDE GUI. I switch between Mac OS and Linux using Boot X.
When I slide in my USB card (making sure I have the external power supply attached to it), the system shows a bit of activity, and my display brightness reverts to default. Then there's no more activity. Of course, USB flash drives and USB mice won't work when plugged in. I navigated to /var/log, and looked in the Messages log. There were the following entries:
Feb 11 13:42:09 PowerBook kernel: [ 374.949456] pcmcia_socket pcmcia_socket1: pccard: CardBus card inserted into slot 1
Feb 11 13:42:09 PowerBook kernel: [ 374.949881] pci 0000:05:00.0: PME# supported from D0 D1 D2 D3hot
Feb 11 13:42:09 PowerBook kernel: [ 374.949916] pci 0000:05:00.0: PME# disabled
[code]....
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May 23, 2011
I have a Titanium (Onyx) 550 Mhz G4 Powerbook and the standard gnash does not work. I read that you can compile a custom version of gnash for laptops with low spec graphic cards. Could anyone give me guidelines how to do this with gnash? or swfdec? or lightspark?
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Nov 13, 2010
I installed Ubuntu 10.10 on my PowerBook G4 (I think that's powerbook 5,6 but I could be mistaken). Most everything is fine from a function standpoint except for the touchpad/trackpad. Unlike most users who seem to be getting an insensitive touchpad, mine seems to be picking up some interference from an unknown source. The mouse frequently jumps around the screen either horizontally back and forth or sometimes vertically. If I disable the trackpad it seems to stop (at least for a few minutes). Sometimes I can lay my palm flat on the trackpad and it will cause the mouse to stand still also which makes the external mouse usable.
Are there any solutions to this? (I did install the, what is it, gpointing-devices package? The one that provides the GUI for touchpad configuration and that has not helped at all, except that I can use it to periodically disable the trackpad for a temporary fix)
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May 7, 2011
Neither Ubuntu's Unity or KDE respond to the function keys on a regular Apple USB keyboard. I can plug in a non-Apple keyboard and they work just fine. What needs to be changed or configure so that F1 and company on the Apple keyboard work as on other keyboards?
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Apr 22, 2010
This morning I bought an Apple wireless keyboard and I got it connected through Blueman. It works like a charm, but I have on problem;
When I log out I can log back in by typing in my password. However, when I restart the computer it seems that bluetooth is not loaded yet and I cannot enter my password. So I have to log in using my wired keyboard, and then disconnect & re-connect to my wireless keyboard using blueman before I am able to use the wireless keyboard.
Is there any way that I can already auto-load bluetooth and connect to my keyboard before I log in?
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Mar 24, 2010
I'm trying to use an Apple wireless keyboard with Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic) but the fn key is not working at all. If I start up xev and hit the fn key it generates no event. What do I need to do for it to work. It seems as if it should work when viewing pages like
[code]...
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Dec 2, 2010
I have been given an Apple Ibook that wont boot
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Dec 4, 2010
i connected my apple ipod in ubuntu 10.04..its showing msg that" do no disconnect" but there is no trace of ipod in the system,not even any icon in desktop too
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Jun 5, 2010
Ok my girlfriend has mac and she wants to play games and we will be useing the wineHQ. I've already looked up games thatwork for it and its good. Well is there away to install ubuntu through bootcamp?
her specs is-
Could i get some instructions? We were currently gonna install windows but it wouldn't work cuz we didnt have the original cd. Bootcamp already has a partition setaside already. Her mac is a Macbook pro
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Jul 16, 2010
I would like to know, how could I install ubuntu on Mac. I've gone through the following guide, but there is no option for my machine MacBook Pro 6.2.
Code:
[URL].. BTW, i would like to have dual-boot option with Mac OSX pre-installed.
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Aug 27, 2010
I have an old PowerMac G4 without the original harddrive or OS. What is the best way to install ubuntu 10.04 onto this machine?
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Oct 11, 2010
I'm stuck with a problem trying to boot an Ubuntu Desktop 10.10 x64 CD into a white Macbook (2.1 gen, Core2Duo ) I've installed rEFIt, and synchronized GPT with MBR - all ok.
But when I insert the cd (works ok, the same CD on a DELL laptop ) and boot it via rEFIt, the computer hangs with this console message
Code:
1.
2.
Boot from Ubuntu CD-ROM:_
And I can't go further... anyone knows ?
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Jan 2, 2011
I have an ibook g3 that I'm trying to resurrect with Ubuntu 10.04. However, booting into live CD always freezes it at some point in the installation process. I got it installed but everything takes five minutes to open. any way to make it faster?
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Aug 10, 2011
I've been trying to install 11.04 on my MacBook Pro for the past couple weeks, and I'm getting pretty frustrated with it. When I try to boot from a DVD, I either get a blank screen with just a flashing cursor, or it will ask me if I want to try, install, or verify the disc, after which I will get a bunch of different-colored blocks all around the screen.
I have installed past versions of Ubuntu on this computer with no problems, so I'm pretty stumped now on why I'm having this problem. Also, I've tried the Ubuntu Wiki and sticky thread on this forum, but nothing in either seems to help. Additionally, I have installed Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. I don't think it'd effect anything, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
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Jul 13, 2010
I'm trying to install Ubuntu 10.04 PPC on to an Western Digital External USB 1TB drive to run on a:
eMac G4
1ghz
1GB RAM
I would like to only use like 40GB of the 1TB External. I get to the part where I can Manual edit partition tables and am lost on how to do this.
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Jul 15, 2010
I want to install Ubuntu 10.04 PPC along side my mac OS on a partition on the inter hard drive that I created with 10.5 disk utility. When I get to the part in the Ubuntu installer where it ask where to install I only see the whole hard drive and not the partition I made, and when I go into the partition menu I click on it there but it won't let me install it.
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