Debian on PowerBook G4 Titanium 15-inch 1 GHz w/SuperDrive
Hi all,
Yes, it's a nice machine ;-) and I got it specifically to install
Debian on it, which I did, but I now need some help getting a few
things to work (e.g. X, AirPort, ...). I would definitely appreciate
any help some of you could provide me. (In return, I will be able to
do a better job as the upstream provider of the SableVM JVM on
PowerPC;-).
Here's what I did. I followed the installation manual's instructions
to get woody up and running (dual boot Debian / OS-X using YaBoot). I
installed no tasks, as I like to only install packages as I need them.
Then, I changed my /etc/apt/sources.list appropriately and
apt-get-dist-upgraded into sid. So, up to that point, everything went
relatively smoothly. [Learning about the OpenFirmware, and all the
other mac-specific was quite entertaining].
I've also got an AirPort base station (128-bit wireless encryption)
along with this machine.
The specs, for this machines are found at (Note: I have a
french-canadian keyboard [ISO/78keys]):
http://manuals.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Manuals/specs/powerbook/L24362A_EN.pdf
Now, I would like some help getting all of the various componenets of
this system to work under Debian, as much as is possible.
First, the keyboard. I'm used to the x86 terminology, so I've got to
learn about this new (to me) kind of keyboard. Where is the "Del"
key? In other words, how does one do any of the following:
ctr-alt-del (shotdown machine)
ctr-alt-backspace (kill X)
alt-f1/f2/fn: select terminal
(?? type the character ~ with the fr_CA keyboard?)
Sencond, and more importantly, sid's XFree86 4.2.1. I can't seem to
get it to work. When I do:
dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86
I select the ati driver (as the spec says it's an ATI Mobility Radeon
9000 card), I put PCI:0:16:0 as BusID (corresponds to decimal
translation of lspci hex dump). I put 65536 (64K) as videocard RAM. I
say yes to kernel framebuffer.
XKB: xfree86
keyb model: macintosh
keyb layout: fr
k variant: CA
no keyb option
mouse port: /dev/input/mice [mdetect says: /dev/input/mouse0 USB]
emulate 3 but: yep
no scoll events
LCD monitor
advanced monitor
horz: 28-38 (is this OK?)
vert: 43-72 (is this OK?)
I select all shown video modes. Note that there is no 1280x854 mode shown. Hmmm...
color depth: 16 (I'd like 24, but I'm trying to be nice...)
modules: all except xtt
write all files
Then: startx. It fails with a (EE) No device detected error.
I reapeted the above and changed the driver to "vga". This one says (in /var/log/XFree86.0.log):
...
...
... not using default mode "640x480" (insufficient memory for mode)
...
...
and fails with: (EE) Screen(s) found, but non have a usable configuration.
I am really no expert in setting up XFree. I am quite lost here as to
where I should investigate. This is why I am asking for help.
Also, the AirPort card works pretty nicely under Mac OS X. But, I
would definitely want to use it under Debian. How do I connect to an
"128bit encrypted" "private" network (e.g. Airport base station)?
I've loaded the "airport" kernel module with modconf, but I do not
know how to set up the network connection.
[Side question: is there some software to configure the airport base
station from Debian, or will I have to always do so under Mac OS?]
Thanks for the time you took to read this message, and for any help
you could provide.
Etienne
--
Etienne M. Gagnon, Ph.D.
SableVM: http://www.sablevm.org/
SableCC: http://www.sablecc.org/
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