Re: Debian + The new PowerBook G4
On Tue, Jul 27, 2004 at 02:32:10PM -0700, Eric Gaumer wrote:
> On Tue, 2004-07-27 at 10:30, Matthew T. Atkinson wrote:
> > * What bits of the hardware does Debian _not_ support (e.g. ACPI,
> > Wireless, Bluetooth, DVD-R, 3D graphics, sound)?
> >
> I have a G4 powerbook TI and everything works except video out (S
> video). I never used anything involving Bluetooth. The wireless worked
> with no problems as did the sound, DVD, CDR, and Power management. It
> took me about an hour of digging through the archives here to get X
> running. I think I recall having some odd ball sync rates as well as
> resolutions (due to the wide screen). I found a few X configs posted and
> realized what I needed to do.
The wireless will be a problem with any current model. The tibooks had
the original airport card, which is well understood. Any albook comes
with airport extreme, which is based on a broadcom chip which is still
mostly a mystery to people, so there isn't a driver at this point.
If you want 802.11 networking on a current powerbook, you'll have to
get an external adapter. There are several supported USB and PCMCIA
units that should just work.
> I haven't messed with 3D graphics but I hear they work using a different
> branch of the X code. Never really had a need for the stuff (on my
> powebook at least).
The graphics may be a problem. Last I checked, there still wasn't support
for the Radeon 9600/9800 or any nVidia chips for 3D graphics. However,
the basic 2D acceleration works fine on my Radeon 9600 card, and I don't
do much 3D graphics, so I haven't been concerned about it.
Most other hardware should work, but it depends somewhat on the exact
model you get. I believe sleep is still broken on nVidia based models.
Brad Boyer
flar@allandria.com
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