Still no success with video on the G4 laptop. While trying to downgrade the firmware-amd-graphics I got to many errors to deal with, so i started from scratch with an new install. The first install failed, saying there were existing files on the disk, so i overwrote the boot and root partitions with zeros. Still failed, so i burned a new cd overwrote again and still failed. Then i tried deleting and creating all new partitions and had a successful install. Still no graphics, but was able to boot in level 1, only to find no internet. Went back to the cd and executed a shell in rescue mode, installed the firmware as well as updating all the software. Still no graphics or internet on a reboot. Back to the cd and rescue, internet was fine so i tried startx and the desktop appeared, although the mouse was nonfunctional. Rebooted to the system with nomodeset and level 1, then tried startx. This way gave me the error messages, instead of a blank screen
I’ve attached the xorg log if it would be of any use
Hello,
Just now I succesfully install debian with grub om powerbook5,8.
I think next steps are the same like with your powerbook3,4:
0.
install via NETINST1.iso, if you are not sure select guided - largest
free space, on package selection select favorite desktop, I prefer lxde
1. first boot after installation, on grub menu press 'e'
2. find the line with 'linux' and append 'radeon.modeset=0'
3. ctrl-X to continue boot
4. log to terminal as root
4. add to /etc/apt/sources.list line:
deb [arch=all] http://ftp.debian.org/debian sid contrib non-free
5. # apt-get update
6. # apt-get upgrade
7. # apt-get install firmware-amd-graphics
8. # shutdown -r now
and you reboot directly to graphics environment
If
your powerbook have Starup Manager (i.e. boot with alt/option pressed
shows graphical boot disc selection) and you want to have Debian grub
here, you have to do this steps:
- log to terminal as root:
# lsblk
- you see here line with something like: "sda2 8:2 0 122.1M 0 part /boot/grub" - this is your grub partition