PowerPCKnownIssues

There are a number of known issues on Ubuntu PowerPC, most of these have simple work-arounds. This page holds any release specific workarounds. Remember to also check the troubleshooting and setup guides in the PowerPC FAQ.

The general Release Notes are here.

Contents

14.10 Utopic Unicorn
14.04 Trusty Tahr
13.10 Saucy Salamander
12.10 Quantal Quetzal
12.04 Precise Pangolin
11.10 Oneiric Ocelot
11.04 Natty Narwhal
10.04 Lucid Lynx
9.10 Karmic Koala
9.04 Jaunty Jackalope
8.10 PowerPc alternate install
8.04 PowerPc alternate install
8.04 PowerPC LiveCd will not boot on iBookG4
8.04 PowerPC brightness buttons on iBookG4 12"
Pre Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron

14.10 Utopic Unicorn

Radeon users

The legacy radeon framebuffer (radeonfb) is nolonger built-in to the kernel, but is now compiled as a module - see bug. This means KMS is on and active from the go!

Like previous versions, some systems will need the yaboot parameter radeon.agpmode=-1 to circumvent freezes (so far this is confirmed for Radeon 9200 chips in AGP based G4 iBook's). You will need to set that yaboot parameter again after an installation as that will not carry over from the booted ISO - see FAQ for how to do this.

14.04 Trusty Tahr

Sound does not work on some machines

Please confirm the hw-detect bug (see comments #10 and #14).

A fix for the PowerBook6,5 using DKMS can be found here and a more generic fix is here.

Radeon users

Please read the advice for 12.10 and 12.04 below. It is recommended to use a yaboot parameter such as video=radeonfb:1024x768-32 with the live/desktop iso (see FAQ for more details). After the install you can switch to using KMS which could give better performance (hibernate can be used instead of suspend).

The yaboot parameter video=ofonly will activate KMS, but this will likely need to also be combined with radeon.agpmode=-1 to stop freezes/crashes.

r300 - visuals not found in default depth 24

See bug. Patched mesa can be found here.

Downgrade to the 12.04 xserver-xorg

If your video driver doesn't use KMS, or if it is broken for you then you can downgrade to the 12.04 xserver-xorg. The necessary packages are here.

Alternate iso has error while running 'modprobe -v yenta_socket'

See bug. The FAQ has advice on missing modules.

Midori doesn't work

Midori crashed with SIGSEGV in JSC::LLInt::CLoop::execute(). The cause of the crash is a bug with libjavascriptcoregtk-1.0.0 and libjavascriptcoregtk-3.0.0. This impacts other webkitgtk browsers as well such as surf, luakit, and xombero. For more info see bug. Patched webkit can be found here.

Network settings indicator missing from panel

FIXED Not just a PowerPC issue, see here.

Mesa issued false colors in games

They appear to be ABGR instead of RGBA, thus green becomes purple, red becomes light blue etc. Screenshot: Lubuntu 14.04 on an AmigaOne X1000 with the wrong colors issue. Bug reports:

I have figured out what the problem is and I have fixed the problem in mesa source code. More on forum.hyperion-entertainment.biz. I have released some unofficial Mesa packages. Screenshot: Lubuntu 14.04 on an AmigaOne X1000 with the unofficial Mesa 10.1.0 and kernel 3.14-rc6. Downloads: supertuxkart-amiga.de.

2014-09-17 UPDATE: since this mesa commit (including previous ones) mesa has better big-endian support. This will be included in mesa 10.4. Still to be confirmed if this is enough to fix this problem.

AmigaOne X1000

You have to create manually a xorg.conf file. For example this xorg.conf. If the fonts are not displayed on LXDE then the solution is to set the option "RenderAccel" to "false" in the xorg.conf file.

Power Mac G5

Set of fixes for various issues on the Power Mac G5. Might work in other Macs as well.

Wireless

Use sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer

You can then reboot or use

sudo modprobe –r b43
sudo modprobe b43

WiFi Hotspot (Access Point Mode)

See this post.

Sound

Add snd-aoa-i2sbus to /etc/modules file. You can then reboot or use modprobe.

2D Acceleration Under Nvidia Cards

Using nouveau.noaccel=1 will fix graphical issues but will disable all hardware acceleration, making for slow videos etc. A possible fix has been found to get working 2D acceleration:

Nouveau driver has issues with MSI interrupts, use yaboot parameter

nouveau.config=NvMSI=0

You can also add it to your /etc/yaboot.conf and update using sudo ybin -v (see the FAQ for more info)

Create this file /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/splash add this line exactly:

FRAMEBUFFER=y

Run sudo update-initramfs -u

More info here.

Although using this method has been confirmed working with an Nvidia 6600, there have been occasional reported glitches. YMMV, depending on individual hardware etc. Feedback is appreciated.

Another possible option is to use the old nv driver, which has been recompiled. See this thread for details. You may have to downgrade xorg.

13.10 Saucy Salamander

Nouveau on PowerMac G5

See bug. Try using the yaboot parameter nouveau.noaccel=1.

12.10 Quantal Quetzal

"Fixing recursive fault but reboot is needed!"

See bug. Try booting with the parameter:

snd-powermac.blacklist=yes

Radeon Userspace Mode Setting (UMS) removed

You now have to use KMS with the radeon xorg driver. If you don't you'll fallback into 8 bit pseudo colour with the fbdev driver (see bug). The 8 bit depth will stop ubiquity (the live/desktop installer) working (bug).

If you need suspend then you'll have to use the fbdev driver, but you'll want to increase the default colour depth via a yaboot parameter (for example, video=radeonfb:1024x768-32) or an xorg.conf:

Section "Screen"
  Identifier "Screen0"
  DefaultDepth  24
EndSection

Radeon KMS Xorg driver not starting

You may need to define an xorg.conf to use radeon KMS. See bug report.

Nouveau Xorg driver not starting

See bug. If you have this problem then to use the live CD you will have to create a basic xorg.conf or use the legacy framebuffers rivafb or nvidiafb.

Lightdm displays a blank screen when used with 8 bit pseudo colour

A mouse arrow in the middle of a black screen - see bug (also reported on the Debian bug tracking system here). This is fixed when you increase the colour depth.

Nouveau corruption

See bug.

Sound doesn't work

See this question in the troubleshooting section of the FAQ. If you have a powerbook/ibook then you may need a patch similar to that found in this debian thread.

12.04 Precise Pangolin

iMac G3

See this thread.

iMac G4 700/800 or other nVidia users

Instructions on how to use the old 'nv' driver can be found here.

ATI Rage 128

Users with a Rage 128 graphics card will probably find they boot into a low graphics mode (or a command prompt) with the live CDs (bug). For this reason, some users may prefer to install from the alternate/mini ISOs. The mini ISO will download the latest kernel version which contains the fix.

For most users this bug should be fixed when you run the Update Manager. Some users (e.g. those with a G3 iMac) may also have to create an xorg.conf file setting HorizSync and VertRefresh values (see PowerPC FAQ or thread linked above). AGP users may also have to force PCI mode.

If you need to install the latest kernel from a command prompt, then type the following:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install linux-image-powerpc-smp
sudo reboot

Use "sudo apt-get dist-upgrade" if you want to upgrade all packages.

If you would like to use the live CDs in full technicolor then there are two solutions to you. Both require starting the CD in single user mode. You can configure an xorg.conf file setting "UseFBDev" "False" and "NoInt10" "True". Instructions to do so are here. Once configured, issue the command

sudo start lightdm

to start the desktop. The second solution is to disable the openfirmware framebuffer. At the yaboot prompt type:

live video=offb:off single

This will freeze or give you a blank screen. You will have to judge blind when the machine has finished booting which can be longer than you think. Type the command (you won't see what you type):

modprobe aty128fb

Text should now appear on the screen. You can now start the desktop with the "sudo start lightdm" command.

Radeon kernel configuration changed

A late kernel change (see kernel-team thread) means the kernels with the live/alternate ISOs have a different setup to those installed after you run the Update Manager. The new kernels will have the radeonfb framebuffer built-in (fixes suspend) and KMS turned on by default.

Some users may experience garbled consoles until they run the Update Manager. This may mean when shutting down from the Live ISOs the message to press Enter to power off is not displayed correctly.

Users wishing to use 3D-accelerated KMS should disable the radeonfb framebuffer (although you will loose suspend). One way of doing this is with the video=ofonly yaboot parameter. If this causes freezing problems then try adding the yaboot parameter radeon.agpmode=-1. See the PowerPC FAQ for more details.

KMS brings a more graphical splash screen although this will likely have messed up colours, see bug, but there is probably an endian issue in their too (source). Increasing the colour depth can improve things (although not totally fix it). To test this out on an installed system use something like the following at the yaboot prompt:

Linux video=offb:off video=radeonfb:off video=1024x768-32 radeon.agpmode=-1

To use 3D-accelerated Userspace Mode Setting (UMS) see below.

Manual partitioning

There are a few quirks with NewWorld boot partitions and using the manual partitioning on the Live CD installer. See bug.

Kernel updates are not linked correctly

FIXED See bug. If you've installed from a alpha/beta daily-live ISO (or possibly upgraded from a previous version?) then you may still have to perform the workaround described in the bug report.

No userspace mode setting 3d hardware acceleration

In 12.04 there is nolonger mesa support for Mach64 and Rage 128 cards or user-space mode setting (non-KMS) with radeon cards. See bug.

To solve this you need to install an older 7.11 version of libgl1-mesa-dri from launchpad or directly downloading from the ubuntu ports repository. Optionally (for 12.04), if you want your mesa packages to match versions then download the other 7.11 mesa PowerPC deb packages:

libgl1-mesa-dri
libgl1-mesa-glx
libglapi-mesa
libglu1-mesa

Save them together in a directory. From a terminal 'cd' into that directory and then issue the command

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

to install all the deb packages together.

You'll now need to 'pin' the version so that they are not updated when you next use the Update Manager. The easiest way to do this is through the Synaptic Package Manager. Select the libgl1-mesa-dri, libgl1-mesa-glx, libglapi-mesa, and libglu1-mesa packages in Synaptic and then in the menu goto Package > Lock Version.

Finally, if you have a radeon card then edit your yaboot.conf file to add the radeon.modeset=0 yaboot parameter.

See the PowerPC FAQ for how to optimize your xorg.conf file.

If you use kwin and open-gl effects then you may come across this bug. Please confirm.

r128 users can alternatively compile and install the mesa-legacy package. To make it compile on PowerPC you need to edit the debian/rules file, removing the words "sis" and "unichrome" from the "--with-dri-drivers" line.

No non-smp kernel

The non-smp kernel is nolonger available. See this kernel-team thread for why this decision has been made. All 32 bit computers will now use the smp kernel.

Unity-2d autohide not working

Please help with the bug report so that it can be fixed. A workaround is here or you could replace the launcher with an alternative dock or install the 'classic' gnome desktop.

Encrypted LVM wrongly reports lack of Apple boot partition

When selecting the "Guided - use entire disk and set up encrypted LVM" partition option of the alternate/mini ISOs you maybe warned that you have not created a Apple boot partition (see bug). This is a misleading warning and you should choose to install anyway.

No icons in Unity launcher and white background

See bug. Logout and log back into a Ubuntu 2D session (the user account for the live cd is "ubuntu" and has no password - just press return if prompted for it). Nouveau users can use the nouveau.noaccel=1 yaboot parameter with the live CD. This will disable acceleration and take you into a Ubuntu 2D session. Obviously, disabling all acceleration is not great, so try not to use this on an installed system. See the Configure Graphics section of the FAQ.

Firefox only shows half the page

See the Nvidia section of the FAQ.

b43 (Airport Extreme) hangs at missing firmware

Not just a PowerPC issue, but it seems the odd computer with a b43 wireless device hangs at boot. If the last thing you see is a message about missing firmware this could be your problem. See the bug report.

A workaround is to pass the b43 an unkown parameter as a kernel argument (in the bug report they use the parameter "blacklist" although you could actually use anything). The 'blacklist' parameter is supposedly significant to the debian-installer, although from reports it is likely you will have to use the parameter on both a live and installed system until you download the firmware. At the yaboot prompt use (for live CD and installed system respectively):

live b43.blacklist=yes
Linux b43.blacklist=yes

The problem is fixed when you install the firmware. See the question "Will my wireless work?" for how to do this. To get the wifi working you may have to remove b43 from the list in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.local (it may of been automatically added to this file by the installer).

No sound

See this question in the troubleshooting section of the FAQ.

Mplayer/vlc doesn't work on G3 macs because of altivec instructions

See bug. Use a different mediaplayer, install an older version (from 10.04 lucid?), or compile your own version without altivec support.

Abiword crashing

Not just a PowerPC issue. See thread.

Wifi signal strength not shown

See bug report. Please confirm.

PowerMac 11,2

FIXED IN KERNEL UPDATE Certain dual core G5 powermacs do not work - bug. See linuxppc-dev thread.

Installing to USB

If you want to install a proper system onto a USB device in 12.04 then it is likely the automatic configuration of your yaboot bootloader will fail and consequently the system will not automatically boot (see bug). For this reason it is recommended to install versions before 12.10 using the alternate/mini ISOs as they allow the bootloader stage to be skipped (the live ISO in 12.04 will not complete properly unless you patch the yaboot-installer file).

11.10 Oneiric Ocelot

Mini iso fails to recognize hard drive

The mini iso (debian-installer or d-i) is missing the pata_macio module. If your machine requires this module then you may get some sort of message telling you that your hard drive has not been recognised. The kernel team are already aware of this and it will be fixed in 12.04.

The easiest solution is to install 11.04 and immediately upgrade. If you are following the instructions in the PowerPC FAQ then install 11.04 cli, login and then use the command

sudo do-release-upgrade -d

to upgrade. Reboot to make sure it is working correctly with the command

sudo reboot

See below if you have a problem on reboot following an upgrade. When you have the 11.10 command line working you can then install the desktop of your choice as described in the PowerPC FAQ.

The quicker solution is to insmod the pata_macio.ko file. Download the correct kernel image deb file, open it using archive manager and extract the /lib/modules/3.0.0-12-powerpc/kernel/drivers/ata/pata_macio.ko file. Save it somewhere that you can acces when running the mini iso. Drop to a shell, mount where you have stored the file and use the insmod command.

Busybox shell after upgrade

The same module can cause problems after an upgrade to 11.10. At the Busybox (intramfs) prompt type the commands:

modprobe pata_macio
exit

The boot should then hopefully resume. Once you login, you can use these additional commands to make it permanent:

echo pata_macio | sudo tee -a /etc/initramfs-tools/modules
sudo update-initramfs -u

The above is just a fancy way of adding the word pata_macio to the end of the modules file. You could alternatively type sudo nano /etc/initramfs-tools/modules to open the file and add the word on a new line yourself. You must always run update-initramfs -u for the changes to take effect. Reboot using the command sudo reboot to check that it is working.

This is not solely an Ubuntu problem (for example, there are numerous messages on the Debian PowerPC mailing list about it), but the 11.10 release did come before a hardware detect patch could be included.

If the boot didn't resume with the 'modprobe' command then you may have to perform some additional steps. The pata_macio module is a new ata controller driver and its use means that hard drives have been renamed from hda to sda. You may have to adjust your yaboot.conf file accordingly.

At the second yaboot prompt type Linux root=/dev/sda3 . That is assuming you have a standard Ubuntu install on partition 3. If you are dual-booting then you may have linux installed on another partition. The boot should proceed normally or you may have to modprobe the pata_macio module as described above.

Once booted and logged in, open yaboot.conf with the command: sudo nano /etc/yaboot.conf

Change any references of hda to sda. When you've made and saved your changes use the command sudo ybin -v to copy it across to the boot partition. Type man yaboot.conf for an explanation of what it all means.

This thread details the problem more. Do not use yabootconfig as recommended in the thread, but edit the yaboot.conf file yourself. Some users may also have to pass an ofboot argument to the ybin command.

You should also be able to boot using the 11.04 kernel image. At the second yaboot prompt type old . This will work until you update your kernel image.

Blank screen or flashing question mark after running ybin

This occurs because ofpath (called by ybin) can't work out the correct openfirmware path to the boot partition. You need to add an ofboot line to your yaboot.conf. See the PowerPC FAQ question "I've lost yaboot what can Ido?". Somehow this can affect the video as well (xorg should be unaffected it is only the openfirmware(?) framebuffer). Once you run ybin again with the correct ofboot value it should fix itself, but you could also reset the PRAM to correct the video problem.

Ubuntu-desktop won't install

An update has caused the PowerPC unity package to become out of sync with the unity-common package. The workaround is described here.

Xorg crashes with radeon UMS

If you are runnig kwin or (an old 'stable' version of) compiz you may experience X crashing occasionaly (actually pretty frequently if you resize windows in 'normal' mode). This is probably caused by the xserver-xorg-core package. Installing a version before xorg-server-1.10.2-1ubuntu1 seems to fix things although you will have to downgrade/adjust your mesa packages too. Alternatively, use the patch in comment 40 of this bug report (see FAQ for compile instructions).

Poor colours/distortion with Ubuntu session

A few G5 users with nVidia cards (please ammend this if the problem is more widespread) have reported poor colours running the default Ubuntu session. Try logging out and - if you can see it - at the login screen change to a Ubuntu 2D session. You do this by clicking the cog next to your username. When you log back in you should have correct colours. If you don't then you need to configure your graphics as per the PowerPC FAQ.

nv driver removed from repository

If you want to continue to use the nv driver (instead of nouveau) then you'll need to compile it. Instructions to do so are here.

11.04 Natty Narwhal

Poor colours in Unity-2D

If you are using the 'Unity' interface in 11.04 and are seeing awful colours, then this is a known problem (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/unity-2d/+bug/758782|bug) with the unity-2d package and is not a graphics problem. Compile/install a newer version of unity-2d or upgrade to 11.10. The Classic session (which you can select if you log out) is not affected by this problem.

Udev/Udisks bug

If you find things are inexplicably slow (or your fan is coming on a lot) then check your CPU usage by running the "top" command from the terminal. The command displays system resources and a list of processes currently being managed by the Linux kernel. If you see "0.0%id" (or a very low number) in the Cpu(s) line then your machine has no spare CPU time. If gvfs-gdu-volume and udisks-daemon are at the top of the processes list then you may be suffering from the udev/udisks bug described in this thread. The thread also contains some extra Xubuntu related fixes.

The bug is caused by the Apple cdrom drives not behaving 'normally'. If you put a CD in the drive you should see a change in the CPU usage. The bug is fixed in 11.10.

Powernowd

Powernowd has been removed from 11.04 because somebody deemed it to be redundant. However, it can still be easily installed. See the PowerPC FAQ.

Lubuntu-desktop won't install

In both 10.10 and 11.04 the lubuntu-desktop dependency on the chromium browser has not been removed for PowerPC. Therefore, the lubuntu-desktop meta package will not install. The workaround is described here.

Notification bubble

To change what the notifications bubble looks like in Lubuntu/Xubuntu you can open the terminal and type notification-properties. I suffered from this bug so I replaced notification-daemon with notify-osd (used in standard ubuntu). This should be fixed in 11.10.

Gnome-mplayer won't install

You need to first get and install a package that is missing from 11.04, but is in 10.10.

wget -P/tmp http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/pool/universe/x/x264/libx264-98_0.98.1653+git88b90d9-3ubuntu2_powerpc.deb
sudo dpkg -i /tmp/libx264-98_0.98.1653+git88b90d9-3ubuntu2_powerpc.deb

You can then install gnome-mplayer normally.

Suspend does not work out-of-the-box with radeon cards

See bug. It is easy to fix:

Add radeonfb to the /etc/modules and /etc/initramfs-tools/modules files, following the advice of this question in the PowerPCFAQ. You'll also need to edit your yaboot.conf file to make the video=offb:off yaboot parameter permanent.

10.04 Lucid Lynx

CDs / DVDs not recognized

If you insert a disk, nothing happens, nothing gets mounted. This problem is known since Karmic (see, e.g. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1323153 or https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-mount/+bug/507113).

You may try the following workaround:

Ensure that your /etc/fstab has no entry for your cd/dvd drive.(!)
Insert a disk into the drive and then issue the following command on the terminal (either as root or per sudo):
udisks --poll-for-media <your device>
(where <your device> must be replaced by the appropriate device, e.g., /dev/hdb) and the disk appears as by magic. Eject / unmount then works as expected. You should repeat this command every time after the content of the drive changed (i.e., also after eject) to make it work properly.
(Optional:) There is a bug report (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/udisks/+bug/590448) that you can confim. Thanks.
CD drive related fixes can be found here http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1817971.

G4 iBook and AlBook fan

The command that should make sure you have a working iBook and AlBook G4 fan in linux is:

sudo modprobe therm_adt746x

To automate this add therm_adt746x on a new line in the file /etc/modules when you have installed. Future versions of Ubuntu should add therm_adt746x to the list for you, but 10.04 won't. You can check/edit what you have with the command

sudo nano /etc/modules

You'll need to reboot before any changes take effect (sudo reboot).

The fan may not work using the alternate CD or mini iso (it is the same when installing Debian). This is the case with all version up to 12.04 when the therm_adt746x module is built into the kernel. With versions before 12.04 you could run into overheating issues if you decide to do some CPU intensive thing like shrinking a large partition that's going to take ages! So don't do it! Use a live CD or an existing linux/mac install to do this from where you can easily modprobe the module.

Using the alternate/mini iso it's obviously a good idea to keep a good level of circulation around the *Book, and if you are cautious (sensible?) then during the base installation only you could maybe setup an external fan to blow on the *Book or maybe sit it on something cool? It is possible to insmod the module - see the PowerPC FAQ.

Hard drive not recognized

If you have a 'Blue&White' G3 or a 'Yikes!' G4 machine and during the installation of 10.04 or 10.10 you get a message asking you to select a disk drive driver then you may be suffering from this bug. You may have to start with an install of 8.04 and upgrade to 10.04 or 10.10. The releases 11.04 and 11.10 have the module pata_cmd64x.

Busybox shell with LVM

See this thread.

Processor Scaling

Note: The PowerPC FAQ has alternative instructions to this.

After the installation there is no cpu frequency scaling. Only the userspace governor works with powerpc CPUs, and, to my experiency only the powernowd package (don't use cpudyn as proposed below). To enable it permanently, perform the following steps. Edit /etc/init.d/ondemand and replace ondemand by userspace. Install the sysfsutils package. Edit /etc/sysfs.conf, and search for the userspace lines to uncomment (or add them to the end). The result should look like:

# Use userspace CPU frequency governor and set initial speed
devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor = userspace
devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_setspeed = <your minimal frequency>

where <your minimal frequency> should be replaced by a frequecy of your choice determined by

sudo cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/*/cpufreq/scaling_available_frequencies

Reboot. You may check for success by adding the CPU Frequency Monitor Applet to your panel.

9.10 Karmic Koala

No external monitor on G4 iBook

Since Ubuntu moved to xrandr, the external VGA-output is no longer properly detected.

Low screen resolution on G3 iBook

The complete display information for G3 iBooks is not always detected, leaving the system with only 800x600 as the resolution. This can be overridden by editing the Xorg configuration (e.g. sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf from the Terminal) and replacing its contents with the following:

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "ATI Rage 128"
        Driver          "r128"
        BusID           "PCI:0:16:0"
        Option          "UseFBDev" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "Configured Monitor"
        HorizSync       60-60
        VertRefresh     43-117
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier      "Default Screen"
        Monitor         "Configured Monitor"
        Device          "Configured Video Device"
        DefaultDepth    24
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth 24
                Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

9.04 Jaunty Jackalope

Desktop effects are broken (ATI only)

A bug currently prevents desktop effects (DRI) from working properly on PowerPC machines with ATI Radeon video cards. As a result, Desktop effects, OpenGL screensavers and any 3D based applications are very slow (about 100 FPs while running glxgears) due to 3D software emulation.

To check, run in a terminal window :

lspci | grep VGA

You should have something like (depending of your ATI Radeon controller)

0000:00:10.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon RV250 If [Radeon 9000] (rev 01)

Then to benchmark the 3D capabilities, type :

glxgears

For a Radeon controller between 1000 and 2000 FPs are normal performance.

A workaround is to edit xorg.conf and add the following line to the "Device" section:

Option "BusType" "PCI"

This workaround can help to reach a decent framerate (about 500 fps for a RV280).

ref: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-ports/+bug/345542

ref: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1130173

The issue can be definitively solved by upgrading the linux kernel (about 1250 fps for a RV280).

ref: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1145849

KDE desktop icons are inverted

Desktop icons on Kubuntu/KDE are rendered with colors inverted. There is no known workaround (but if you know of one, please edit this).

ref: https://bugs.launchpad.net/kdelibs/+bug/374217

Live CD boot hangs

Use "live-nosplash-powerpc" command at the Live CD "boot:" prompt

8.10 PowerPc alternate install

Installer cannot detect CD-ROM

If the installer says "No common CD-ROM drive was detected" and asks for a driver floppy when istalling on a G4 Powerbook, answer no to "load from a driver floppy?", no to "Manually select a CD-ROM module and device?", and you will get a red screen with "Installation step failed". Hit "Continue". You will see the installer main menu. Press FN-option-F2 to bring up another console. Press Enter to activate the console. At the busybox prompt (~ #), enter:

modprobe ide-scsi

then press Fn-option-F1 to get back to the installer main menu, and choose "Detect and mount CD-ROM".

8.04 PowerPc alternate install

Formatting of new partitions fails

After creating partitions for / /home swap and a extra data Partition /data and a new world partition for yaboot the installation stops with the following error:

"failed to remove conflicting files. The installer needs to remove operating system files from the install target, but was unable to do so. The install cannot continue"

Here is the solution:

The problem was, that the advice of the installer programme for the last partition was to mount it on /usr. When I choose to use it as new world partition, the choice for choosing a mountpoint disappears. This should be ok, but there seems to be a bug, because the installer still thinks that this partition should be mounted on /usr and then gives the error message above, because it thinks it can't remove operating system files from /usr.

This problem can easily be resolved, if you first choose "don't use" for the partition overwriting the /usr option and second choose to use the partition as new world partition.

Start Up Machine

After install and reboot only a blank (black) screen is displayed. Put the alternate install CD inside, press c for boot from CDROM, when the prompt appears, type rescue end press return, in this way start in rescue mode, choose the partition in which you installed the root file system and modify /etc/initramfs-tools/modules

ide-disk

and run

sudo update-initramfs -u

Then modify /etc/yaboot.conf adding a video=... instruction to the append directive.

image=/vmlinux
        label=Linux
        read-only
        initrd=/initrd.img
        append="quiet splash video=radeonfb:1024x768"

Finally run

sudo ybin -v

Sound

As with many others releases of Ubuntu, the PowerPc distro requires an addition to /etc/modules to load the sound module on boot.

snd-powermac

and for activate for current session:

sudo modprobe snd-powermac

LCD brightness contrast

modify

/etc/usplash.conf

put

xres=1024
yres=768

run

sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r`

Suspend / Resume

On 8.04 remove the hald-addon-pmu if you want suspend / resume to work.

stop HAL daemon

sudo /etc/init.d/hal stop

sudo rm /usr/lib/hal/hald-addon-pmu

restart HAL daemon

sudo /etc/init.d/hal start

If a blank or noisy screen shows on resume create the following file at /etc/power/scripd.d/vt_switch

case "$1" in
  suspend)
        fgconsole > /tmp/saved-fg-console
        chvt 12
    ;;
  resume)
        CONSOLE=`cat /tmp/saved-fg-console`
        rm /tmp/saved-fg-console
        chvt $CONSOLE
    ;;
esac

and make the symbolic link in /etc/power/event.d

ln -s /etc/power/event.d/vt_switch /etc/power/script.d/vt_switch

Speed up Ubuntu

Remove the packages pulseaudio and gstreamer-pulseaudio,

From within synaptic specify complete remove with configuration files. PulseAudio frequently causes FireFox to crash and alsa and is faster.

keyboard backlight

modify /etc/modules and append i2c-dev

Get the last version of pbbuttonsd and install it

wget http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/pbbuttons/pbbuttonsd-0.8.1a.tar.gz?download
tar zxvf pbbuttonsd-0.8.1a.tar.gz
cd pbbuttonsd-0.8.1a
./configure LAPTOP=pb

make
make install

on file pbbuttonsd

/etc/rc.d/init.d/

change the DEAMON

#DAEMON=/usr/bin/pbbuttonsd
DAEMON=/usr/local/bin/pbbuttonsd

restart

 /etc/rc.d/init.d/pbbuttonsd restart

Processor Scaling

After the installation there is no cpu frequency scaling

Solution A:

modify

/etc/init.d/powernowd

after start(), comment the following lines:

start() {
        log_begin_msg "Starting $DESC... "
        #if use_ondemand
        #then
        #    log_end_msg 0
        #    return 0
        #fi
        if check_kernel
        then

Solution B:

Instead of powernow use cpudyn

apt-get remove powernowd

apt-get install cpudyn

wifi on PowerBook G4 17

After installation is not enabled the wifi is needed to install b43-fwcutter

apt-get install b43-fwcutter

video on PowerBook G4 17

After installation the the graphic mode configuration is very leasy.

My /etc/X11/xorg.conf configuration file looks like this:

# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf(5) manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
#   sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Files"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
        # path to defoma fonts
        FontPath        "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
        Load    "i2c"
        Load    "bitmap"
        Load    "ddc"
        Load    "dri"
        Load    "extmod"
        Load    "freetype"
        Load    "glx"
        Load    "int10"
        Load    "vbe"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Generic Keyboard"
        Driver          "kbd"
        Option          "CoreKeyboard"
        Option          "XkbRules"      "xorg"
        Option          "XkbModel"      "pc105"
        Option          "XkbLayout"     "us"
        Option          "XkbOptions"    "lv3:lwin_switch"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Configured Mouse"
        Driver          "mouse"
        Option          "CorePointer"
        Option          "Device"                "/dev/input/mice"
        Option          "Protocol"              "ImPS/2"
        Option          "ZAxisMapping"          "4 5"
        Option          "Emulate3Buttons"       "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Synaptics Touchpad"
        Driver          "synaptics"
        Option          "SendCoreEvents"        "true"
        Option          "Device"                "/dev/psaux"
        Option          "Protocol"              "auto-dev"
        Option          "HorizScrollDelta"      "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Driver          "wacom"
        Identifier      "stylus"
        Option          "Device"        "/dev/input/wacom"
        Option          "Type"          "stylus"
        Option          "ForceDevice"   "ISDV4"         # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Driver          "wacom"
        Identifier      "eraser"
        Option          "Device"        "/dev/input/wacom"
        Option          "Type"          "eraser"
        Option          "ForceDevice"   "ISDV4"         # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Driver          "wacom"
        Identifier      "cursor"
        Option          "Device"        "/dev/input/wacom"
        Option          "Type"          "cursor"
        Option          "ForceDevice"   "ISDV4"         # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "ATI Technologies Inc RV350 [Mobility Radeon 9600 M10]"
        Driver          "ati"
        BusID           "PCI:0:16:0"
        Option          "UseFBDev"              "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "Color LCD"
        Option          "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier      "Default Screen"
        Device          "ATI Technologies Inc RV350 [Mobility Radeon 9600 M10]"
        Monitor         "Color LCD"
        DefaultDepth    24
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           1
                Modes           "1440x900"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           4
                Modes           "1440x900"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           8
                Modes           "1440x900"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           15
                Modes           "1440x900"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           16
                Modes           "1440x900"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           24
                Modes           "1440x900"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier      "Default Layout"
        Screen          "Default Screen"
        InputDevice     "Generic Keyboard"
        InputDevice     "Configured Mouse"
        InputDevice     "stylus"        "SendCoreEvents"
        InputDevice     "cursor"        "SendCoreEvents"
        InputDevice     "eraser"        "SendCoreEvents"
        InputDevice     "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
        Mode    0666
EndSection

8.04 PowerPC LiveCd will not boot on iBookG4

Hold down 'c' to boot the cd. At the livecd prompt (which is yaboot), type the following

 live-nosplash-powerpc modprobe ide-core video=radeonfb:1024x768-24@60

Have patience because it should take a while to boot.

8.04 PowerPC brightness buttons on iBookG4 12"

There is a problem with the fn+F1 and fn+F2 buttons regulating the display brightness. An easy way to work around this problem is to make some changes at the yaboot.conf file.

Open the file with an editor:

sudo gedit /etc/yaboot.conf

find and replace the following:

image=/boot/vmlinux
        label=Linux
        read-only
        initrd=/boot/initrd.img
        append="nosplash video=radeonfb:1024x768-24@60"

image=/boot/vmlinux.old
        label=old
        read-only
        initrd=/boot/initrd.img.old
        append="nosplash video=radeonfb:1024x768-24@60"

make your changes permanent:

sudo ybin -v -C /etc/yaboot.conf

and now the fn+F1 and the fn+F2 buttons should work.

For longer instructions, also see forum thread http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=814844

Pre Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron

Gutsy CDs will not boot

You of course hold down 'c' to boot from the cd. At the livecd prompt (yaboot), press tab to see the list of bootable kernels. We recommend trying

live-nosplash-powerpc video=ofonly

If it stops at busybox shell

This happens because the ide module needed to read the root filesystem does not get loaded. At the busybox (intramfs) prompt type

modprobe ide-core
exit

Booting should then continue. If this does not help, restart and try adding

break=top

to the earlier boot string. You can do this at yaboot, by typing

live break=top

Replace live by the kernel you wish to boot. For the earlier command, it would be

live-nosplash-powerpc video=ofonly break=top

Post install

Once you have installed add the line

ide-core

to /etc/initramfs-tools/modules and run

sudo update-initramfs -u

ref: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-source-2.6.22/+bug/126337

Gnome wont load due to wrong date

If the system clock is set before 1970 Gnome will not start. See UbuntuDateBug

Sound problems

There is a kernel bug that causes processes play sounds to hang. When Gnome plays its startup sound it hangs. You may hear the first fraction of a second of the sound.

Press CTRL+ALT+F1. Log in at the text terminal, if needed. Type

killall esd

and press enter. Press CTRL+ALT+F7 to return to the desktop. Go to Gnome's Sound Prefs and uncheck the 'ESD' box, this will allow stop the hang in future log ins.

ref: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-source-2.6.22/+bug/87652

Blank screen on iMac G3

Do you get a blank screen after booting? The problem is that xorg.conf is not set up properly for the iMac G3.

Follow these steps to fix xorg.conf:

After booting is complete:

Type: ctrl-option-F1 (should give you a command prompt, may take a couple of tries)
Type: sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf (return)
In the Monitor section, change "HorizSync" to 58-62 and "VertRefresh" to 75-117.
Disable DRI. In the Module section, put a hash mark (#) at the beginning of the line containing "load dri". If you have no Module section, make one like this:
```
Section "Module"
   Disable "glx"
   Disable "dri"
EndSection
```
Type: ctrl-O (return) to write edited file
Type: ctrl-X to exit nano back to command line
Type: sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart (return) to restart Gnome. (In Dapper and Edgy, the restart command is broken. Use sudo killall -HUP gdm instead.)

For longer instructions, also see forum thread http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=405934

Wont suspend when you close the lid

There is some problem with gnome-power-manager on PowerPC. One way around is to use pbbuttons instead. make sure pbbuttonsd is installed. Then disable gnome-power-manager from starting. This can be done in System->Preferences->Sessions. If this is not effective you may need to remove gnome-power-manager. If you remove the gnome-power-manager be careful not to remove the gnome-session as well. Without it, GNOME does not work. If you accidentally remove it: reboot and at the login screen, press Ctrl-Alt-F1; login and type:

  sudo apt-get install gnome-session

If your system appears to suspend and resume, but only brings you back to a frozen screen, then it may be due to bug https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/144305 . To work around this create the following file at /etc/power/event.d/vt_switch

case "$1" in
  suspend)
        fgconsole > /tmp/saved-fg-console
        chvt 12
    ;;
  resume)
        CONSOLE=`cat /tmp/saved-fg-console`
        rm /tmp/saved-fg-console
        chvt $CONSOLE
    ;;
esac

and make sure it is executable

sudo chmod +x /etc/power/event.d/vt_switch

PowerPCKnownIssues (last edited 2015-10-11 23:35:54 by ip70-173-202-4)