Subject: Re: Powerbook Keyboard FYI
From: Olivier van Helden (magic@samarkande.net)
Date: Thu Aug 03 2000 - 09:58:01 MDT
Adam,
I installed YDL from the ISO images, downloaded on YD ftp site
Many of the solutions to my problems were found on faqs and personal web pages.
Anyway, I had mainly problems with:
- burning the cd
- installation freeze (couldn't find the keyboard)
- XWindows (couldn't find the trackpad, nor an USB mouse)
- the keytables (Azerty keyboard)
- Airport
Here's what I did:
- I have a new Firewire cd-burner, which is now sold with a light
version Adaptec Toast. I had to buy the Pro version to be able to
burn ISO cd-rom from the images
- the vmlinux image provided on YD's ftp site is incompatible with
this Powerbook and I got a freezed screen after startup (because of a
problem with the keyboard driver, I guess). I found a patched version
on Benjamin Herrenschmidt's page:
http://ppclinux.apple.com/~benh/
I downloaded vmlinux-2.2.17pre13-ben1.gz and followed instructions on
chris@modctek.com's page "Adventures in Linux"
http://www.modctek.com/linux_report.htm
- Chris mentions on this page he hasn't yet resolved the problem for
X configuration. Well. I went back on Ben's page, downloaded the
patched modules (modules-2.2.17pre13-ben1.tar.gz) and followed Ben's
instructions (see the warning about new USB layer).
- I have a Belgian azerty keyboard. The keytables provided with the
distribution don't handle correctly some of the keys ("<", ">",
etc.)... And I couldn't find an easy way to configure an azerty
keytable in XWindows. I found a temporary solution, but it is not
perfect. I did correct this kind of stuff a couple of years ago with
another mac and another distrubution, but I couldn't find enough
energy to do it again, yet ;-)
- I use mainly Airport for my network connectivity (with a base
station at work, and with a software base station on an iMac at
home). The distribution includes support for Wireless, but hasn't
airport specific drivers. I downloaded Version 0.9.3 on Ben's page,
and followed the instructions... But it doesn't work yet, I'll have
to investigate further more...
Well, that's it, I think.
About the installation on another drive, I guess it could be more
easy, as you won't have to backup and restore your MacOS data to
repartition the primary disk. But you'll have to be carefull about
the changes it implies in all the configurations (e.a. in
Yaboot.conf). When I baught the Mac, I knew I was about to install
some version of Linux on it, so I directly repartitioned the disk
with a 2Gb space left unused for Linux.
I hope this will help you (actually, you won't have to make a long
search to find Ben and Chris' pages).
Don't hesitate to tell me if you find usefull informations.
Regards.
>Olivier,
>
>I have a FireWire Powerbook (500 MHz, 256 MB, 12 GB) and am
>purchasing an 8 GB VST bay drive, on which I will be partitioning
>and installing Yellow Dog CS1.2.
>
>Since you have installed onto a FWPB before, I am wondering if you
>could share the speed bumps you encountered during the install. Will
>it be more difficult for me since I'm installing onto a separate
>drive, or easier? Any help you could provide would be most
>appreciated.
>
>Thanks in advance.
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