Re: Powerbook Keyboard FYI


Subject: Re: Powerbook Keyboard FYI
From: Adam Oliner (adam@rpdesign.com)
Date: Thu Aug 03 2000 - 10:11:07 MDT


Wow, you just saved me untold hours down the road. Thank you.

Did you have to use an external mouse, or did the touchpad work fine?

>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.

-- 

Adam Oliner Director of Technology Reference Point Design <http://www.rpdesign.com>



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