ozziesironmanoffroad

As stated I decided to put ubuntu on my iBook cuz os x tiger was lagging a bit. Linux seems faster so far. Except I have no drivers except Internet. My screen is split into two.

I have tried various xorg.conf files, and they have all rendered gnome (GUI) unreadable/unusable with the error "fatal error no screens found".

I know there are a lot of Linux gurus here. Could I get some help with this?

Magnusian

Could you post the full specs of the laptop? "PowerPC iBook G3" is as vague as asking for headgasket help on a "3rd gen pickup." Please open a terminal, type "dmesg" at the command line, hit enter, and then copy and paste the output to here (use code tags).

Also, if you could post the contents of your xorg.conf, that would help too. The location of this file too, just to make sure you're not editing the example config, type "pwd" at the command line when you are in the directory ("cd" to it like in DOS/Windows command line; use "ls" to list the directory contents so you can find your way ("dir" is an alias for "ls")) it's located it to give you the full path.

You may find you need different video drivers in order for X to work properly, or at least for it to support the display modes you're trying to set in the config.

Have you been editing the config manually or have you been using the xorgconfig utility? Sometimes *nix newbs jump right into the config files without truly understanding them, or they'll make a small syntax mistake. The xorgconfig utility is usually helpful enough to get the xserver running, even if it's not perfect.

Also, as a newbie, there is one command (well, "commands" technically aren't commands, so much as they are a basic set of software utilities that make the system useful, as such some distros will have some commands and not others) and only one command that is your friend, which is called "man". Type "man man" to find out more.

You really could've saved yourself a lot of trouble by installing an X11 server (via MacPorts, everyone using OSX needs MacPorts, if you don't have it, get it and see the real potential of your fingerpaint and crayons OS) on your OSX Tiger install, test until it works (which would be hard to not get to work since OSX already has the right driver for video), and make it your default windowing system (disable that aqua/cocoa trash) with whatever desktop environment you'd like, you seem to prefer Gnome, but I highly recommend Fluxbox or Blackbox. You'd also likely notice a substantial performance increase, the Mac GUI is a resource hog that makes Aero seem lightweight.

ozziesironmanoffroad

System specs are

iBook G3
PowerPC processor 600MHz
20gb hard drive
cdrw/DVD rom drive
384mb ram
ATI Rage Mobility 8mb

aside from that I dont know until I get home. The system was built in the later part of 2001.

Magnusian

An ATI Rage series, eh? Looks like you just had to go and pick the hardest series of video cards to get working properly with X11. Fear not, however, it is possible to get working, but you might not end up being able to use hardware acceleration.

Knowing what kind of screen your laptop (model, native resolution, H refresh, V refresh, etc) has would also be helpful in getting things to work. If the screen split you mentioned in the OP is what I think it is, it's because you have the wrong display mode set and laptops can be pretty picky about everything.

ozziesironmanoffroad

It is a dual USB model, first one they started making. I'll find out tonight the full specs.
And as for the xorg file being the right one, if I plug in the values, the system won't boot into GUI. Just command. When I try to auto create the xorg file, I get a list of drivers, including rage, but then it says found error 7. Then quitting. Then reloads 7. Then stops with a bus error. Then it returns me to the prompt.

ozziesironmanoffroad

IMG]http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/ozziesironman/IMG_0006.jpg[/IMG]

Magnusian

No idea what dual USB model anything you mean, just make sure you give me the output from "dmesg" when you get home, that'll tell me the full specs.
Okay, it is the right one, but x is failing to start, also I am gonna assume you have things setup (I believe this is the default behaviour in ubunturd) so that it does try to start an x server when you boot. If you don't see a "starting x11 server" or something similar during boot, then it's actually not attempting to start the x server, type "startx" if this is the case.
Okay, here's the tricky bit, the rage driver you're selecting is actually the wrong rage driver, it's for much older Rages. The driver you need is here: http://gatos.sourceforge.net/ati.2.php It actually does support hardware accel. If your laptop has video in, that feature will -never- work with these (or any) drivers.

ozziesironmanoffroad

THANK YOU!! That's what I've been looking for!! I'll try it when I get home!!
And ubunturd? Ubuntu sucks?

ozziesironmanoffroad

nick@nick-iBook:~$ dmesg
[ 0.000000] Using PowerMac machine description
[ 0.000000] Total memory = 384MB; using 1024kB for hash table (at cff00000)
[ 0.000000] Initializing cgroup subsys cpuset
[ 0.000000] Linux version 2.6.31-14-powerpc (buildd@adare) (gcc version 4.4.1 (Ubuntu 4.4.1-4ubuntu8) ) #48-Ubuntu Fri Oct 16 14:11:44 UTC 2009 (Ubuntu 2.6.31-14.48-powerpc)
[ 0.000000] Found initrd at 0xc1c00000:0xc23cd000
[ 0.000000] Found UniNorth memory controller & host bridge @ 0xf8000000 revision: 0xc0
[ 0.000000] Mapped at 0xff7c0000
[ 0.000000] Found a Pangea mac-io controller, rev: 0, mapped at 0xff740000
[ 0.000000] Processor NAP mode on idle enabled.
[ 0.000000] PowerMac motherboard: iBook 2
[ 0.000000] via-pmu: Server Mode is disabled
[ 0.000000] PMU driver v2 initialized for Core99, firmware: 0c
[ 0.000000] console [udbg0] enabled
[ 0.000000] Found UniNorth PCI host bridge at 0x00000000f0000000. Firmware bus number: 0->0
[ 0.000000] PCI host bridge /pci@f0000000 ranges:
[ 0.000000] MEM 0x00000000f1000000..0x00000000f1ffffff -> 0x00000000f1000000
[ 0.000000] IO 0x00000000f0000000..0x00000000f07fffff -> 0x0000000000000000
[ 0.000000] MEM 0x0000000090000000..0x000000009fffffff -> 0x0000000090000000

ozziesironmanoffroad

and my xorg.conf file is blank.
looking at the file it downloaded, it doesnt resemble the file at all mentioned on the guide. the file downloaded is like AVIEW, or AVVIEW, something like that, makes no mention of ATI. so i didnt try loading it. plus, i dont know how to make the usr directory point to the location of the file.

i did notice something though... the laptop got rather warm in a short time... does Mac OS X manage the processor and everything the right way, where linux just goes full speed all the time? i had it on my lap for maybe 10-15 mins and it got pretty hot. in OSX it never did that.

Magnusian

Basically, in the world of UNIX and UNIX-like OSes everything can easily become a "religious" debate. You'll find that as you get more into the "*nix scene" that you will develop a deep love of certain GNU/Linux distros, or one of the UNIX variants, and a deep loathing and hatred of others. Don't worry, it's part of the natural *nix geek progression into madness and elitism (geek "puberty"). Ubuntu is a distro that I find distasteful because of how "simple" it is but, for beginners it's probably one of the best, especially if you are a slow learner. Eventually you will likely find yourself moving onto something else "more suited to your needs" as you become more proficient. I would actually consider D*** Small Linux, which is a minimal footprint distro (amongst many, see: http://www.distrowatch.com/ ) aimed at both PCs and embedded systems, or NetBSD (which will run on a coat-hanger and bubblegum) if I was the owner of your laptop given it's age and specs. Well, since it's a Mac, I'd probably use it for plinking, but if I had a laptop of similar spec, those are what I'd look at running on it.

I simply cannot stress enough the importance of command-line in these kind of operating systems. In most cases, the quickest way to do something is from a text terminal, if you need a GUI, just make sure to have an xterm (or gterm if that if your wont) window open. APT is your friend since Ubuntu is based on Debian. Make sure to "man apt" and "man apt-get" immediately, this is how you get software and updates, never use the GUI-based update interface as it is frequently broken. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Packaging_Tool

E: Whoa, where did those posts come from... uh... one sec.

ozziesironmanoffroad

i dont... no. im back at the GUI, but thats about it. i dont know how to install the driver... *embarrassed grin* and i dont understand the instructions the site gave. kind of like reading stereo instructions.

Magnusian

Hmmm, I was hoping for slightly more meaningful output from that dmesg, but it also tells me the answer for something else.

Did you click the link to goto their download area? Ignore the big green button, that is for other software. On the list below, it shows "ati.4.4.0_ X.org 6.7.0 driver" which you can grab right here. Don't use the xfree driver!
Okay, here's what's up with that, your laptop has a Power Management Unit (PMU), which thankfully is supported (and you already have the driver installed for it according to that dmesg) by Ubuntu. The reason for the heat is, yes, it is just going full speed all the time right now. The good news? You can fix this.

Here's an install guide for throwing Debian on the iBook 2, wow, this sure looks like it would contain some helpful hints for getting X11 running, as well as turning down the heat. http://www.publicstatic.net/ibook/

Oh, and even one for Ubuntu 9.10! Sweet! Golly, I would definitely want to reference both of these, as well as "man" every command they tell me to use. Hey, they actually seem kinda similar. http://blog.computerant.com/2010/04/...distributions/

Since you have the PMU stuff already, you might be able to avoid the kernel update step, but I'd do it anyways.

ozziesironmanoffroad

Ok updated to 10.04. Got the driver but no idea how to install it lol. So far it's running much slower than osx. If I can't figure out how to speed it up I'll borrow a copy of tiger and reload.

Magnusian

What part of installing the driver are you having trouble with?

Here is what you need to do:

Open a terminal and navigate to where you downloaded the tarball. Type "pwd" and note the location and exact name of the tarball. Now navigate to usr/ by entering "cd /." and then "cd usr/" and unpack the tarball by using "tar zxvf /the/location/you/downloaded/tarball/too/driver.tar.gz". Then rerun the xorgconfig tool and see if you can get X11 running.

Should this fail at any point, please tell me what happened and post the output from the terminal.

As for the speed issues, we can work on that after you get X11 running first. Don't go back to OSX Tiger, you've gotten this far already and once things are done, it'll have much better performance.

ozziesironmanoffroad

sorry i havent really had access to a computer lately, ive been putting in 12 -14 hour days 6 days a week, so i havent really been on much. I abandoned the linux on the iBook, and put tiger back on it. maybe when i get some time (and money), ill upgrade the hard drive in it (my buddy works at a laptop repair place, and can get me a 60GB notebook hard drive cheap, and put it in for me free also), and ill set up a dual boot.
or whenever i have a long block of free time ill retry this.
thanks again for the time and advice you've given me, i really, truly appreciate it.!

Magnusian

No problem man, if you put Tiger back on, I wouldn't really consider dual-booting. If you want to do *nix stuff, you can do it in OSX just as well as any other *nix. You should look into installing MacPorts (I'm going to keep plugging this until every Mac user uses it, why wouldn't you want something like Ports/Portage/APT?) which will give you quick and easy access to installing and running most *nix software. One of the first packages you should install is Linux Binary Support (if it's needed, OSX is based a bit on FreeBSD which requires this package to run Linux software), which will allow you to use GNU/Linux stuff as well as UNIX stuff.