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Lubuntu 16.04 Remix (updated)

wicknix said:
If you know your monitors max-res you can pass that to the kernel at boot.
As per the 1st post, you may need to pass a few boot parameters depending on your GFX card.
In your case the 9600 is a well supported card.
Booting from live dvd, you'd do this: live radeon.agpmode=-1 video=1920x1080-16 <- change to whatever your max res is
Booting from installed system, you'd do: Linux radeon.agpmode=-1 video=1920x1080-16 <-change that to your max res
NOTE: The live dvd uses a lowercase l, and the installed system uses a capitol L.
Once you figure out a good resolution you can make it stick by editing /etc/yaboot.conf (as root user) and add those parameters to the "append" lines. Then save, and run: sudo ybin -v to update the bootloader with your changes.

Cheers
Click to expand...
I'll try that on the G5, 12.04 looks gorgeous on the G5 but not the G4 with the Nvidia GeForce4. What's the best way to sharpen up the display? It's running at 1280X1024 (60Mhz), my other choice is auto. Is this a driver issue? Is there a way to get the Monitor Settings "app" to have more than the above resolution and Auto? (more choices). I seem to recall you stating that messing with Xorg would be a bad thing. I'd prefer not to.

Finally, where would I "pass a few boot parameters depending on your GFX card" Being a Mac guy I'm always nervous in terminal but will go there with the appropriate instructions.
Thanks for the feedback!
Mav
 
Nvidia cards are mostly hit or miss when it comes to PPC Linux. Not much i can suggest for that card. Maybe check the ubuntu powerpc wiki.
For the boot parameters, you do that at bootup. At the welcome screen, you'll see "boot:", but if you don't type anything after 5 seconds it will autoboot the default setup. Type in your parameters there to test. Example:
Code: 
boot:Linux radeon.agpmode=-1 video=1280x1024-16
The radeon.agpmode is only needed for radeon cards. The ubuntu powerpc wiki has other parameters to try for some nvidia cards. Good luck. :)

Cheers
 
1042686 said:
Ahh, so close yet so far :)

Neauveau.modeset=0 yields this result.
View attachment 869076

I’ll keep plugging away.

yeah drag, Nouveau.modeset, =0, =1 etc. nor anything else resolved the screen. Something to work on another day I suppose. Maybe I'll play around with this on my PMG5 in the garage tomorrow.
Click to expand...
Been there with my 867mhz, nvidia desktop g4. 12.04 looks better, useable but could be sharper. Still trying.
UPDATE: Wish I knew where I got this info but I am in the process of loading MacBuntu 12.04 onto the 867 Mhz G4 Desktop with an Nvidia GeForce4 MX and got a very sharp screen for the first time. Here's what I did.
1) I have a Lubuntu 12.04 Live Remix CD in the CD/DVD drive AND the Macbuntu 12.04 USB Live stick inserted
2) On Startup I hold down the Option (alt) key and all of my bootable drives appear, including the CD and the USB Stick
3) I boot off the USB stick
4)I enter, live-powerpc video=offb:eek:ff nouveau.modeset=0 single
5) An open firmware screen appears and should behave as if it's locked up BUT IT ISN'T
6) Wait about 10 minutes to make sure the machine has finished booting then type the following: modprobe nvidiafb YOU WON'T SEE WHAT YOU TYPED and hit enter
7) It might take a bit but soon you will see some text appear on your screen and you will see the above entry and a place right below it where you enter, start lightdm
8) you will boot to the live desktop and be able to install MacBuntu, which I am in the process of doing as I type this. So far so good.

UPDATE: Macbuntu 12.04 install on 867Mhz, Nvidia GeForce4 MX, 1Gb Ram failed. It got to the point of restarting the machine after install, stating I should remove the install media and hit enter. It didn't eject the disk and when I hit enter I got hirogliphics on the screen. The only thing I could do was shut the unit down and on restart, option key held down, the Linux HD drive wasn't there (it usually is after a successful install). Gonna try again, but at least it completed the install process. BTW I am doing no upgrades during install and no 3rd party apps.
Grrrrrrrr!
Mav

I will keep everyone posted. I am entering this reply on a Desktop G5, Radeon 9600 card 4 Gb RAM running Macbuntu 12.04
It's working great but I sooooo want to install 16.04. I won't do that until I resolved the wireless Aiport Card issue. I can't get it to work.
Mav
 
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WIRELESS CARD ISSUES in MACBUNTU 12.04

Wireless Device not Ready

$ lspci -vnn | grep Network
0001:02:01.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller [14e4:4320] (rev 03)

firmware-b43-install (latest version installed)
b43 fw-cutter-install (latest version installed)

$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

$ sudo lspci -vvnn | grep -A 9 Network
[sudo] password for:
0001:02:01.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller [14e4:4320] (rev 03)
Subsystem: Apple Inc. AirPort Extreme [106b:004e]
Control: I/O- Mem- BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 16
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 57
Region 0: Memory at 80104000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=8K]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2
Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=375mA PME(D0+,D1+,D2+,D3hot+,D3cold+)
Status: D0 NoSoftRst- PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=2 PME-

So MacBuntu knows I have a wireless card but for whatever reason the drivers aren't loaded or the card can't see them.

I've tried to use The Additional Drivers tool but it says no proprietary drivers are in use.
Package managers and Software updaters aren't providing any help ( and didn't think they would as this is a firmware issue not a software issue)

I have the G5 hardwired to the internet but would like to get the wireless working. I have tried the actions outlined in the following web site:

askubuntu.com

Installing Broadcom Wireless Drivers

I'm having serious problems installing the Broadcom drivers for Ubuntu. It worked perfectly on my previous version, but now, it is impossible. What are the steps to install Broadcom wireless driv...
askubuntu.com askubuntu.com

and this site too,

WifiDocs/Driver/bcm43xx - Community Help Wiki

help.ubuntu.com

with no success...

Any suggestions?
MacMav
 
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Sadly, it's an odd quirk i haven't quite figured out. I have 2 G5's. The old 1.6ghz wifi doesn't work with either 12.04 remix or macbuntu, but works fine in my DP 2.0ghz G5. Oddly the wifi works on the 1.6ghz with 16.04 remix and other newer distros like debian 10 and void-ppc though. I'm guessing it's related to the firmware version.

Apparently there are 2 versions of firmware. See this void linux documentation. Look for the wifi section and modify it to work for you. I'd download (use wget or curl or web browser) both firmware packages, extract each one, then run the b43-fwcutter tool (as root) to install them. Note: only do 1 version, then reboot. See if you have wifi. If not install the other version, and reboot. One of them should work.

Cheers
 
wicknix said:
Sadly, it's an odd quirk i haven't quite figured out. I have 2 G5's. The old 1.6ghz wifi doesn't work with either 12.04 remix or macbuntu, but works fine in my DP 2.0ghz G5. Oddly the wifi works on the 1.6ghz with 16.04 remix and other newer distros like debian 10 and void-ppc though. I'm guessing it's related to the firmware version.

Apparently there are 2 versions of firmware. See this void linux documentation. Look for the wifi section and modify it to work for you. I'd download (use wget or curl or web browser) both firmware packages, extract each one, then run the b43-fwcutter tool (as root) to install them. Note: only do 1 version, then reboot. See if you have wifi. If not install the other version, and reboot. One of them should work.

Cheers
Click to expand...

I will check that out. I had no success trying to load Debian 8 or 10 onto the G5, kept getting “failure to load kernel module” errors and was never able to get past it. Void, with it’s non ya boot loader fought me too, however, if you were able to get them to work on your G5, which sounds a lot like mine, I may try it again, knowing I can always reload MacBuntu if they fail.

That said, I tried a live Debian but I think it was the wrong ISO because, even though it said it was for PowerPC it never loaded. I tried Debian net installs as well, none of which would get past the kernel module issue. It may be wishful thinking but perhaps, the issue was with the WiFi and/or the. Radeon GPU, I may have to go back and try again.

Don’t get me wrong, I love everything about MacBuntu. It just rocks, I like the Docky, the web browsers work great, everything except the WiFi.

So, I think I will try the void WiFi page first, if that doesn’t work. I may go back and try to load Debian and/or Void. I just need to make sure to do what ever it takes to remove any issues with the GPU on the G5 and hope that was the kernel module issue.

Thanks!!!
MacBuntu ROCKS!!!!
MacMav
 
MacMaverick855 said:
I love everything about MacBuntu
Click to expand...
Thanks. Yeah, it is pretty slick. Fast too. If all else fails 16.04 remix's wifi should work. Just boot the live disk to test. If wifi works on that, it should also work with debian/void etc. ....or.... (not that you want to spend money) used airport cards are like $10 on ebay... get the other revision of the card and enjoy macbuntu. :)

Cheers
 
I've got a couple ways I could go. I have 16.04 LTS (not remix...yet) runiing on a Quicksilver G4 that has an Airport Card that has never worked even using OSX Tiger. One of the goals I had was to load a Linux distro onto this device and see if I could do "something" to make it work using a non Mac OS. I have been fighting with these three computers to get them to do what I want and I am to the point where both G4s are working very well running 16.04, and the 16.04 Remix. I could pull or swap the cards to see if one of them would work but I think that might be dangerous because one card was bought for the G4 the other for the G5. The wifi works on the G5 running Leopard.

So, I am in the process of reformatting and partitioning a 200GB HD (top bay on the G5) and putting MacBuntu back on one partition, and either Void, Debian or, if possible 16.04 Remix on the other partition. Whichever one has success in accessing the Airport/Broadcom card and works over wifi wins. I likely will keep the MacBuntu partition just because I love everything about it.

Thanks for the guidance!
 
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Hi all!

Is anyone here using eMac 1.25ghz?
I suppose the suggested distro is 12 (mac or non mac appearance), right?

Does it work well on eMac?
Is it possible to run a simple apt upgrade or it will destroy everything?
Is it possible to boot from USB?

Thanks for your kind help
 
Could anyone please explain how to manually update ca-certificates to 2021 versions in Macbuntu 12 v4?
 
wicknix said:
Sure. Download this 2021 ca-cert package from 16.04, then: cd /path/to/downloaded/ca-cert.deb, then: sudo dpkg -i ca-cert.deb to install.

Cheers
Click to expand...

Thank you wicknix! I am *really* enjoying MacBuntu on my PB G4 1.67Ghz, it is absolutely brilliant. By the way - perhaps you might put CA-Cert update deb packages in the main post, so people can easily find/install them. I worry about these things not staying up to date.

Thanks again, for all your hard work.
 
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@wicknix Earlier on in the thread there was a guy who got his rage128 enabled with hardware accel, 300fps in glxgears. I've got a 17'' 1.67Ghz Radeon 9600 pro and while everything is working fine, direct rendering enabled etc, I am only getting 40-50fps in glxgears even with vsync disabled... I checked glxinfo for opengl driver info and it only seems to say Mesa and SGI, I don't see an ATI opengl driver. I think we have the same Macbook from what I've read, could you advise? Cheers

EDIT: I fixed it, I added video=ofonly to my boot perimeters and now it's flying at 800fps & web browser scrolling is 10x smoother! :)
 
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wicknix said:
Updated to v2 (03/04/20)
Here it is. New and improved over the stock 16.04 release. You can use as a live dvd / recovery system, or install it. What's changed since the original release back in 2016?

Added SpiderWeb, SpiderMail, InterWeb and Arctic Fox (modern web browsers and email client)
Added wifi firmware, sound modules, and windfarm (fan) modules loaded by default
Added battery indicator for laptops
Added right click for ibook/powerbook users via 2 finger tap (PB) or left ctrl + click (IB)
Added inxi and neofetch cli system info scripts
Added midnight commander (mc) cli file manager / editor / ftp client
Added discord and facebook messenger plugins for Pidgin
Added custom wallpapers and better default theme
Added Libre Office 6.2
Disabled the annoying crash reporter that always ate cpu cycles
Added conky desktop system monitor with custom layout (menu -> run, type conky -b)

There might be more that i'm forgetting, but that's the basics anyway.
Download is roughly 1.5gb

Sound is enabled, but muted by default. Open terminal, type alsamixer, right arrow key until you highlight "pcm", up arrow key to set desired volume level, esc key to exit. If you have a laptop add pmu_battery to /etc/modules and reboot to get a working battery indicator.

Here's some known yaboot parameters to boot with:
The default option is 'live' (try this first)

Nvidia Geforce 6600 & FX5200 use
Code: 
'live video=TV-1:d video=offb:off nosplash'

Nvidia Geforce 6800 use
Code: 
'live video=TV-1:d video=TV-2:d video=offb:off nosplash'

Radeon 9xxx cards use
Code: 
'live radeon.agpmode=-1 radeon.modeset=1 video=offb:off nosplash'

ATI Rage 128
See this post: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/lubuntu-16-04-remix-updated.2204742/post-29426690

Generic frame buffer drivers when all else fails
'live video=radeonfb:1024x768-16 nosplash'
'live video=nvidiafb:1024x768-16 nosplash'
'live video=rivafb:1024x768-16 nosplash'

View attachment 868052

How to update 16.04 with more current software from Debian ports packages.
Download the attached guide below and you could get results like this.
View attachment 897319

NEW: Lubuntu 12.04 Remix-v4 (updated 04/15/20)
I did pretty much the same as i did for 16.04 remix. Updated the browsers, tweaked some configs, enabled sound, wifi, fans etc. This absolutely FLIES on my mac mini G4 and G5, and is probably better suited for G3/G4 machines. I decided to do this as the software and base OS are more "period correct" for the hardware, and it shows. Even the live DVD is fast (once booted).
Same as with 16.04, sound is enabled but you need to run alsamixer and unmute "pcm".
To block ads on the live CD or installed system: sudo cp /etc/hosts.deny /etc/hosts (now enjoy ad free surfing)
New in v4:
Updated the installer slideshow
Added new icons and default theme.
Added i2c-dev for keyboard backlight on powerbooks
Added youtube-dlg (graphical front end to youtube-dl)
Added new default wallpaper and icons
Added mouseemu for better control over the trackpad.
Added latest ArcticFox, SpiderWeb, InterWeb browsers and SpiderMail (thunderbird-like email/news/rss client)
Added updated 2019 ca-certificates
Added a bunch of extra useful software
Added an "extras" folder on the DVD with kernel 4.19.113 for G5 users. Also included greasemonkey for all 3 browsers, a modern theme for spiderweb, and viewtube for spiderweb.
I compiled and included the latest ffmpeg, irssi, screen, mtpaint, pidgin, uget, transmission, putty, scribus, bluefish and rebuilt, xchat, xournal and mplayer/mencoder (1.2.1) as well. Also updated abiword to 3.0.0 (couldn't get newer to build without rebuilding a ton of libraries).
Grab it here (about 1.2gb): lubuntu-12.04-remix-v4-ppc.iso
If the new ffmpeg got replaced during upgrade grab it here and copy both files to /usr/bin (as root)
Original 12.04 remix-v1 for machines without a dvdrom drive (about 670mb): here

Shown running live DVD on a powermac g5
View attachment 899513

BONUS: I built the latest kernel 4.19.113 for ubuntu12 64bit (G5's). Get it here.
BONUS: Here is kernel 3.13.0-170 for 32-bit ubuntu12 (G3/G4's). Get it here.

ANOTHER BONUS: (added 04/22/2020)
Macbuntu!
This is pretty much the same as 12 remix-v4. The only differences are i included gparted and mixxx software-wise. However this is aimed at resembling OS X Tiger/Leopard for that familiar look and feel. Also this DVD.iso includes both kernels linked above, and the README.txt has been updated to explain how to get youtube to work smoothly and set up docky (the dock) to your liking.
Download (about 1.3gb) macbuntu-remix-ppc.iso

My Powerbook G4 with MacBuntu
View attachment 974229

BONUS: I patched snes9x to bypass OSS and /dev/dsp and use asound instead on ubuntu12. It's attached below.

BONUS AGAIN: I built bitlbee-3.6 and the Discord plugin for Ubuntu12remix and macbuntu.

Updates for the web browsers can be found here and here.

Updated 2021 ca-certificates can be found here. (install with: sudo dpkg -i /path/to/ca-certs.deb)

Cheers
Click to expand...
Continue to get installer crashes on my G4 Powerpc desktop installing the above version of Macbuntu. Is there a way to load Lubuntu 12.04 and then "upgrade" to Macbuntu? I've never tried that but you would think with synaptic or DebiPackage installer you could put a disk on the G4 running a standard 12.04 and then "install" or "overwrite" it with Macbuntu. It's a shot in the dark. Nvidia GPU still causing issues but I'm fighting through it.
 
No, that won't work. You could try stock 12.04 and then if that works install the development packages and rebuild everything manually and create your own "remix" of sorts.

I still feel like you have bad install media. Numerous people have installed this without issue. Bad dvdrom drive? Bad ram? Burn the iso on a known good machine at the slowest setting. 8x or lower. I also don't recommend installing from usb.

Cheers
 
That’s a bummer because I successfully booted a usb using open firmware. Looks like I’ll need to get some more DVDs. Here's a question, should I burn the DVD using the same Mac I intend to install it on? Conversely, not use XFburn on a Linux machine to create a CD for use to boot a Mac? I have 2 Dells running MacPuppy and one running Ubuntu 20 Studio (my wife is a musician). Both have XFburn on them and excellent DVD burners. I trust XFburn more than I do Disk Utility on the Mac, don’t ask me why.
 
@wicknix
I took another test drive of lubuntu 16.04 and it does fly.

Question: I've installed linuxmint, debian sid, and various other versions, but 2d acceleration was lacking. On here it is way better. For instance supertux is smooth here whereas say sid remix it stutters (sid remix with LXDE and openbox). Is it because some lib/packages are not as up-to-date on 16.04?
 

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Good question, but I'm sure that has something to do with it. Anything bleeding edge is more bloated and heavier than older more "period correct" releases. It could also be kernel 5.x causing issues. My g5's run best with the 4.x kernels. But yeah, 12.04 and 16.04 are noticeably faster than any current distros in my testing.

Cheers
 
I think of it like this. Bleeding edge Linux on powerpc is like imagining if it was possible to run big sur on powerpc. It's the same concept. Newer OS = bigger, heavier, more demanding.
 
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Debian 11 actually runs pretty decently and fast. It's just some 2D rendering is slow and most obvious when trying to play games. Lubuntu 16.04, more specifically your remix, even updated afterwards runs all the games fantastically. A example is I was running quake three earlier today and other than some limitations on the graphics card the game ran smoothly.
 
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Agree. Amazing that stuff this new can still run reasonably well on these machines. However as I've said before... newer isn't always better. I dont care about new software if the older version still works (and is usually faster too). Want newer? Do what i did. Install the dev packages and compile newer versions using the older toolkits and libraries.
Important things no longer exist in newer distros. Take kernel 3.x for example. Suspend/sleep/resume works. Kernels 4.x and 5.x they don't.

Cheers
 
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Dumb question. I am interested in using this on my MDD dual 1.25. I burned the ISO and verified it on a Macbook Pro - it all checked out. However when I attempt to boot it on my MDD it doesn't show up at all. Holding down 'Option' during startup brings me to the selection screen, but it doesn't show up. Startup disk in 10.5.8 doesn't show an optical drive option at all either. The optical drive works fine when I put in other discs to make sure it's functional. In fact I used it to install Tiger to a 2nd HDD not too long ago.

Any tips on where to start?
 
Insert the dvd, power down. Upon restarting hold down the c key right when you here the startup sound. Keep holding it until the disk boots.

Cheers
 
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