[conspire] iBook and Ubuntu/Kubuntu
Daniel Gimpelevich
daniel at gimpelevich.san-francisco.ca.us
Wed Oct 5 18:18:52 PDT 2005
OK, so the firmware handles ESSID and encryption settings. What's the
utility you use to set them?
--
"Consider that two wrongs never make a right, but that three do."
--National Lampoon
On Oct 5, 2005, at 4:26 PM, Calvin Wong wrote:
> you can't, it works on mine since it loades the firmware as well.
> don't know
> how ubuntu does it.
>
> * Daniel Gimpelevich <daniel at gimpelevich.san-francisco.ca.us>
> [2005-10-05 12:37:06 -0700]:
>
>> If iwconfig says "no wireless extensions" for the interface, how do
>> you
>> set ESSID and the like?
>> --
>> "Consider that two wrongs never make a right, but that three do."
>> --National
>> Lampoon
>>
>> On Oct 5, 2005, at 11:35 AM, Calvin Wong wrote:
>>
>>> ya. modprobe zd1211 on ubuntu is no problem but iwconfig won't show
>>> it.
>>> lsusb shows the card is zd1211, but iwconfig won't show.
>>>
>>> i don't knwo why mutt mutt config won't reply to the mailing list
>>> when
>>> i press
>>> r, i have to look into that soon.
>>>
>>> calvin
>>>
>>> * Daniel Gimpelevich <daniel at gimpelevich.san-francisco.ca.us>
>>> [2005-10-05 09:59:04 -0700]:
>>>
>>>> Both you and Calvin have sent a couple of replies off-list. I'm
>>>> guessing that was by mistake, so I'm taking the topic back on-list.
>>>> --
>>>> "No gnu's is good gnu's." --Gary Gnu, "The Great Space Coaster"
>>>>
>>>> On Oct 5, 2005, at 7:51 AM, Ross Bernheim wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On Oct 4, 2005, at 9:22 PM, Daniel Gimpelevich wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>> My experiences with putting Kubuntu 5.10 preview on a 12' 500 Mhz
>>>>>>> G3
>>>>>>> firewire iBook
>>>>>>> have been mixed. Install went easily if a bit slowly.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Kubuntu looks nice and works well except for a few things.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> First, usb thumb drive would not work.
>>>>>
>>>>> Fixed with dist-upgrade.
>>>>>
>>>>>>> Second, closing the cover puts the iBook to sleep, but it stops
>>>>>>> partway
>>>>>>> when trying to wake when the cover is opened.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Ditto on my iBook. I found a fix that used to work, but with
>>>>>> recent
>>>>>> kernel
>>>>>> updates in Breezy, it now only sometimes works. I'll be glad to
>>>>>> copy
>>>>>> over
>>>>>> the necessary files to your iBook when I come to the 10/22 meeting
>>>>>> (I
>>>>>> won't be there this Saturday).
>>>>>
>>>>> Still a problem.
>>>>
>>>> Well, you don't have the necessary files yet.
>>>>
>>>>>>> Third, no sound output.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> My iBook suffers the same problem if the install is left in a
>>>>>> stock
>>>>>> state.
>>>>>> I originally messed around with boot scripts to fix it, but
>>>>>> recently,
>>>>>> I
>>>>>> discovered that there is a really simple fix. Edit the file
>>>>>> /etc/modules
>>>>>> with root privileges. Find the line that says "snd-powermac" in
>>>>>> the
>>>>>> file
>>>>>> and insert two lines immediately before it like so:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> dmasound-pmac
>>>>>> -r dmasound-pmac
>>>>>> snd-powermac
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks to Daniel, this now works.
>>>>>
>>>>>>> Fourth, usb wifi dongle does not work. The dongle is good and
>>>>>>> works
>>>>>>> with
>>>>>>> Calvin's iBook and Debian install.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Again, I'm sure the fix is very simple.
>>>>>
>>>>> Still a problem, but we know that it can be made to work.
>>>>>
>>>>>> Oh, goody. I'm not sure where you got a 2.6.12-8, since Breezy has
>>>>>> already
>>>>>> gone through 20 updates of 2.6.12-9 kernels. Are you sure you're
>>>>>> running
>>>>>> the latest 2.6.12-9? Until Breezy is officially released later
>>>>>> this
>>>>>> month,
>>>>>> you should dist-upgrade at least once a day. There is now a new
>>>>>> front
>>>>>> end
>>>>>> to apt called "Adept" that I haven't got the hang of yet. If you
>>>>>> decide to
>>>>>> run the GNOME desktop, it will periodically do "apt-get update"
>>>>>> for
>>>>>> you in
>>>>>> the background, and let you know if anything is new.
>>>>>
>>>>> The 2.6.12-8 was the kernel that I got when I downloaded Breezy
>>>>> when
>>>>> it
>>>>> was first available. The dist-upgrades have helped a lot. I
>>>>> believe I
>>>>> saw
>>>>> adept as part of the last dist-upgrade download.
>>>>
>>>> Breezy was first available when the development on it began, even
>>>> before the Hoary release in April. I know you haven't had the iBook
>>>> that long. If you used the bluish CDs that Jim Dennis burned, that
>>>> was
>>>> the third "Colony" release of Breezy, shortly prior to the "Preview"
>>>> release, both of which have already been greatly obsoleted.
>>>>
>>>>>>> So far no joy on the other issues. Tried all the different
>>>>>>> settings
>>>>>>> for the sound
>>>>>>> but no change. Sleeping still does not work. The wifi issue seems
>>>>>>> to
>>>>>>> be no
>>>>>>> modules for wireless. Not sure how to solve that one.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Do you know what chipset is being used? And which module Calvin
>>>>>> was
>>>>>> using
>>>>>> for it? If I knew that, I could give you a step-by-step.
>>>>>
>>>>> I will look it up and get you the information when I get a chance.
>>>>> I
>>>>> have been very
>>>>> busy this week.
>>>>
>>>> You say it has a Prism GT chipset, and Calvin says it has a zd1211
>>>> chipset. Are you sure you have the same dongle? If you have the
>>>> exact
>>>> model# of any 802.11 device, you can nearly always determine its
>>>> chipset at <http://www.linux-wlan.org/docs/wlan_adapters.html.gz>.
>>>> It's
>>>> best not to click that link unless Firefox is your default browser,
>>>> because you need one that will display compressed webpages, like the
>>>> pages on the RUTE site. I really hope it's not one of the Prism
>>>> chipsets that need the linux-wlan-ng driver. That's what was giving
>>>> Bruce so much trouble with the dongle that he had, and what
>>>> continues
>>>> to prevent Jos? from using the Hawking card that he has. I just
>>>> tried
>>>> a
>>>> "modprobe zd1211" on my iBook and got no errors, so that module is
>>>> obviously there. If that is indeed your chipset, the problem must
>>>> be a
>>>> driver matching issue.
>>>>
>>>>>> I haven't checked recently, but have they fixed the problem in KDE
>>>>>> of
>>>>>> kded
>>>>>> repeatedly segfaulting whenever you insert a CD or DVD? It was
>>>>>> really
>>>>>> making KDE hard to use. Ubuntu has accomplished the hitherto
>>>>>> unimaginable:
>>>>>> making GNOME more usable than KDE. That is, THEIR packaging of
>>>>>> both.
>>>>>> The
>>>>>> CPU is used very efficiently, so it never seems really slow to me.
>>>>>> One
>>>>>> thing that will improve apparent speed is switching X.org to 16
>>>>>> bits
>>>>>> instead of 24, because it will give direct rendering a chance to
>>>>>> work.
>>>>>> There isn't enough VRAM in the machine to use direct rendering in
>>>>>> 24
>>>>>> bits
>>>>>> at 1024x768. Type "sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg" and accept
>>>>>> default
>>>>>> answers to each question except the one about bit depth.
>>>>>
>>>>> I haven't noticed the segfault problem on inserting a CD.
>>>>
>>>> What about a DVD or audio CD?
>>>>
>>>>> I changed the color to 16 bits and it does seem to help with speed
>>>>> and
>>>>> usability
>>>>> a bit, but the disk drive is just plain slow. I wonder how much
>>>>> faster
>>>>> an external
>>>>> 3.5 inch 7200 rpm firewire drive would be?
>>>>
>>>> I keep forgetting that the stock installation has DMA disabled. You
>>>> should turn it on in /etc/hdparm.conf, although the difference is
>>>> not
>>>> all that noticeable.
>>>>
>>>>> Speaking of external hard disk drives, I plugged in one of my
>>>>> external
>>>>> firewire
>>>>> drives from my Mac and it automounted and Kubuntu had no problems
>>>>> dealing
>>>>> with it even though it is an hfs+ formatted drive! I am impressed!
>>>>> I
>>>>> have avoided
>>>>> hfs disks with linux as it has always had a reputation of being
>>>>> less
>>>>> than a
>>>>> satisfactory situation. I am not sure who changed it, but it now
>>>>> looks
>>>>> to be good.
>>>>> Ubuntu/Kubuntu seem to be making some real progress in getting a
>>>>> real
>>>>> consumer
>>>>> quality desktop experience on a par with the best, (Mac OS X).
>>>>
>>>> Don't let appearances fool you. It relies on the kernel's handling
>>>> of
>>>> the filesystem, which was barely Panther-compatible for HFS+ when I
>>>> last checked, and will definitely cause problems with Tiger. The
>>>> filesystem journaling introduced in 10.2.2 and made default in 10.3
>>>> AFAIK still isn't handled under Linux, let alone all the new
>>>> filesystem
>>>> stuff in 10.4, so my recommendation is to only mount HFS+ volumes as
>>>> read-only except when it's absolutely necessary to mount as
>>>> read-write
>>>> for as short a time as possible, immediately followed by a course of
>>>> DiskWarrior 3.0.3 or later. As for HFS-not-plus, support was
>>>> near-perfect in the 2.4 kernels, except for formatting them, which
>>>> would stuff the superblock full of subtly invalid values. I don't
>>>> know
>>>> whose bright idea it was to rip out most of the HFS code from the
>>>> 2.6
>>>> tree, but there is no longer any way to access either metadata or
>>>> multiple forks, where 2.4 gave you a choice of like 5 different
>>>> ways.
>>>> If you need to share files between Linux and Mac OS X on the same
>>>> machine, run OS X under MOL, and export a Linux folder over NFS to
>>>> the
>>>> OS X you have running under MOL.
>>>>
>>>>>> Under the GNOME desktop, simply plugging in a FireWire hard disk
>>>>>> will
>>>>>> mount all partitions on it (including HFS+ ones, and in read-write
>>>>>> mode!).
>>>>>> Haven't tried it under KDE, but I would expect problems related to
>>>>>> kded.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I was not a great fan of laptops, but the used iBook was
>>>>>>> affordable
>>>>>>> so I got it.
>>>>>>> It is slowly converting me to the usability of a laptop, though I
>>>>>>> still prefer my
>>>>>>> desktop with dual 17 inch monitors.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The iBook can drive an external monitor, but AFAIK it can't do
>>>>>> dual-head.
>>>>>
>>>>> There is a patch under OS X to enable dual-head operation, but I
>>>>> don't
>>>>> know
>>>>> if it would work under Linux.
>>>>
>>>> URL???
>>>>
>>>>>> I can also be of assistance in getting Java to work on it, as well
>>>>>> as
>>>>>> the
>>>>>> PowerPC equivalent of the w32codecs package. I've had no luck
>>>>>> getting
>>>>>> RealPlayer to work, though.
>>>>>
>>>>> I will probably take you up on it if we can get the other problems
>>>>> resolved.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>
>>>>> Ross
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Some mistakes are too much fun to make only once. (Graffiti: Gene
>>>>> Mora)
>>>>>
>>>>> There are no ugly women, there is only lack of vodka.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> conspire mailing list
>>>> conspire at linuxmafia.com
>>>> http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/conspire
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Some people have a way about them that seems to say: "If I have only
>>> one life to live, let me live it as a jerk."
>
>
>
> --
> Avoid revolution or expect to get shot. Mother and I will grieve, but
> we will gladly buy a dinner for the National Guardsman who shot you.
> -- Dr. Paul Williamson, father of a student entering
> school in the fall after the Kent State shootings
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: PGP.sig
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 186 bytes
Desc: This is a digitally signed message part
URL: <http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/conspire/attachments/20051005/7d65a659/attachment.pgp>
More information about the conspire
mailing list