[plug] Some debian on a G4 ibook questions

[Michael Hunt]

On Sun, 2004-08-01 at 17:24 +0800, Cameron Patrick wrote:

> Michael Hunt originally wrote:
> 
> > [Debian Sarge on an iBook]
> 
> I'd highly recommend checking out the archives for debian-powerpc.  I
> almost bought an iBook recently, and looking at the debian-powerpc
> archives told me what I could expect to have work and what wouldn't.
> It sounds as though wireless and suspend aren't supported yet, and the
> wireless is never likely to be -- the answer seems to be to buy an
> external USB wireless dongle instead of an Airport Express.  (Although
> the older Airport cards are supported, since this is an Apple machine
> you won't be able to put one into a G4 iBook -- it's Airport Extreme
> only.)

Yeah I had been looking at some of the debian PPC archives. Wireless is
not hugely important to me though there is a petition to Broadcom that
is signed. Stuff like the modem that I was suspecting wouldn't work it
appears other people have manged to get going.

One of the great things I have found about the current state of sarge is
that there is a lot of stuff that just works out of the box (or off the
net in my case). There was far less hand config/editing of files etc
that I have had to do (so far) than what I was originally thinking there
would be. This is something I'm extremely grateful for and would love to
give something back to all those who have helped make Debian the distro
that it is by filing useful bug reports. :-)

> > (b) On the subject of MOL how do I get it to run as a windowed app
> > instead of full-screen on a separate terminal. I suspect that the
> > following error has got something to do with it :-
> > [...snip...]
> > Looks like some Xauth issue. Anyone know where I might change this ???
> 
> Not knowing anything about MOL, I'll hazard a guess:  does it run as
> root?  If so, you'll need to set the XAUTHORITY environment variable
> to something sane; e.g. export XAUTHORITY=/home/cameron/.Xauthority 

Sure does. Looks like that might be it. I need to export XAUTHORITY for
root then ???

> > (e) Are there any apps for turning off the track pad when you are
> > typing ??? I keep getting the mouse moving and placing my cursor
> > elsewhere in my text when entering my notes. Very annoying !!!
> 
> Probably, by loading/unloading the module for the trackpad.  (I've
> attached a script which does it on my Intel-based laptop; change
> 'psmouse' to something appropriate and configure it to be launched on
> a convenient button.)

Not sure what the appropriate module is. Will try a few and see what
happens.

> > (f) What are people using for maintaining different profiles/setting say
> > when connected to a LAN at home, work, wireless or standalone ??? I have
> > found some Debian packages that do this but I was wondering what other
> > people were doing.
> 
> I have a hideous script (attached) which Works For Me, bypassing the
> standard debian stuff entirely.  It was based partly on one written by
> Bernard, so I'm continuing the tradition and passing it on...  It
> might serve as an inspiration to others (if only to proclaim, "eww,
> I'm never touching a shell script written by Cameron ever again" :-P).

Shudders :-)

The package I was looking at is called laptop-net. I could make up
something myself (and may yet do so), but why reinvent the wheel.

> > (g) Anyone managed to get sleep/hibernation working with the ibook ???
> 
> It should be possible to get swsusp working on an iBook -- but it will
> require kernel patching.

So I need to read up Bernard's recent presentation then :-). Not a huge
issue and it looks like it is possible from one of the how-to's.

> > (h) Non ibook question. Are any sarge/sid users experiencing long delays
> > in the Gnome splash screen disappearing ??? Sometime it can take up to
> > two minutes for it to disappear.
> 
> Is your default X window manager set to something sane (e.g. metacity)?
> update-alternatives --config x-window-manager to set it.

Already set to metacity. I'll keep looking on the web for an answer to
that one.

> Cameron.