[plug] Some debian on a G4 ibook questions

[Michael Hunt]

On Sun, 2004-08-01 at 16:59 +0800, Michael Hunt wrote:

> Hiya all,

Today (Fri, 2004-08-06 at 10:39 +0800) Michael Hunt writes an update:

> Around the middle of last week I finally took delivery of a new G4 12"
> ibook 

Just so anyone new to the thread knows what is going on.

> I was wondering if some of the other ibook owners that
> I know are lurking on the list could help me 

I have had some response from another powerbook owner (off list) but
have I misinterpreted the number of PLUG ibook owners :-). No one has
stepped forward as yet.

> Two things I should probably say up front :-
> 
> 1. I am trying to stick to a sarge only install for the laptop.

This is for reliability and testing purposes. I haven't run testing on
any of my machines for sometime. (Last time I can remember was when
woody was about to come out). I have always been a sid for desktop,
woody for server kind of Debian guy. One good thing that my foray into
sarge has shown me is that sarge is really coming along nicely. So far
it has been rock solid and most things just work. It is a real credit to
all the debian developers who have worked on it. (So any deb developers
on the list, thank you). With hopefully a release around mid September
I'll finally be able to start handing out Debian 'stable' CD's again :-)

> 2. I don't really want to have to do any compiling of new kernels
> other stuff etc

This has probably been one of _the_ hardest things for me to do. There
is some stuff that I know I can get working if I just compile it myself.
But I want to help iron out bugs for future debian user who may not be
able to do this so my resistance is not in vain. So far this has helped
me turn up a few bugs that may yet get fixes before release.

> OK. So on to some of the problems.
> 
> (a) What are the HorizSync and VerticalRefresh values people are using.
> http://www.apple.com.au/ibook/specs.html shows the display as 12.1-inch
> (diagonal) TFT XGA but doesn't really help me. My current values are set
> to 31.5-57.0 and 50-90 and this gives my 1024x768 @ 60 Hz (24bit colour)
> but I know it can do the same @ 75 Hz. My OS X install does and when I
> run OS X under MOL (mac-on-linux) it runs at this refresh rate on VT 8.

Still an issue. Tried a number of different settings including removing
HorizSync and VertRefresh lines all together but it still defaults to 60
Hz. I'm wondering if this is because I am using the :-

	Option	"UseFBDev"	"true"

Could the framebuffer be limiting the refresh rate that X can run at ???

> (b) On the subject of MOL how do I get it to run as a windowed app

OK. I have had some success here. Running /usr/bin/molvconfig sets up
the /etc/mol/molrc.video file. (Make sure you read the on-screen
instructions carefully before running. I thought the program had fozen
and all I was waiting for me to do was hit Y *g*). Running :-

dpkg-statoverride --update --add root root 4755 /usr/lib/mol/bin/mol

preserves the setuid permissions across upgrades. After this having it
as a windowed app was easy.

Also mol in sarge is now at 0.9.70-1 which support OS X 10.3.

> (c) Getting audio working. 

For some reason alsaconf wasn't loading the snd-powermac module. Doing
a :-

modprobe snd-powermac

got it going and manually adding the entry to the /etc/modules file made
it load on bootup.

> (d) Does anyone know of any user space (GUI) bluetooth tools ??? 

PhoneManager <http://usefulinc.com/software/phonemgr> was mentioned and
looks like what I was after. Haven't tried it yet. (Need to compile it.
No Debian package as of yet !!!!)

> (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 !!!

Changing the line in /etc/pbbuttonsd.conf from :-

TPMode = drag

to :-

TPMode = notap

fixes this problem. There is also a GUI package (powerprefs) that lets
you configure all kinds of settings for pbbbuttonsd. Also there is a
command line util called trackpad in the package powerpc-utils that lets
you configure trackpad on the fly. The syntax is :-

trackpad drag

or :-

trackpad notap

> (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.

Custom scripts and whereami seem popular. I have stumbled across laptop-
net which can also handle different config files such as /etc/printcap
for different locations. Written by HP for debian it seems to do
everything I want plus more.

> (g) Anyone managed to get sleep/hibernation working with the ibook ???

Still haven't played much with this as it looks like a kernel compile
might be needed. Sigh !!!

> (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.

This is one I haven't been able to work out. It seems to come and go.
Sometimes it takes ages other times it disappears straight away. Can't
for the life of me work out what is causing it as it happens when I'm
connected to my network or not.

> All right. I think I will leave it there for the moment.

Well one more question. Has anyone got APM working on an ibook. I'm
particularly interested in getting the gnome battery monitor working and
have installed apm but the battery monitor still shows 0 %. Anyone got
any pointers ??? (APM has been started).

Do I need to enable APM in the kernel. I've read that adding a line to
your lio.conf file will do this but of course I am using yaboot.

> Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.
> 
> Michael Hunt