Ubuntu/Kubuntu on Mac G5.

[Brian Durant]

On 22. jan 2006, at 16.06, Larry Grover wrote:

> Brian Durant wrote:
>> On 22. jan 2006, at 13.44, Eric Dunbar wrote:
>>> On 1/21/06, Larry Grover <lgrover at zoominternet.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Brian Durant wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> BTW, I just joined the YDL-newbie list and they were asking  
>>>>> about my
>>>>> firmware version. I pointed out that I am running OS X Tiger   
>>>>> (10.4.4)
>>>>> but I don't know how to find out how to confirm my firmware   
>>>>> version.  It
>>>>> would be best if I knew what version I have before I file a  
>>>>> bug   report,
>>>>> right? So, how do I confirm the firmware version that my G5   
>>>>> is  using?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I'm not sure what "firmware" is supposed to mean.  If it's the   
>>>> machine
>>>> model, then you can get it in linux by opening a terminal window  
>>>> and
>>>> running "cat /proc/cpuinfo"), or in OSX by clicking on the blue  
>>>> apple
>>>> (upper left corner), selecting "About this Mac", clicking on  
>>>> the  "More
>>>> Info" button and then selecting "Hardware".  My iBook is a   
>>>> PowerBook4,3
>>>> and my iMac is a PowerMac8,1.
>>>>
>>>> Regards,
>>>> Larry
>>>
>>>
>>> Open Firmware is the boot code used by all PowerPC Macs (and some
>>> older Macs); it serves the same purpose as BIOS in IBM clones. Open
>>> Firmware has been replaced by EFI in the new i86 Core Duo Macs.
>>>
>>> You can figure it out by following Larry's instructions to get into
>>> the System Profiler (About this Mac... More Info).
>>>
>>> The Open Firmware version is the "Boot ROM Version".
>>>
>>> Eric.
>> Thanks Eric. My "Boot ROM Version" is 5.2.2f2 That should be the   
>> latest version for my machine, yes? If that is the case, then the   
>> problem should be in the two modules  "windfarm_pm91.c" and   
>> "windfarm_smu_sensors.c".
>> Cheers,
>> Brian
>
> I'm pretty sure the "windfarm" modules are for thermal/fan  
> control.  So, yes, they are probably your problem.  Unfortunately,  
> if your machine is quite new, you may have to wait a while for  
> support to make it into a stable, distro-released kernel.
>
> If you don't want to wait to install linux on your machine you  
> could go ahead and install which ever distro seems to have the best  
> overall support currently.  I don't think the lack of fan control  
> will do any harm to your system -- as long as the fans are spinning  
> at top speed you are getting adequate cooling (but the noise does  
> get irritating).  As support for your hardware starts to mature you  
> will have the option of patching/compiling a custom kernel, to get  
> thermal management before it shows up in a stable distro release.
>
> Regards,
> Larry

Here is some response from the help forum on http:// 
www.linuxformat.co.uk:

-snip-

"Umm. I may be a newbie to Linux, but isn't the kernel that you boot  
on an installation CD a reflection of the kernel that you are going  
to get on install? The messages I usually see when the boot kernel  
gets loaded often have something to do with PPC-64, G5 or such like.  
Otherwise, if there is a choice of kernels (manually) at boot, the  
instructions usually say to prompt for "install-g5" at "boot:" That  
would suggest that what you see at boot is something like what you  
are going to get when the system is going to be installed, isn't it??? "

 > "Something like, but not necessarily the same.

 > _________________
 > RAM disk is not an installation procedure."

BTW, I tried installing Ubuntu Dapper PPC Flight 3 on my G5. I have  
switched the SATA drives so that OS X is now located in the lower  
drive bay. As I also had my Firewire external drive turned on and  
attached so that Ubuntu would register it as well. Therefore, the  
drive I installed Ubuntu on was registered as /sdb. Everything went  
find until Ubuntu tried to install yaboot. Here are the messages, in  
the correct order, but maybe not total content as I had to write it  
on a piece of paper from tty3:

"Failed to install boot loader."
"Please check system log or the output of the third console (tty3)"
[2075.240927] ioct132(nvsetenv:4417): Unknown cmd fd(7) cmd(20007043)
{` ´} arg(00000000) on /dev/nvran
mkofboot: Finding OpenFirmware device path to `/dev/sdb2´...
mkofboot: Finding OpenFirmware device path to `/dev/sdc3´
ofpath: Driver: sg is not supported
mkofboot:  Unable to determine OpenFirmware path for macosx=/dev/sdc3
mkofboot:  Try specifying the real OpenFirmware path for macosx=/dev/ 
sdc3 in /etc/yaboot.conf
mkofboot:  Failed with exit status 1

I tried to reinstall the installer 2 more times with the same result,  
while inside the install procedure, with the same result. Then I  
continued with the install procedure and received the following message:

"boot manuallty with the /boot/vmlinux kernel on partition /dev/sdb3  
and root=/dev/sdb3 passed as a kernel argument."

So, the question is where do I go from here? I imagine I could boot  
from the Ubuntu Dapper PPC Flight 3 live-CD and go into etc/ 
yaboot.conf which should reside on /dev/sdb2, correct? But what else  
do I need to do? Remember, I am a newbie. I would want yaboot to  
default to OS X, but to be able to boot into Ubuntu.

Lastly, I now get prompted when OS X has started up about my Ubuntu  
install HD not being able to be read by OS X.

I hope you have some ideas :-)

Cheers,

Brian