Re: PowerBook G4 12inch

[John G. Cole]

I had a thread on the list about my installation on a 12" g4 powerbook 
-- but unfortunately the post that I made after I had solved most of the 
problems did not end up on the archive -- here is the relevant section 
-- which I think will also solve the tab problem

from June 2003 post:

just an update on my progress -- indeed the benh kernel is not 
installed -- i am trying to follow a work around suggested by Nic 
Doebelin on the comp.os.linux.powerpc list which is based on the 
translation of an article from a German magazine.  Like Isaac I had 
the problem that when I switched to the console mode during text 
installation my 'a' key became a ^B so umount /dev/hda and eject 
/dev/hda became difficult -- the work around for that problem is:

# echo 'keycode 30 = \0141' > key
# mount /dev/hdcX  /mnt    --- where X is your root partition
#/mnt/bin/lo*dkeys key
That gives you an 'a' key again

then unmount the cd
umount /tmp/hda
chroot /mnt
mount -t iso9660 /dev/hda /mnt/cdrom

I then copied the kernel-benh-2*.rpm file from the cd 
Mandrake/RPMS1/kern*benh-2* to /var

the next problem came when I tried to install the rpm file
rpm -Uvh --nodeps /var/kern*
installation went file (hash marks marched to 100%) then I became 
stuck in an endless loop error about cannot write to /proc/mounts no 
such file or directory exists -- had to restart the machine to get out 
of it

This rpm installation gets the vmlinuz-*benh file loaded into boot, 
but did not create the required initrd*.img file.  I went back through 
the installation disk boot process
again until the language page -- hit apple - right arrow to get to the 
console mode then copied the appropriate image file from the boot disk

# mount /dev/hdc5 /mnt
# cp /tmp/image/BootX/*benh*ext3  /mnt/boot/initrd-2.4.20-benh-9mdk.img
then edit the /etc/yaboot.conf file changing the vmlinuz and initrd 
files to those
you just created then execute ybin to make the yaboot.conf changes 
take place

# ybin -v
# exit
# umount /mnt
hold control - apple and push the power button to restart

If the x server fails during startup -- which mine did just exit the 
xconfigurator,
su to root and edit the XF86Config-4 file

# emacs /etc/X11/XF86Config-4

change the driver in the Device section from "fbdev" to "nv" since the 
12" powerbook
G4 uses the nVidia geForce4 video card

# exit
$ startx
and the Mandrake X wizard should startup and run
Only thing not working at this point is my built-in airport extreme card

To Stew and the guys on the cooker-ppc list -- you have done a great 
job of porting linux
to the ppc -- congratulations and thanks a lot. 


Stew Benedict wrote:

I thought there was a thread on installs on the 12", but I could be 
mistaken.  Have you checked the list archives at:

http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=mandrake-cooker-ppc&r=1&w=2