On Sat, 23 Feb 2002, Christian Walther wrote:
> Hello! > > I just tried installing Mandrake 8.2b1 on my PowerBook G3 Wallstreet > (OldWorld), and I've run into some problems that you might like to know > about. Thanks ;^) > > First, the installer applescript doesn't work because the Finder doesn't > find the "Mandrake Linux Install" folder (which by the way is called > "Mandrake Linux 8.2 Install", but fixing that doesn't help). This can be > cured by replacing 'folder "Mandrake Linux Install"' by 'insertion location' > (2 times). This is not the most elegant solution, because "insertion > location" is simply the active window which may or may not be the desired > folder, but I don't know any way of getting the folder that contains the > script file at the moment. > > I run the applescript, choose "Install/Rescue" - "Install" - "2.4" - > "Graphical" - "atyfb". When BootX starts, I notice that the "More kernel > arguments" line contains "ramdisk_size=32000", although you recommend 36000. > I change this and go on. > > Linux starts booting, but stops with "Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount > root fs on 03.09", " <0>Rebooting in 180 seconds.." > > I examine BootX's settings a little more and discover that it has no ramdisk > set. I add "all.gz" from the "Linux Kernels" folder in the "Options" dialog > and try again. > Odd, it should have had a ramdisk specified, but maybe I missed one. I quickly went over the 8.0 version I did for the 8.2 install, but it looks like I overlooked a few things. I'll go over it again - thanks. > X starts and seems to work OK, apart from the familiar flickering that > surprisingly disappears after changing to one of the text consoles and back. > > In the "Choose your language" dialog, I click "Advanced" because I want to > install additional files for swiss german. This makes the dialog fill the > whole screen height, and there is no scrollbar for the "other languages" > checkboxes, so that my desired swiss german is somewhere unreachable way off > the screen. The lowest I can see is "Euskara (Basque)", so I have to count > the offset from this to "German|Switzerland" in the list above and use the > arrow keys to blindly reach it. > Haven't seen this one before, I'll check it out, but it doesn't sound like a PPC specific issue. > I choose Expert Install, choose a "Swiss (German layout)" keyboard layout, > partition my hard drive and install the default set of packages. When it > comes to X Configuration, I choose XFree 4.2.0, confirm the display settings > iMac/PowerBook, 1024x768, 32bit, and choose to start X automatically. > > Back in MacOS, I tell BootX to use kernel "vmlinuz-2.4.17-17mdk" that I > copied from the CD into "Linux Kernels". I'm not sure about what to do with > "initrd-2.4.17-17mdk.img", because if I select it as RAM disk in BootX, I > can't set the root device because that field is then used for ramdisk size. > So I leave it away, enter my root device and delete everything except > "video=atyfb:vmode:17" from "More kernel arguments". > If you were using SCSI drives, you would need the initrd. You can get around it by specifying root=/dev/XXX in the kernel arguments. > Linux seems to boot OK, apart from complaining about some "Unresoved > symbols" in "Finding module dependencies" and at "Starting pcmcia": > "cardmgr[614]: config error, file './config.opts' line 8: no function > bindings". > There are some know bad modules I jad asked the kernel maintainer to disable for PPC, but it did not get updated in time for the beta. > I log in and choose to run Gnome. In the First Time Wizard I click "Cancel", > which starts KDE instead of Gnome. While starting, KDE displays an error > message "Error while initializing sound driver: device /dev/dsp can't be > opened (Device or resource busy)". > Gnome is known to be broken in the beta. Apparently it was on x86 too, and I inherted some of their issues, plus some libraries I omitted on the CD's. > I log out of KDE and try to log into Gnome, but this bounces me back to the > login window after some screen flashes and colored vertical stripes. The > same thing when I try Sawfish. > > I notice that I can't change consoles with cmd-ctrl-Fx. Repeating this with > a console window open in KDE shows that keys F1 to F4 produce numbers 0 to > 3, F5 to F10 produce "~", F11 and F12 produce mouse clicks (as configured). > No "Command" now with Linux keycodes. It's just like a PC. Ctl-Alt-F2, etc. > When booting the second time and logging into KDE (Gnome still doesn't > work), it displays that message about the sound driver again, but plays its > welcome sound nevertheless. > The KDE /dev/dsp is also known, and present in x86. A fix is supposed to have been done now. Thanks for the feedback, Stew Benedict -- MandrakeSoft OH/TN, USA http://people.mandrakesoft.com/~sbenedict/ PPC FAQ: http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/demos/PPC/FAQ/
