lubuntu-qa team mailing list archive

[Phill Whiteside <PhillW@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

I was fortunate enough to have a quick chat with Colin earlier, he's got a
list of the issues that are preventing actual installs going through
without editing the default things.  Time is clicking against us for 12.04,
but all hope is not lost. Kate is also an advocate for mac stuff from the
'main' QA team. They ask, once again, that we use the iso tracker and raise
bugs against issues instead of comments such as "As so and so is also aware
of" - these mean exactly zero to the devs. They work solely on bug numbers
from launchpad. The same goes for any lubuntu specific ones, as I have
stated before; none of our devs have access to macs - your bug reports are
absolutely essential with as much detail as possible else they have not a
hope of getting them resolved. It is virtually impossible to put too
information on to a bug report.

As always, thank-you for your continued testing.

Regards,

Phill.

On 7 March 2012 20:24, Paul Gorski <paul@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Thanks.
> As a reminder, we would all be known as "geeks" or "hobbyists" to the
> folks who originally bought iMacs. I'm trying to get Lubuntu to work on
> computers that folks just pulled out of box, plugged in, and away they
> went. The command line stuff is a barrier for them.
>
> So any progress in getting that r128 bug fixed is greatly appreciated.
> And the solution recommended at bug report 949288 sounds like a great plan.
>
> But I've been testing Ubuntu and variants on these vary same iMacs since
> 2008, and I've never had a live CD work, so while one problem may have been
> introduced in 11.04, not all the problems were. The best luck I've had was
> with the last official PPC versions of Fedora and OpenSUSE. I've haven't
> tried the PPC version Fedora that's in development now.
>
> And Debian folks are pretty glib and proclaim their product works on the
> iMac without "those Ubuntu problems" but not on my iMacs.
> Debian 6.0.4 standard install process boots to a black screen of which
> there is no coming out of.
> And MintPPC 11 mini-iso, based-on 7, does the same thing.
>
> Thanks for the advice, I'll try the module solution so I can get the iMacs
> up and running so I can continue tests.
>
>
>  Sincerely,
> Paul Gorski
>
>
>  -----Original Message-----
> From: o jordan <ojordan12345@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: Paul Gorski <paul@xxxxxxxxxxx>; lubuntu-qa <
> lubuntu-qa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wed, Mar 7, 2012 1:44 pm
> Subject: RE: [Lubuntu-qa] Mac G3 testing - desktop .iso
>
>  In the past there were many problems.  This is not necessarily the case
> anymore.  The one you hit first is this:
>
>        Option "UseFBDev" "boolean"
>               Enable or
> disable  use  of  an  OS-specific  framebuffer  device
>               interface  (which  is not supported on all OSs).  See
> fbdevhw(4)
>               for further information.  Default: on for PowerPC, off for
> other
>               architectures.
>
> The r128 video driver is trying to use a framebuffer you don't have loaded
> (it is blacklisted).  That is why I have raised this bug
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/949288 .  Please
> confirm.
>
> Until the aty128fb gets built back in, the fix for the problem on an
> installed system without editing the xorg.conf is explained here
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPCFAQ#How_do_I_load_a_kernel_module.3F.  Add aty128fb to /etc/modules and the initramfs-tools file as
> explained.  You'll need to use video=offb:off when booting.
>
> You shouldn't have to mess around disabling dri as you shouldn't have
> hardware acceleration in 12.04.
>
> On reboot, if you still hit a command prompt then you'll have to adjust
> your frequency settings in an xorg.conf.
>
> Section "Monitor"
>      Identifier "Monitor0"
>      HorizSync 58-62
>      VertRefresh 75-117
> EndSection
>
> That's all you should need to put in, but it could be the case it works
> without it now.
>
> ------------------------------
> To: ojordan12345@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; lubuntu-qa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [Lubuntu-qa] Mac G3 testing - desktop .iso
> From: paul@xxxxxxxxxxx
> Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2012 12:00:57 -0500
>
> I appreciate the interest in the problem. The PowerPC FAQ does little to
> explain the root cause of the problem, but does offer a wealth of
> information regarding temporary fixes, usually through xorg.conf.
>
> I'm all for getting the problem fixed correctly. At one time the live CD
> wasn't work on iBook G4's or Powerbook G4's, but that problem has been
> resolved. (12.04 boots fine on iBook G4, although desktop installer screens
> are dark).
>
> If there are any logs or screen shots that I can supply to help out, let
> me know.
>
> Also, is there anything I can do, other than modifying the xorg.conf, to
> get the live installer to work or the alternate to not boot to a command
> prompt. I'd just like to test 12.04 on the G3 iMac.
>
> For example, at Yaboot prompt:
>
> live video=aty128fb:1024x768-24@60 video=offb:off  NoUseFBDev
>
> (I'm guessing at the correct syntax based on the PowerPC FAQ and some
> other notes I have. Not even sure if I can invoke NoUseFBDev at this point.)
>
> I'd still have to write some sort of permanent changes to the new install,
> wouldn't I?
>
>
>
>
>  Sincerely,
> Paul Gorski
>
>
>  -----Original Message-----
> From: o jordan <ojordan12345@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: lubuntu-qa <lubuntu-qa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wed, Mar 7, 2012 2:28 am
> Subject: Re: [Lubuntu-qa] Mac G3 testing - desktop .iso
>
>  Paul and Jim,
>
> If you read the PowerPC FAQ there is a large section on graphics, much of
> it based around the imac G3.  It explains what is going and why it fails to
> load.  It explains it much better than I can put in a single post to a
> message list.
>
> In 11.04 and 11.10 (and at the moment 12.04) the appropraite framebuffer
> is not built in.  I'm going to file a bug to get the ones used by Apple
> hardware built back in to the kernel.  This is why the openfirmware
> framebuffer is loading and causing you problems.
>
> In the past the r128 caused dri lockup.  This is not going to happen in
> 12.04 because you won't have 3d hardware acceleration.
>
> Please do not include a 5 year plus old xorg.conf file in a recent version
> on Lubuntu.  The problems are not the same.
>
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>


-- 
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