lubuntu-qa team mailing list archive

[Boris Reinhard <reinhard.boris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Heya Walter,

hi all,

sure thing, but it's actually in there in parts already, but I will look
into making it more stand out as it got lost somewhat in between all the
various entries and the ppc related info-material.

To sum it all up again:

*1.* yaboot params don't seem to stick/ carry over from live-boot initiated
installations (intentionally?? for many mac users this would probably be
unexpected and result in what I'd like to describe as "wtf I already had
the correct params set why doesn't it work as expected" and be cause for
confusion as the needed workarounds to "make it work" would not be actually
used anymore while still assumed to be in use, so likely cause for
seemingly "not working out of the box

*Question: *

what can be done about that or is pointing to more detailed Information on
that and the actual params needed the only available course of action or
can those params be set default out of the box on affected system
configurations?

*2.* Radeon 9200/ RV 280 (M9+) chips on the PowerBook6,5 (ibook G4, 12'
inch, 1.2 GHz) and also likely similar ibook and eMac Radeon 9000 range of
chips for some reason won't work reliable on *Radeon*-*KMS* with AGP
transfer enabled, so those need "*radeon.agpmode=**-*1" no idea if it's a
flaw in the way Apple implemented AGP on these ibooks or in combination
with an expectation of the driver on how AGP is supposed to be implemented,
or simply some bug, but it won't work at the moment and causes the freeze
issue:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1377878

*3.* using the older framebuffer params in any way on top of things causes
conflicts with KMS which even with "*radeon.agpmode=-1*" set would cause
UI/ GUI issues like incomplete loading or nonfuctional UI/ GUI, so we
additionally would need "*video=ofonly*" here and should not try to
additionally use any combination of eg. "radeonfb" (which quite a few older
workaround instructions might confusingly suggest and result in the user
having any variation of params but not only the above 2 he or she would
need to make it work)

*4.* with "*video=ofonly radeon.agpmode=-1*" those ibooks would boot and be
useable prefectly fine BUT there will be "sluggish" feeling 2D/ gui/
windows moving and no accel at all which would be the result of not having
Xorg properly configured/ detecting the chip and using the appropriate
driver out of the box which also would have to be initiated manually at
this point:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-ati/+bug/1058641

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mesa/+bug/1366556
<https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-ati/+bug/1058641>

*to fix from a booted Installation:*

sudo service lightdm stop

sudo Xorg -configure
sudo mv xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf
sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

[Here some driver options could be set, eg. uncomment pageflip and set it
to "True", save any edits and after that reboot]

sudo shutdown -r now

---------------

hope I didn't forget anything :)

will look into the FAQ/ Known Issues tomorrow!

Grüße

boris




Am 06.11.2014 00:08 schrieb "Walter Lapchynski" <wxl@xxxxxxxxxx>:

> Thanks to you both for all your hard work on this. I'd really
> appreciate it if this information could get to the KnownIssues page:
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPCKnownIssues
> or the FAQ:
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPCFAQ
>
> Is that something you can take care of, Boris? If not, just give me
> the test and I'll fit it in there somewhere. I'd keep to the tone of
> the wiki and be as instructional/informational as possible.
>
> BTW average_guy (cc'd) now has two of my old PowerBooks and he's been
> doing (passing!) testing with Vivid now that the ISO tracker is back
> up. Of course, he's got an nvidia:
> https://gist.github.com/anonymous/b491dbab017f5222e4ae
>
> I would recommend that all of you test the LXQt packages. Not the
> prototype iso (unfortunately the build system doesn't build PPC, boo),
> but the PPA packages (ppa:lubuntu-dev/lubuntu-daily). It won't give
> you a good sense of what it's like to have everything included (and
> missing the stuff that doesn't need to be there), but it will be a
> good "go/no-go" test for whether or not we have any problems with the
> Qt packages.
>
> wxl
>
> On Thu, Oct 23, 2014 at 8:25 AM, Fritz Hudnut <este.el.paz@xxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
> > Boris:
> >
> > Yes, that did work . . . but, I had to add "live-nosplash-powerpc
> > video+ofonly radeon.agpmode=-1" . . . .  When I just used the
> "video=ofonly
> > radeon.agpmode=-1" I got "unable to open file, Invalid device."
> >
> > I'm in the 14.10 livedvd right now, and it is working; window dragging
> isn't
> > exactly smooth, but it follows the mouse and no freezes . . . it's fine.
> >
> > 14.04 might be my long term choice for an install, which was working OK,
> but
> > window dragging was "glitchy" as I mentioned.  Can't remember if Suspend
> > worked OK in 14.04 or not, that's more needed for me than sound is.  But,
> > looks like a tad too late for keeping PPC in support???
> >
> > F
> >
> > On Wed, Oct 22, 2014 at 8:50 PM, Boris Reinhard
> > <reinhard.boris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >>
> >> Please give it a try when you find the time, via a Live CD would suffice
> >> to help confirm the suspicion it's the AGP transfer on a specific set of
> >> Macs (very limited range compared to all radeon macs)
> >>
> >> Using the following yaboot options should do the trick:
> >>
> >> video=ofonly radeon.agpmode=-1
> >>
> >> thx
> >> boris
> >>
> >> Am 22.10.2014 22:31 schrieb "Fritz Hudnut" <este.el.paz@xxxxxxxxx>:
> >>
> >>> BR:
> >>>
> >>> Thanks for the reply, sure, it was a "generalization" . . . I was
> making
> >>> that point based upon the recent decision by the devs to a) "not fix
> the
> >>> radeon issue" . . . and thusly b) support for PPC is dropped or
> dropping in
> >>> 14.10, etc . . . .  And, my iBook also has radeon card . . . which in
> the
> >>> past was easier to get 12.04 running on the iBook than on my iMac with
> an
> >>> Nvidia card . . . took a lot of time to get the iMac running.  The
> point
> >>> being to find a way to keep the PPC hardware going . . . but, that has
> >>> turned out to be a fairly "short" road . . . and weird that it's due
> to a
> >>> "radeon" issue, rather than the "Nvidia" issue.
> >>>
> >>> You obviously have some skills vis computer programming . . . I just
> have
> >>> the "seat of the pants" experience of doing a fair number of installs
> and
> >>> running of various flavors of linux on my personal computers, Apple .
> . .
> >>> so, I'm used to stuff more or less just working.  In the 14.04 iBook
> install
> >>> I had to use "radeonfb" . . . and get an xorg.conf file . . . and it
> >>> ***still*** was "glitchy" . . . window dragging would not follow mouse
> >>> movement, etc . . . slow scrolling.  I don't know what "radeon.apgmode"
> >>> would do, might try it out on boot parameter; but, I've got too many
> other
> >>> things going to spend time "going under the hood" to just get basic
> function
> >>> . . . so . . . that might be "my problem."  But, from my estimate, Adam
> >>> Smith has got skills and knowledge and yet he found the same issues
> with
> >>> 14.04 PPC as well . . . .
> >>>
> >>> F
> >>>
> >>> On Wed, Oct 22, 2014 at 12:41 PM, Boris Reinhard
> >>> <reinhard.boris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> I'm sorry Fritz,
> >>>>
> >>>> I was adressing what sounded like a generalization to me, not trying
> to
> >>>> invalidate an issue you encountered.
> >>>>
> >>>> Out of the box lubuntu 14.04/ 14.10 was indeed freezing for me too,
> upon
> >>>> making use of graphic Hardware  acceleration it seemed.
> >>>>
> >>>> My ibook uses a Radeon 9200 which supposedly uses AGP 4x but I quickly
> >>>> discovered that disabling AGP or more like forcing PCI transfer was
> the
> >>>> official and expected to use workaround for an unknown issue with AGP
> on a
> >>>> range of those Macs. So simply using radeon.agpmode=-1 made it work
> tho it
> >>>> did not seem to correctly detect my ATI.
> >>>>
> >>>> Am 22.10.2014 21:20 schrieb "Fritz Hudnut" <este.el.paz@xxxxxxxxx>:
> >>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> On Wed, Oct 22, 2014 at 11:00 AM, Boris Reinhard
> >>>>> <reinhard.boris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Your conclusion as glitchy is simply wrong and baseless.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Boris:
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I, as well as Lars N, both found that 14.10 would "freeze" and was
> >>>>> basically not useable on my iBook . . . and 14.04 was found by
> myself and
> >>>>> Adam Smith to have problems with simple stuff like dragging windows
> or
> >>>>> scrolling.  I simply report what I've experienced, therefore it is
> not
> >>>>> "baseless" . . . nor is it "wrong" . . . .  Your experience is
> something
> >>>>> different, I don't say it is "baseless and wrong."
> >>>>>
> >>>>> F
> >>>
> >>>
> >
>
>
>
> --
> @wxl
> Lubuntu Release Manager, Head of QA
> Ubuntu PPC Point of Contact
> Ubuntu Oregon LoCo Team Leader
>