Matthias Schmidt

Philipps University Marburg
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science

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Linux on an Apple Powerbook 12"

Apple Powerbook 12 Image

Last Update

Tue Apr 25 12:26:11 CEST 2006

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Hardware

0. General

0.1 Battery

The battery is not as powerfull as Apple stated (~ 5 hours). Under OS X the laptop suspends after 2.5 hours. Under Linux and heavy load (I compiled the kernel four times, rebooted four times and also compiled a lot of source code) the laptop works for 3.5 hours. Under normal circumstances the battery was empty after 4 hours.

0.2 Heat

You won't get cold fingers if you hack in the winter :) The PB has an active fan, but the aluminium chassis acts as an passive cooler. During compiling Xfree 4.3.0 the PB chassis was _really_ hot.

Chassis temperatures

  • Normal: ca. 25 degree Celsius
  • make bzImage: ca. 27-30 degree Celcius

    • 0.3 Important keys

    Important keys

    • Reboot the Powerbook: [apple] + [ctrl] + [power switch]
    • Command key: [apple]"
    • Option key: [alt]

    1. Mac OS X

    1.1 Install Mac OS X

    My PB (and the PB 12" of others too) isn't able too boot of the OS X install DVD. You'll see the gray apple but nothing will happen. I tried it with OS X CDs from an old iBook, but they failed too. I found a solution for this problem in the Apple support forum:

    Solution

    • Insert Software restore DVD
    • Restart
    • Press [c] shortly after the boot sound
    • Press [apple] + [v] and hold after the grey apple appears
    • Release key after entering the debug mode (text on screen)
    • Wait for the installer

    During the installation I partitioned the harddrive into two partitions. One for OS X and another one for Linux.

    2. Install Debian GNU Linux

    2.1 Preparation

    Download the following files and copy them into the OS X root directory:

    Download and install these files

    1. images/root.bin
    2. yaboot
    3. yaboot.conf
    4. linux.bin

    The first three file derived from http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/woody/main/disks-powerpc/current/new-powermac/, the fourth is the kernel from Orion Buckminster Montoya, which I renamed to linux.bin. You have to take his kernel, because the debian default kernel doesn't support ATA 100. The ATA chipset is the "intrepid chipset, which is UniNorth bridge and KeyLargo IS ASIC merged in one chip. It's CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDE_PMAC in kernel config".

    If copying failes, activate the OS X root account with sudo passwd root.

    Reboot and press immediately [apple] + [alt] + [o] + [f] to enter the Open Firmware BIOS. Boot the Debian installer with

    Boot debian installer (This is the Open Firmware prompt) 
    > boot hd:X,yaboot

    Replace the X with the location of your OS X partition. I filled 9 in. If 9 isn't your OS X partition, look at the mount output in the OS X Terminal. I won't write anything about the Debian install process, have a look at the tutorials in the appendix.

    2.2 Boot youe System

    Anyone who installed Debian testing or unstable can skip this section. These boot-floppies have the correct yaboot version installed. You only need to run yabootconfig.

    You won't be able to boot your system with the Debian yaboot (1.3.6). You'll receive an error-message during the installation, but don't panic. Reboot, enter the Open Firmware and boot, as described above, yaboot again. Now at the yaboot prompt type in the following

    Boot installed system (This is the Yaboot prompt) 
    boot: hd:X,/linux.bin root=/dev/hdYY ro

    and boot your installed system (the Y char) with the kernel on the OS X (the X char) partition. Now linux should start and you can finish the Debian installation. (Thanks to Jonathan Love who pointed me at a mistake in my description).

    After this, download the newest yaboot (1.3.10) from http://penguinppc.org/projects/yaboot/ and install it. Note: If the old yaboot version from debian is still installed, be sure to use the new version. ybin -V or apt-get remove yaboot will help you in any way :-P. If you step into problems send an email and have a look into the yaboot HOWTO. Here is my yaboot.conf.

    2.3 Problems during disk partitioning

    If your Apple crashes during disk partition (eg Battery empty) and isn't able to boot thereafter, you can use the DiskUtility from the Mac OS X boot cd to write a new partition table and restart installation. According to my information it's not possible to format a hard disk with Open Firmware.

    3. Configuration

    3.1 Kernel

    If cat /proc/cpuinfo reports 53MHz as clock frequency 

    cpu		: 7455, altivec supported
clock		: 53MHz
revision	: 3.3 (pvr 8001 0303)
bogomips	: 51.90
machine		: PowerBook6,1
motherboard	: PowerBook6,1 MacRISC3 Power Macintosh
detected as	: 271 (Unknown Pangea-based)
pmac flags	: 00000008
L2 cache	: 256K unified
memory		: 384MB
pmac-generation	: NewWorld

    install the newest benh Kernel (look below). If you're looking for further information please search the debian-powerpc archives. You only have one choice with Linux and PPC: the kernel from Benjamin Herrenschmidt. You'll get it via rsync:

    Kernel update via rsync 
    # mkdir /usr/src/benh_kernel
# rsync -avz rsync.penguinppc.org::linux-2.4-benh /usr/src/benh_kernel

    Here is my kernel .config

    3.1.1 Network

    If you activate CONFIG_SUNGEM=y in your kernel config, the ethernet device is working flawlessly. 
    sungem.c:v0.97 3/20/02 David S. Miller (davem@redhat.com)
eth0: Sun GEM (PCI) 10/100/1000BaseT Ethernet 00:03:93:cc:b2:a2
eth0: Found BCM5221 PHY

    3.1.2 Sound

    Works fine. Active the following options during kernel configuration:

    Kernel sound options 
    CONFIG_SOUND=m
CONFIG_DMASOUND_PMAC=m
CONFIG_DMASOUND=m

    and create a file named sound in /etc/modutils/ with the following content:

    /etc/modutils/sound 
    alias char-major-14	soundcore
alias sound-slot-0	dmasound_pmac
alias char-major-14-3	dmasound_pmac
alias /dev/dsp		dmasound_pmac
alias sound-service-0-0	i2c-keywest
alias char-major-14-0	i2c-keywest
alias /dev/mixer	i2c-keywest

    3.1.3 Bluetooth

    I've tested the bluetooth support with the T68i mobile phone from Sony Ericsson and it worked.

    3.1.3.1 Kernel options

    You'll need the following kernel options to communicate with the mobile:

    Bluetooth kernel options 
    CONFIG_BLUEZ=m
CONFIG_BLUEZ_L2CAP=m
CONFIG_BLUEZ_RFCOMM=m
CONFIG_BLUEZ_RFCOMM_TTY=y
CONFIG_BLUEZ_HCIUSB=m
CONFIG_BLUEZ_HCIUART=m
CONFIG_BLUEZ_HCIUART_H4=y
CONFIG_BLUEZ_HCIVHCI=m

    You have to load the modules below to get a working connection: 
    hci_usb                 7680   1
rfcomm                 34696   1
l2cap                  18612   2
bluez                  36008   3 [hci_usb rfcomm l2cap]

    3.1.3.2 Installation

    I don't use the blue userland programs from Debian, instead I compiled them myself. Download the tarballs below from bluez.sf.net

    Required tarballs

  • bluez-libs-2.4.tar.gz
  • bluez-sdp-1.1.tar.gz
  • bluez-utils-2.3.tar.gz

    • After installing I searched my mobile via hcitool: 
    littlejohn!ms:~ $ hcitool scan
Scanning ...
        00:0A:D9:37:49:9F       Superphone
    If hcitool successfully detects your phone, use rfcomm and a PPP tool (pppd, wvdial) to connect to the internet via bluetooth :)

    3.1.4 Internal modem

    I was able to install and use successfully the modem driver. I downloaded the driver from Linux drivers for Conexant modems and installed them. During configuration the hcfusbconfig-script wanted insistently a awk version > 3.1.0. I loaded gawk version 3.1.2 from gnu.org and installed it.

    Now I was able to finish the modem configuration. I had to modify the init-string of the modem to make it work:

    Changed modem Init-String 
    ATX3

    Have a look at my wvdial.conf.

    3.1.5 USB 1.1

    My Logitech USB mouse work as well as my USB Memory Stick (with usb-storage) worked.

    3.1.6 Firewire 400

    Firewire Cameras seemed not to work. A Firewire HDD worked without problems.

    3.1.7 Power management

    NEW: Suspend to disk is now working properly with kernel 2.6.9. You can find the required kernel patch here. Please unload firewire and usb modules before suspending and don't forget the resume=partition kernel entry. Blacklight control also works fine. The needed kernel patch is available at the same location as the suspend patch.

    Nope, APM won't work. APM says: Sleep mode (suspend to ram) not supported on this machine and Benjamin Herrenschmidt wrote on debian-powerpc:

    >     sleep support
No, may take a while before it's supported

    Anyway you can do a cat /proc/apm to get the correct information about your battery status.

    3.1.8 CPU

    The CPU is fully supported. To get full speed (867 MHz) have a look at the following:

    Change clock frequency 
    littlejohn!ms:~ $ cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep clock
clock           : 533MHz
littlejohn!ms:~ $ echo -n "0%100%100%performance" > /proc/cpufreq
littlejohn!ms:~ $ cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep clock
clock           : 867MHz

    And don't forget to activate cpufreq support during kernel configuration. Kernel 2.6.7-bk16 is requiered for cpufreq on the 1.33 GHz model.

    The following packages exist for controlling CPU frequency:

    3.2 DVD/CD-RW drive

    SVCD and DVD playback works. With mplayer I wasn't able to play all DVDs (eg LOTR failed). Somebody reported that DVDV playback with xine is fine. The CD burner works without problems. Activate SCSI emulation during kernel configuration and add an entry to your yaboot.conf. With Kernel 2.6 you can burn CDs without SCSI emulation. The output of cdrecord -scanbus: 
    Cdrecord 1.10 (powerpc-unknown-linux-gnu) Copyright (C) 1995-2001 Jörg Schilling
Using libscg version 'schily-0.5'
scsibus0:
	0,0,0	  0) 'MATSHITA' 'CD-RW  CW-8122  ' 'BA1D' Removable CD-ROM
	0,1,0	  1) *
	0,2,0	  2) *
	0,3,0	  3) *
	0,4,0	  4) *
	0,5,0	  5) *
	0,6,0	  6) *
	0,7,0	  7) *

    3.3 Keyboard

    I choose mac-usb-de-latin1 (german) as keyboard layout. Furthermore I installed pbbuttonsd. You'll now be able to use the PB special keys (eject, mute, volume, ...) with this daemon. I wrote a little init script to activate pbbuttonsd at startup. If you want to eject CDs from the build-in CD-ROM drive you have to install eject additionaly.

    3.4 Trackpad

    With the following /etc/gpm.conf the trackpad works fine under console.

    /etc/gpm.conf 
    device=/dev/input/mice
responsiveness=
repeat_type=
type=ps2
append=""
sample_rate=

    I mapped the second and third mouse button to F11 and F12. If you enter showkey and press any key, you'll see the keycode. My /etc/sysctl.conf:
    /etc/sysctl.conf 
    dev/mac_hid/mouse_button_emulation = 1
dev/mac_hid/mouse_button2_keycode = 87
dev/mac_hid/mouse_button3_keycode = 88

    Hierzu muss im Kernel CONFIG_MAC_EMUMOUSEBTN aktiviert sein.

    3.5 TV adapter

    I wasn't yet successfull getting the TV adapter working.

    3.6 Analog VGA monitor

    Same for the VGA adapter. It worked fine under OS X (surprise).

    3.7 Airport Extreme

    UPDATE: I got a successfull report about a working Airport Card with a kernel > 2.6.15 and the http://bcm43xx.berlios.de driver.


    It seems that the chipset on the Airport Extreme Card is a Broadcom chip. Broadcom don't tend to release the Linux driver or any information how to write a new driver. There is an ongoing petition, just sign it :)

    Mmh, no :) I was able to successfully load the hermes module, but that's all. kern.log displays the following: 

    Mar 26 21:45:50 kernel: hermes.c: 5 Apr 2002 David Gibson 
Mar 26 21:47:52 kernel: orinoco.c 0.11b (David Gibson  and others)
Mar 26 21:47:52 kernel: airport.c 0.11b (Benjamin Herrenschmidt )
Mar 26 21:47:52 kernel: orinoco.c 0.11b (David Gibson  and others)
Mar 26 21:47:52 kernel: airport.c 0.11b (Benjamin Herrenschmidt )
    The aiport modul failed with the following message:

    /lib/modules/2.4.20-ben9/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/airport.o: init_module: No such device
Hint: insmod errors can be caused by incorrect module parameters, including invalid IO or IRQ parameters
    I created an alias (eth1) for the card and ifconfig eth1 reported the following (surprise ;): 

    eth1: error fetching interface information: Device not found

    4.0 Xfree 4.3.0 with a Nvidia GeForce4 420 Go

    Update: Xfree from Testing/Unstable works fine with the GeForce FX Go5200 (GeForce4 420 Go), you don't need to compile your own version.

    Julian Scheel has started an online petition for nvidia linux driver for ppc. You can sign it here.

    Note: A lot of readers reported problems with the CVS version of Xfree86. If you run into trouble during compiling, try the stable version of Xfree 4.3.x. It'll work :)

    4.1 Installation

    It works! To get X working, try the following steps. If you use unstable/sid you can skip the first three steps.

    Step-by-Step instruction

    • get Xfree 4.3.0 from ftp://ftp.xfree86.org
    • read the Install-HOWTO and compile the sources
    • look if the nv driver compiles successfully
    • install the binaries
    • configure X or use my XF86Config
    • login from another box via ssh
    • startx and look at /var/log/XFree86.0.log
    • if X starts, ok. If not, look at the error messages
    • If you get an error like Could not load default font fixed, install xfonts-base via apt.

    If you use sid, you don't need to compile X from source. You can use the debian packages from Daniel Stone. To get the packages type apt-get install x-window-system. Update: With a recent (ben10) benh kernel you'll be able to quit and restart your Xsession without problems. Disadvantage: Your console will be limited to 80x30 characters after boot. Orion Buckminster was the first person who reported this issue on debian-powerpc.

    My XF86Config and the output of XFree86.0.log.Note: My color depth is 16Bit per default, but you can use 24Bit (according to Pander) without problems.

    4.2 Configuration

    4.2.1 Keyboard

    Note: Christophe Cattlegrid wrote very usefull information about X and keyboard mapping in his HOWTO, so I'll skip this. Have a look at his HOWTO (see Appendix) instead. I modified my .Xmodmap to get a usable german keyboard layout. I mapped for example [AltGr] on the [apple] key.

    Appendix

    A. Credits

    Credits

    • Thanks to Jonathan Love who pointed me at a mistake and gave me helpfull tips relating testing/unstable.
    • Pander successfully tested X11 with 24Bit color depth and reported the list with the cpu frequency control programs.
    • Johannes Becker reported a broken link and gave me a tip relating the boot prompts.
    • Sven Herzing provided the link to the software suspend patch.
    • Djoumé SALVETTI maintains the french translation and submitted tons of information about various topics.
    • Javier Carranza maintains the spanish translation.
    • Pascal Suter reported a crash during disk partition and how to fix/format the hard drive.

    B. Information

    Information

    C. Links

    Interessting threads/postings on debian-powerpc:

    debian-powerpc

    Interessting websites:

    Websites

    D. Disclaimer

    This document is licensed under the GNU GPL. I'm not responsible for the content of the hyperlinks here. If you follow a link, it's your own fault not mine.

    Read this: I'm not responsible for any damage (software, hardware or anything else) this document could cause. Use this document at your own risk!

    E. Copyright

    All trademarks are the property of their respective owners!
    Copyleft (l) 2002-05 by Matthias Schmidt.