User:Tonyr/Journal/Oct07

05Oct07

DigitalAudio, nVidia, splash
This one is a PowerMac G4/533 DigitalAudio with a nVidia GeForce2 MX/MX400 controller. At boot the Ubuntu splash does not appear. I've tried several permutations of xorg.conf and dpkg-reconfigure, to no avail. This forum post, http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=290998, suggests using append=" verbose splash" instead of append =" quiet splash" in the yaboot.conf file.

MacBuild has seen G4/533 machines before, and I don't recall seeing/fixing this problem. Maybe we ignored it, or there was a different video card. I don't see any previous mention in this journal, although I have not made an exhaustive search.

19Oct07

Error post/16/64
Working on a QS 1GHz/DP yesterday, the single processor version of the kernel booted and ran OK, but the SMP version died somewhere in the second boot stage, hanging with a white screen. The Apple Hardware Test CD (G4 v. 1.2.5) booted and immediately reported "Error post/16/64". The extended diagnostics did not report any other problem. The google consensus is that this indicates a cache memory problem, rendering either the logic board or the CPU board useless (I haven't tried to chase-down/clarify that yet).

DigitalAudio, nVidia, splash
No kernel arguments that I tried would make the splash screen appear. I left it with the verbose boot trace so that SOMETHING would happen visually at boot time.

26Oct07

Clamshell 466 iBook
A graphite Clamshell, reported to be a special edition, last of the Clamshells. Clint installed Feisty, but neithr the sound nor the Airport card worked. The audio device in this machine is called DACA, and was not recognized at installation, so no driver was configured. There are comments elsewhere in this journal about Airport cards not being recognized at Ubuntu installation, and apparently that applies to the Clamshell model also. The solution is to add module names airport and snd_powermac to /etc/modules.

The maximum video resolution on these models is 800x600, so /etc/usplash.conf needs to be modified accordingly. X configuration sets 1024x768 as the max resolution at installation for some reason, and Color Depth to 24. The file xorg.conf will need to be modified accordingly, also.

MacBuild Sign-up
There is a critical mass of volunteers wanting to work on Macs at this point. I'm not doing a very good job of getting them up to speed. Part of it has to do with being spread too thin. It's time to institute the sign-up sheet. There is room for two people to work in the MacBuild area, and one of them should be a player-coach. It is possible that the Mac triage area could be used as another build seat, but it would be a little awkward: it's away from the tools and support, the space is limited, and triage always takes precedence.

So the signup sheet will have one slot for each shift. This is arrangement will be pretty loose, since it is not guaranteed that a supervisor will be available for every shift.

This needs more thinkin'.