Xubuntu PPC issues

Plan of Action for Finalizing the Linux PPC Project

• Fleshing out the Issues Matrix
  • Filling in all cells
  • Linking to existing documentation
• Identifying and developing documentation and procedures for all known issues
  • Validating issues identified
• Developing long-term/robust fixes over hacks
• Developing Mac Build procedures, checklists

Issue Relevance Matrix

Relevance of configuration issue to Mac PPC models

	G4											G5
	iBook		Powerbook						Mini	Lamp	Tower	iMac	Tower
	4,1 4,2	other	3,2	3,3 3,4 3,5	5,1 6,1 6,2 6,4	5,2 5,3 5,4 5,5	6,8	5,6 5,7 5,8 5,9	10,1 10,2
Video:Rage128	Y	-	Y	-	-	-	-	-	-
Video:Nvidia	-	-	-	-	Y	-	Y	-	-
Video:Radeon	-	Y	-	Y	-	Y	-	Y	Y
Audio:snd-aoa							Y	Y
Wifi: b43 driver
CPU scaling/ fan control
Display sleep/suspend
Trackpad: Right-click emulation	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Trackpad: smooth appletouch driver								Y
Battery monitor (module pmu_battery)	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y

Wireless

BCM4306

The BCM4306 wireless card is a known troublemaker. However, the b43 driver has vastly improved over the last couple of years and should support this chip without issue. We'll just need to add the appropriate repository. Run the following in a terminal:

 sudo -i
 cat << EOF >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/b43.list
 deb http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/ precise multiverse
 deb-src http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/ precise multiverse
 EOF
 apt-get update && apt-get purge -y bcmwl-kernel-source broadcom-sta-common broadcom-sta-source
 apt-get install b43-fwcutter firmware-b43-installer 

And reboot the system.

Power

Battery Monitor

To enable the battery monitor for the current session:

 sudo modprobe pmu_battery

To enable it permanently for all sessions, edit the file /etc/modules:

 sudo nano /etc/modules

or

 gksudo gedit /etc/modules

and add the following line:

 pmu_battery

Save and exit, and battery monitor should work on reboot.

CPU Frequency Scaling

(Source: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPCFAQ#How_can_I_use_powernowd_for_CPU_frequency_scaling.3F)

To reduce CPU power consuption in G3 and G4 laptops, replace the default 'ondemand' kernel governor with 'powernowd'. First, install the powernowd package:

 sudo apt-get install laptop-detect
 wget -P/tmp http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/pool/universe/p/powernowd/powernowd_1.00-1ubuntu5_powerpc.deb
 sudo dpkg -i /tmp/powernowd_1.00-1ubuntu5_powerpc.deb

The powernowd package is also available from the Ubuntu Software Center interface.

Finally, disable the ondemand governor:

 sudo update-rc.d ondemand disable

Input Devices

Right Click

Ubuntu's default right-click is F12, which is unorthodox and inconvenient. To add the customary MacOSX key control-click, edit the file /etc/default/mouseemu:

 sudo nano /etc/default/mouseemu

and uncomment the line

 RIGHT_CLICK="-right 29 272"

Reboot to enable the new right-click mapping.