Linux on the iBook G4
Installing Debian Jessie on an iBook G4
There is some good information out there, but scattered. Thought I might put something together.
Wireless
The wireless modules are in the non-free
and contrib
repositories. You’ll have to add them to /etc/apt/sources.list
.
After that, install firmware-b43-installer
. After reboot, you
should see wireless networks being picked up in the network manger.
References: Debian Testing on iBook G4
Battery indicator
Add pmu_battery
to /etc/modules
and reload/reboot. You
may need to tweak your desktop or window manager to get a battery
meter icon displayed.
References: Debian Testing on iBook G4
Sound
The biggest pain. Debian came with some default configurations that need to be unset.
- Delete or comment out
snd-powermac
from/etc/modules
. - Remove blacklisted lines
snd-aoa*
from/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.local.conf
. - Reload the modules or reboot.
- Execute
alsamixer
. Select your soundcard, and ensure the PCM and Speaker channels have some volume on them, in addition to Master.
References: Debian mailing list thread