Install Debian testing on an iBook G4 Fact one, I still have an iBook G4 and little use to it. Fact two, sometimes I still miss my linux desktop. (Mac OS X is not that bad) Combine those two facts and we are going to install Debian Testing on an iBook G4. Getting the software I used the netinstaller from http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/daily-builds/daily/arch-latest/powerpc/iso-cd/ Burn the debian-testing-powerpc-netinst.iso to a CD. (I know, it's an old medium) Do an installation Boot your iBook and insert the CD. Press 'c' and hold while or before Apple-Boot-Sound to start from CD. Maybe you have to boot it again if you are too slow. He asks you what you want to do. type install video=ofonly The debian installer doesn't like the iBook's graphic card. Proceed like a normal Debian installation, until the disk layout. Disk partitioning Choose for 'guided partitioning'. Then you will get an reconfigured partitionschema which you can change. You will see an extra partition, the 'Apple' type partition. Change your disk partition like you want, but keep the first Apple partition!!! Otherwise it can't format the drive. I did it my way the first time and had some problems formatting my drive. Maybe it's a bug in testing, but I couldn't find the Apple type, but it worked using the 'guided partitioning'. This is my partition table: IDE1 master (hda) - 120.0 GB FUJITSU MHV2120AT #1 32.3 kB Apple #2 1.0 MB B K boot untitled #3 7.0 GB f ext4 untitled / #4 3.5 GB f swap swap swap #5 109.6 GB f ext4 untitled /home If you got the error 'Partition map has no partition map entry' after writing the partition table to disk, you forgot to make the first Apple partition. Your system will reboot. Choose the parts you want to install. I simply only choose to install basics and laptop. All the rest I will do by myself. Reboot into your new OS. The first thing I noticed was the fan. It sounds like a broken fan. After about 5 minutes it scaled down to zero and the noise was gone. Console tools Just aptitude install gpm. This will install gpm, the mouse interface for the console. An USB mouse will work out of the box. X Installing X is a bit strange in Debian because of the Radeon Mobility 9200. Main problem is the framebuffer loaded at boot time. The next can be done by every windowmanager, but I prefer KDE. Make sure your /etc/apt/sources.list contains besides main, also the contrib and non-free repo's. aptitude install xorg aptitude install kde-standard aptitude install firmware-linux Do not reboot now! It will freeze during boot. Add the following into your /etc/yaboot.conf: image=/boot/vmlinux label=Linux read-only initrd=/boot/initrd.img append="video=ofonly video=radeonfb:off radeon.agpmode=-1" image=/boot/vmlinux.old label=old read-only initrd=/boot/initrd.img.old append="video=ofonly video=radeonfb:off radeon.agpmode=-1" Then run: root@thuu:~# ybin -v ybin: Finding OpenFirmware device path to `/dev/hda2'... ybin: Installing first stage bootstrap /usr/lib/yaboot/ofboot onto /dev/hda2... ybin: Installing primary bootstrap /usr/lib/yaboot/yaboot onto /dev/hda2... ybin: Installing /etc/yaboot.conf onto /dev/hda2... ybin: Setting attributes on ofboot... ybin: Setting attributes on yaboot... ybin: Setting attributes on yaboot.conf... ybin: Blessing /dev/hda2 with Holy Penguin Pee... ybin: Updating OpenFirmware boot-device variable in nvram... Now you may reboot. If you accidentally reboot your system before changing yaboot and you are stuk at the message: conflicting fb hw usage radeondrmfb Give during boot time in the yaboot menu the command: boot: Linux video=radeonfb:off radeon.agpmode=-1 It will boot again with the right options. Wireless First, make sure in your /etc/apt/sources.list contains the contrib packages. Update your repository and install the package b43-fwcutter. Download the firmware for the b43 from http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2 Untar the broadcom code and cd into the driver directory b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware/ wl_apsta_mimo.o And your Wireless is working. (can somebody test this again? Maybe I missed something) Bluetooth Bluetooth is working out of the box. Install btscanner to see it for yourself. Config files are in /etc/bluetooth.