Cube G4 450 running Adélie? Nah. OpenBSD maybe?

[Alf Torp]

So, I am trying to get my Cube up and running with the 32-bit Adélie Linux for PPC. Specs:
- 450MHz
- 1.25GB memory
- 120GB Kingston SSD (Mac OS 9 and ... 10.3? Can't remember atm) dual boot perfectly functioning.
- nVIDIA GeForce MX grapics card
- Apple ADC display
- Apple USB keyboard and puck mouse. Jay...

I also noticed that... my G4 seems willing to boot from a USB stick without going to OpenFirmware...:

I've tried through OF, as well as simply clicking on the usb stick here as you would any other drive and it works perfectly. Nice!

If I boot from the Adélie install cd, the boot process works fine (apart form grub throwing up an "unrecognized number" message and then allows me to continue anyway) up until:
"Setting keyboard mode (UTF-8) [ok]"

--- and that's all she wrote. Literally. Nothing else shows up on the display and there is no way to input anything. No prompt. Nothing. So....

I boot from the KDE Live iso, on a usb stick through open firmware. boot usb/disk@1:3,\boot\ofboot.b
No problem. Finds the stick, the software, grub says "unrecognized number" and then allows the boot to continue. I select to start Adélie and all is well up until about the same place where the install cd hangs:

Then the screen goes black and that's the end. I've waited, had lunch, a cup (3 actually) of coffee and a customer conversation. Nada.

Anyone got any tips here? I'm on to Adélie next, I just want to know if anyone here has an inkling as to what I'm doing wrong, or as to what is causing the boot process to throw a hissy fit....

Yes, yes.... "CLEAN YOUR DISPLAY!" I know, ok?

I'll see if I can post some more pictures at a later stage, though I suspect you've all seen a Cube before

 

[Kai Robinson]

@Action Retro might be able to help out, or @thejsa

 

[Alf Torp]

@Action Retro might be able to help out, or @thejsa

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated as I am treading water, out of my depth as I am... but hey, that's where the fun is!

 

[Alf Torp]

Been meddling with things I don't understand again... At least I have realised that the nVIDIA route is even more of a quagmire than ATI, so I have reinstalled the ATI graphics card and I manage to find /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ and I've tried several ways of creating the org.conf file (containing the @Action Retro configuration), but even though nano writes the file to disk and I can see it in the directory, it disappears upon a restart. As opposed to wpa_supplicant.conf which was saved and retained just fine. Hm. Btw... should the xorg.conf file be in the /X11 directory or does it need to be in /xorg.conf.d ? I've tried both to no avail...

In either case, I am still unable to get further than the cli. horizon-ui is still a no-go but I will persevere. The error I get when I try to start horizon-ui :
"qt.qpa.xcp: could not connect to display
qt.qpa.plugin: could not load the Qt platform plugin "xcb" in "" even though it was found.
This application failed to start because no Qt platform plugin could be initialized. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem."

I've been unable to find any relevant information on Adélie's website, or...well, anywhere else really.

Time for some food. Will persevere after refueling.

 

[Alf Torp]

Been meddling with things I don't understand again... At least I have realised that the nVIDIA route is even more of a quagmire than ATI, so I have reinstalled the ATI graphics card and I manage to find /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ and I've tried several ways of creating the org.conf file (containing the @Action Retro configuration), but even though nano writes the file to disk and I can see it in the directory, it disappears upon a restart. As opposed to wpa_supplicant.conf which was saved and retained just fine. Hm. Btw... should the xorg.conf file be in the /X11 directory or does it need to be in /xorg.conf.d ? I've tried both to no avail...

In either case, I am still unable to get further than the cli. horizon-ui is still a no-go but I will persevere. The error I get when I try to start horizon-ui :
"qt.qpa.xcp: could not connect to display
qt.qpa.plugin: could not load the Qt platform plugin "xcb" in "" even though it was found.
This application failed to start because no Qt platform plugin could be initialized. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem."

I've been unable to find any relevant information on Adélie's website, or...well, anywhere else really.

Time for some food. Will persevere after refueling.

Here are a few pictures of how my SSD setup for the Cube is. Nothing fancy, but it does the job. As you can see, only two screws to hold the SSD to the carrier, for now. This because It had to be mounted upside down in order to align the Sata/Pata adapter with the cable.

Tight squeeze, but juuuust enough space is... well, just enough:

Here's a view from behind the Airport card carrier:

...and everything back in place:

 

[Nixontheknight]

Been meddling with things I don't understand again... At least I have realised that the nVIDIA route is even more of a quagmire than ATI, so I have reinstalled the ATI graphics card and I manage to find /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ and I've tried several ways of creating the org.conf file (containing the @Action Retro configuration), but even though nano writes the file to disk and I can see it in the directory, it disappears upon a restart. As opposed to wpa_supplicant.conf which was saved and retained just fine. Hm. Btw... should the xorg.conf file be in the /X11 directory or does it need to be in /xorg.conf.d ? I've tried both to no avail...

In either case, I am still unable to get further than the cli. horizon-ui is still a no-go but I will persevere. The error I get when I try to start horizon-ui :
"qt.qpa.xcp: could not connect to display
qt.qpa.plugin: could not load the Qt platform plugin "xcb" in "" even though it was found.
This application failed to start because no Qt platform plugin could be initialized. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem."

I've been unable to find any relevant information on Adélie's website, or...well, anywhere else really.

Time for some food. Will persevere after refueling.

are you able to upload your xorg.conf file (or at least type it out) so I can use it? I'm having the same problem as you except on a 1.25GHZ DP MDD.

 

[Alf Torp]

are you able to upload your xorg.conf file (or at least type it out) so I can use it? I'm having the same problem as you except on a 1.25GHZ DP MDD.

It is a letter for letter copy of the one @Action Retro posted - in your post - and it didn't work for me.

 

[Nixontheknight]

It is a letter for letter copy of the one @Action Retro posted - in your post - and it didn't work for me.

ah, it didn't work for me either, and I had Xorg generate an xorg.conf for me that I just modified with action retro's values

 

[Alf Torp]

ah, it didn't work for me either, and I had Xorg generate an xorg.conf for me that I just modified with action retro's values

If you are able, try cd /var/log/ and see if you have a log file there called Xorg.0.log . Open the file with nano xorg.0.log . In there you ought to see if there are any error messages, which should give you a pointer as to what might be causing the problem.

For me, the r128 driver does not load correctly and that causes X11 to shut down. I've been scratching my head over this one for a few days now, so I contacted Adelie yesterday, and they seem to suggest that there might be a workaround by creating a file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-Modules.conf or something to that effect. Now, we are trying to find out what ought to be inside that file...

 

[Alf Torp]

G4 boot process from chime to operational desktop. Booting from Kingston 120GB SSD in to Mac OS X 10.4

 

[Nixontheknight]

If you are able, try cd /var/log/ and see if you have a log file there called Xorg.0.log . Open the file with nano xorg.0.log . In there you ought to see if there are any error messages, which should give you a pointer as to what might be causing the problem.

For me, the r128 driver does not load correctly and that causes X11 to shut down. I've been scratching my head over this one for a few days now, so I contacted Adelie yesterday, and they seem to suggest that there might be a workaround by creating a file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-Modules.conf or something to that effect. Now, we are trying to find out what ought to be inside that file...

From what I can tell from what comes up on screen, it says “no screens found”, but I’ll edit this when I can get a log file

 

[Alf Torp]

From what I can tell from what comes up on screen, it says “no screens found”, but I’ll edit this when I can get a log file

try to start X11 by typing startx. this should generate the Xorg.0.log file

 

[Nixontheknight]

try to start X11 by typing startx. this should generate the Xorg.0.log file

I know that. That’s why I said I’ll edit this post when I Generate the log

 

[Alf Torp]

I know that. That’s why I said I’ll edit this post when I Generate the log

Hard to know what someone you've just met online knows or not. It wasn't my intention to be patronizing.

 

[Alf Torp]

Adélie has been set aside for a while. I'm trying OpenBSD instead, hoping for better luck... shame about the driver issue and having to jump through hoops to even get through the install process. I totally understand that Adélie does not have the resources to fix stuff, but the disappointment is all the greater when you expect to boot in to a functioning gui install process. Now if I can figure out why OpenBDS does not like my display name....

 

[Alf Torp]

OpenBSD installed, and working from the cli. After messing around with xorg.conf for a couple of days I've gained a better understanding of why Apple makes the best operating systems... Finicky does not quite cover it.
I've got as far as to making all the ATI stuff load, without Xorg.0.log filling up with (EE) lines, now I just get a few warnings but it looks like nothing much to worry about. However I still don't get as far as any desktop. When I login, I get a black display that when I type will display what I type but nothing more. It does not respond beyond that, and accepts no commands or anything. I wonder what xenodm is up to...

 

[Alf Torp]

OpenBSD installed, and working from the cli. After messing around with xorg.conf for a couple of days I've gained a better understanding of why Apple makes the best operating systems... Finicky does not quite cover it.
I've got as far as to making all the ATI stuff load, without Xorg.0.log filling up with (EE) lines, now I just get a few warnings but it looks like nothing much to worry about. However I still don't get as far as any desktop. When I login, I get a black display that when I type will display what I type but nothing more. It does not respond beyond that, and accepts no commands or anything.

Checking my xorg.conf file once again. Looking at the log file it seems that X is using 96dpi whereas the 22" Apple ADC cinema display can only do 86.45 ... Hm.

 

[Alf Torp]

Bugger it. I put the nVIDIA GeForce 5200LE back in, and whaddayaknow...

...Progress, thy name is nVIDIA. I would never have guessed.

Now all I need to do is learn how to use OpenBSD, figure out how to get a nicer desktop, software and all sorts of schtuff. But hey, progress is progress!

 

[Kai Robinson]

I guess its the same issue as the other *nix/BSD distro's - the driver for the Rage is far too old to really work with the newer kernels. I'd be tempted to see how it works with older versions of certain distro's - say, from around 2008 or so.

 

[Alf Torp]

I guess its the same issue as the other *nix/BSD distro's - the driver for the Rage is far too old to really work with the newer kernels. I'd be tempted to see how it works with older versions of certain distro's - say, from around 2008 or so.

Someone else will have to do that, I'm afraid I've learned a few things from this: There is a reason why WindWoes and MacOS are commercial operating systems. Linux is NOT an option if your main goal is to get something even remotely "productive" done (even if it is just to play around with Arduino projects for your boat).

I do of course realize that trying to make it run on 20+ year old hardware is part of what makes it a PowerPC --> challenge <-- but while I have been messing around with the Cube, I have also installed and tested various distros on one of my Mac Mini 2010's.

My experience:
Linux is about as refined as Top Gears home made electric car compared to a Nissan Leaf (Windows), let alone a Tesla... (That's right. MacOS. For better or worse ) They do the same stuff, two are (relatively) user friendly and the other is tinker friendly. Those two things are - in my book - mutually exclusive.

The anarchy that is Linux distros come at a price: None of them will ever be a real alternative to any commercial OS, because not enough forces will pull in the same direction long enough to gain any substantial market share. Again, for better or for worse. So much potential, but it will remain potential and never mature in to anything more than tinker friendly if this remains so.

...but Adélie will remain installed on my Mac Mini. For now. Because... tinker friendly. The Cube? 10.4 and 9.2.2 once again.

My name is Alf, and I failed the 2022 PowerPC challenge.