I'm trying to install Ubuntu/ ANY distro on my G4. It has a shiny Nvidia Geforce 8000 series graphics card, and the x display is completely screwed. I've installed all the nvidia packages; I don't know really what to do as with every change I make I restart X and it comes up with the same screwed display that I can barely make out. Is there anything I can do? I have googled for GPL drivers but without success. What can I do? Is there a way of restarting the graphics card each time, like there is with alsa? (or am I completely mixed up?)

Really need some help with this one. Seriously. I cannot use OSX any more as I don't appreciate paying for software and all the software I need is on linux anyway. Please help somebody! (1 month of googling and I've nothing)

I managed to install Ubuntu Feisty on an ancient Powerbook G4 (ATI graphics tho') and also had some trouble getting the display right.

The installer gave many options for screen resolution, none of which were correct. I eventually got it right by a combination of guesswork and checking a newer model G4. Then I put it into the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file manually - setting all 'Modes' lines in the screen section to the same single value "1152x768".

If you can boot into OSX you may be able to guess the native screen resolution from the standard hardware/setup menus. You might also be able to find some info there to check against the HorizSync and Vertrefresh settings in xorg.conf.

Don't forget Ctrl-Alt-F1 (Ctrl-Alt-F7 to get back) will get you a text terminal to let you edit files, look at log files and so on.

Couple more things: Ctrl-Alt-Backspace kills the X server. Usually 'xinit' or 'startx' will restart it. I also had to change some resolution settings in the Ubuntu splash screen to get it to look right.

Ok. I've got my xorg.conf in front of me, and it seems to be all good. The resolution is qhat it says it should be; 1920x1200, but the gDevice is Generic Video Card, which I know is a Nvidia. Should I change this?

There are some examples of working G4 xorg.conf files here:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=60268

Everyone seems to use the nv driver.