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Old 09-15-2020, 02:37 PM   #16
sgosnell
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For running a weather station, I would recommend a Raspberry Pi or similar. It's small, cheap, uses minimal power, and much more powerful than an old Macbook.
 
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Old 09-15-2020, 03:56 PM   #17
Hermani
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sgosnell View Post
For running a weather station, I would recommend a Raspberry Pi or similar.
In addition, the Raspberry Pi as a platform has way more support, now and in the future.
 
Old 09-16-2020, 12:23 PM   #18
kareempharmacist
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLLfCgBu96M
 
Old 09-21-2020, 08:44 PM   #19
Maverick855
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Talking Latest from Mac Land

I’ve been burning and flashing media since my last post. I have a flash drive with Lubuntu 16.04 that one of the G4’s would allow a live test. It had an install file and after failing with other distros I decided to install it. The installation was a walk in the park. I haven’t had time to sit down with it and do what I need to to get the wireless Airport card to work. I had a couple of distros that would allow live operation from both CD and USB so I thought I’d try to load Lubuntu 12.04 on the G5. The install was different in that it had some partitioning requirements that I thought I could get through but in the process ended up wiping out My OSX Leopard hard drive. I guess the Linux labeling of the drives differed enough that, even though I was certain I had picked the correct, empty HFS+ hard drive, I must have picked wrong. No worries as I had no files other than the operating system on it and have what I need to put OSX Leopard back on later. I’ve tried CentOS, couldn’t get the USB or the DVD to even be “seen” by the G4 or the G5.

For my next trick, I’m going to take the USB drive with Lubuntu 16.04 and try to load it onto the G5. The .iso shows a “live-powerpc64” option is available so i hope that means I can boot the G5 from the USB and install the same distro on it as I have on the G4. I have one other G4 that I will try to load it on as well.

Finally, never one to leave well enough alone, I will try some of the other distros I have burned to DVD to see if I can update/change the interface to something that more closely resembles OSX. Any suggestions on how to do that would be helpful. I’ve messed with Slackware, Slackintosh, MacPuppy but can’t seem to get them to load but I need to do more research. Thanks for all your help so far.
Mav
 
Old 09-23-2020, 03:35 PM   #20
edwardp
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sgosnell View Post
With 1GB of RAM, any distro is going to be slow. I think 4GB is near the minimum for acceptable performance, but that's just me. It might be fine for you. Make sure you allocate at least 4GB on the disk for swap space. The correct Debian ISO should be the current version of Buster (stable), 10.5, the 32-bit version.
https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd...86/iso-hybrid/These are the latest 32-bit liveDVD versions, and work well from a USB flash drive.
The specific .iso depends on the desktop environment you want. I highly recommend NOT using gnome or KDE, because they're too resource intensive for the hardware you have. Either LXDE or Xfce should work. LXDE is the lightest, but Xfce isn't much heavier, and has many more feature. I've been running Xfce for many years, and I like it.
One of my desktops has only 3Gb of RAM installed (although it can have 4Gb max) and 128Mb of this is allocated for the on-board memory. LXDE and LXQt (Fedora 32, x86_64) run fine. Other desktop environments I've tried (MATE, Cinnamon, XFCE and KDE) will all either crash, or cause video corruption.
 
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Old 09-28-2020, 09:32 PM   #21
Maverick855
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Talking Update on Linux Install on Mac G4 PPC

I’ve been able to load both Lubuntu 12.04 and Debian 8 Jessie on my Mac G4, PPC with 2G RAM. Both installs were pretty easy. Debian is having some issues (Xfce Desktop). It forgot my user account but I logged in as root. I figured I could add a user account using Users and Groups but after opening the application it just sat there and spun. I tried to load Debian PPC64 on my G5 dual core with 4 GB RAM but on boot up there is a failure resulting in just a black screen. FAILED: Failed to start Load Kernel Modules See systemclt status system-modules-load.services for details. If I startup on the install CD can I do that? I’ll admit I haven’t tried and may try to install it again using a desk top environment other than LXDE, MATE, Cinnamon, I did NOT chose Gnome or KDE based on what has happened on previous install attempts. I’m getting pretty good at installing, just not at getting it to boot. Finally I wanted to run network installs for additional software but NONE of the network mirrors worked, got an error message every site I picked.

So I’m continuing on with the process but thought others might want to know how it’s going.

I have had other distros load on my G5, G4, and MacBook (running from the DVD LIVE or actually installed. KUBUNTU would be one I’d like to run but so far no luck getting it to run or install on the G4 or G5. It looked great on my MacBook.

Thanks again for being here for us newbies!

Mav’855
 
Old 10-12-2020, 08:02 AM   #22
mekineer
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Quote:
Originally Posted by boughtonp View Post
Not all software is that bloated.

Puppy and antiX are both capable of running on 256MB of RAM, so should be happy with 1GB.


(Although there is a suggestion the OP wants to browse the web, and that might be an issue with only 1GB...)

You can browse the web with Pale Moon browser. It doesn't use that much memory. (32 bit)
 
Old 11-20-2020, 11:17 PM   #23
Maverick855
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Question Still Going...

I have been able to load Ubuntu Edgy on an 867Mhz G4, Lubuntu 12.04 Precise on both another G4 and a G5. What I haven’t been able to do is get Debian Jessie to boot after an install. I end up with the same FAILURE on both the newer G4 and the G5: , Failed to start Load Kernel Modules, See systemctl status system-modules-load.services for details. I haven’t been able to figure out what’s wrong nor have I been able to figure out how to SEE systemctl status.

From what I can glean from the internet is the failure has something to do with the video cards and/or the drivers.

Suggestions on where to go or what I need to do would be appreciated.

I am using DVDs to install the distros.
 
Old 11-21-2020, 12:36 AM   #24
mrmazda
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Maverick855 View Post
What I haven’t been able to do is get Debian Jessie to boot after an install. I end up with the same FAILURE on both the newer G4 and the G5: , Failed to start Load Kernel Modules, See systemctl status system-modules-load.services for details. I haven’t been able to figure out what’s wrong nor have I been able to figure out how to SEE systemctl status.

From what I can glean from the internet is the failure has something to do with the video cards and/or the drivers.
Not unlikely video. You're probably being flummoxed by X failure, since most modern installers assume X will just work. Are you aware of the vttys? Once everything seems to have stopped, Ctrl-Alt-F3. Is there a login prompt there? If so, login root, then, assuming a relatively recent distro choice,
Code:
journalctl -b
will provide a chance to spot the string "fail", and
Code:
systemctl status <service>
similarly, with <service> being something like lightdm or sddm or kdm or gdm or network or any other service that doesn't seem to be producing edible fruit.
Code:
less /var/log/Xorg.0.log
will give you a chance to search for X server failure clues.

It's been so long since I installed on a G4 I'm not sure whether I did a net install or a DVD install. Normally I do net regardless of distro, and skip distros that make no offer of a net install. I gave away my G4s last year after they did nothing but waste space for at least 5 years after too much frustration with how long they took just to boot filled to maximum RAM capacity, and how slow AGP video was with internet and word processing software with which I was familiar.

Last edited by mrmazda; 11-21-2020 at 12:37 AM.
 
Old 11-21-2020, 10:15 AM   #25
Maverick855
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Cntrl alt f3

Thanks for the quick reply! I’ve read about the CTRL-ALT access to a terminal screen but have also seen everything from F1 to F13 as the method to get there. I will try the F3 approach but my experience has been such that no matter what I do to try to access the terminal, I’m not seeing it on the monitor. I tried to use a “recovery” or “rescue” at the boot: prompt but it reports back “directory not found”. I may try to boot to the DVD as it DOES have a rescue system I just don’t know what to do once I get to the point of entering a shell. So...

1) I will try to access the terminal using CTRL-ALT-F3 and if successful follow your guidance above
2) if I can’t get to a terminal that way, I’ll use the DVD RESCUE boot and go to where I can get into the shell. Would I then use your steps above once presented with a # prompt? Or is there some other steps to take from there?

Finally, what am I looking for and once I find it, what do I do to rectify the issue? I’ve loaded Debian on a MacBook and it looks awesome and would love to drive my G4s and G5 with it.

Thanks again, hoping to flag this thread with a SOLVED notation.
Mav

Last edited by Maverick855; 11-21-2020 at 02:11 PM. Reason: Update:
 
Old 11-21-2020, 02:15 PM   #26
Maverick855
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Tried the ctrl-alt-F3 and the screen was and remained black. Went into rescue with the install DVD and found myself in an area I could not navigate because I wasn’t sure what to do or what I could do. Going to read up on rescue, shell activities to see if I can figure out what needs to be done in the shell to help with the failure to Load Kernel Module
 
Old 11-21-2020, 02:51 PM   #27
mrmazda
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(Ctrl-Alt-)F2-F6 are roughly the traditional vttys that behave identically. In recent years, some environments give F1 unique characteristics beside it being the location of init messages. Otherwise, F1 is the same as F2-F6. F7 is the traditional location of the display manager, with F8 & F9 next in line for additional GUIs. Some environments put the GUI on F1, with F2 acquiring nominal differences from the others, so this is why I choose Ctrl-Alt-F3 as the GUI/black screen escape route, always viable, if any are viable.

The total number of vttys is actually configurable. Some configurations create fewer vttys, putting the first GUI on F5.

Alt- is enough to switch among vttys. Ctrl- is only needed to leave a GUI. The chvt command is an alternate method of switching among vttys.
 
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Old 11-26-2020, 05:53 PM   #28
Maverick855
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Soooo, my attempt to install Debian 8, Jessie on my G5 and old G4 (867Mhz) resulted in a similar result: total dead monitor after startup. (Failure to load Kernel Module) No key action on the keyboard presented any access to the software or OS. I am holding off loading Debian 8 onto my other G4 running Lubuntu 12.04 until I resolve the Debian issue. In an interim maneuver, I loaded Lubuntu 12.04 on the G5 and realized I could update to 14.04 from 12.04. So I did, and the monitor looks terrible and rarely if ever displays windows or menus I can use to try to to resolve this issue although If I can get to a terminal I’m hoping there are some commands or updates I can do from there to resolve the display issue. The monitor app shows two choices 1680 by 1250 or auto, neither work very well. Ubuntu 6, Edgy is running on the 867 G4 but there is no way to upgrade from there. I have tried installing 12.04 on the 867 G4 but every attempt to go LIVE has failed to, again, a dead monitor (no display). I’m trying to do the installs with a DVD. I have tried USB installs and only the G5(even using Open Firmware on all 3) has not been successful. I say that because maybe I could go into the USB stick and modify some files to prevent a dead screen. What those mods are remain unresearched, but I think it would have to do with whatever files affect the video cards and or displays in use.

Stay safe, thanks for everyone’s input so far and have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Last edited by Maverick855; 11-26-2020 at 05:54 PM. Reason: Add more info
 
Old 12-05-2020, 09:41 PM   #29
Maverick855
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Question Lubuntu 14.04 app windows don't show contents

I updated Lubuntu 12.04 to 14.04 on my Mac G5 duo, 4GbRam, but now when I open most applications I only get the title bar and a window outline. Any ideas as to what's wrong? I can open a terminal window so I have access to enter commands I just don't know where to start.

Also, I have a black screen on start up, the mouse pointer is visible and if I enter my password I get to the desktop, what appears is in some cases is pixalated (like the background wallpaper) but I fix that by changing it to a solid color. It looks as if the number of colors, or refresh rate or resolution needs to change but none of the apps I'd use are available because the widows only show up with a title bar.

Any help would be appreciated.(the video card is an ATI Radeon 9600XT, ATY,RV360)

Mav
 
Old 12-05-2020, 10:06 PM   #30
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Does /var/log/Xorg.0.log show running the radeon driver, or one of the crude fallbacks (fbdev, vesa)? (Xorg.0.log might be in ~/.local/share/xorg/ instead.)

You may need to disable plymouth. Depending on distro, it could be any of plymouth=0, noplymouth or plymouth.enable=0 included in Grub's lines beginning with string linu. This can be added on the fly (temporarily per boot) using the E key while in the Grub menu.
 
  


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