Aluminum 17 PowerBook 1,5 Radeon Mobility 9700 64MBVRAM

[xsoto]

Hi there:

I finally downloaded YDL 4.0, and installed sort of successfully on my PowerBook, though I have the following issues:

1- Installing through graphical installer screen flashes 50% of the lines, X is usable, but with the annoyin lines flickering across de screen.
2- installing through "install text" produces the same output on X.
(in these two cases, Xserver does not run on firstboot, but with "Xautoconfig" Xserver launches X fine touching "XF86Config" modifying all the parameters set during installation)
3- installing throug "install-safe" produces a flicker free install in text mode, but the Xserver has colors messed up, and resolution turns weird while the panel fills the screen, the desktop covers more space producing a weird circle screen when moving the mouse to the right of the screen makes the pointer appear on the left, as if the screen was a cylinder.

When booting the system, boot process starts without flicker, but once the penguin appears, the flicker appears too, and I get a "radeonfb: invalid rom signature 303..."

I select in KDE the screen as "Aluminum PowerBook G4" and Video card as "Radeon Mobility M10/11" which allows millions of colors in 1440x900 with flickering. Trying to set vertical refresh rate I find 60Hz as the only option available, though I set in XF86Config the rate up to 85Hz.

Another issue is with keyboard, as keymap doesn't match the keyboard. I've used some info regarding certain modifications for european use, but stil in spanish i can't put an accent on a vowel, and it's quite hard to set de @ and the other 3rd characters.

Moreover, I'm experiencing certain temporary locks with kde apps, having the desktop unusable for a couple of minutes or even more with windows staring on the desktop, and no mouse action, nor keyboard, have effects on them.
(well, no mouse action available, though I can actually type, as I'm doing it right now. But no scroll, no window selection, no window close, no app launch...)

The installation I used is "Install Everything", just because if I need to do some recompilation or whatever.
I'll appreciate any kind of help I could get on this issues. Thank you very much.

[xsoto]

I reinstalled YDL 4.0 in "instal-safe" so I get no flickering screen. Now console mode works fine, no screen mess.

Executing "Xautoconfig" produces an "XF86Config" file that is able to show up Xwindows with KDE, but just 8 bit color, and palette messed up. Modifying Color Depth within KDE produces the flickering again but unusable at all, not as in the "install" in graphic mode which produces flickering of 40% of the lines, and KDE is sort of usable.

Changing monitor model produces the same output. Changing the card type produces the same output: flickering and more flickering, and unusable desktop.

Copying the "XF86Config" file as is, the one that 'worked' with the graphical install produces the same flickering and unusable desktop stated before. So I presume the point is some sort of kernel related. "radeon" driver kinda worked with graphical install, but is not usable at all after the "install-safe" in KDE. I've read that "vesa" driver is suitable for almost any card available (specially for mobility radeons 9000 and up), but "vesa" does not show up in the directory tree.

If I find any decent answer I'll post it here as soon as possible, in the meanwhile, any kind of help will be highly appreciated.

[StarKnight83]

If your brave you can modify the xfree86config file by hand. its located here "/etc/X11/XF86Config" in the file below the moniter and above the screen there should be a device listing for your vid card just change the driver to "vesa" and then try to start x

[mcoyle]

Below is my working XF86Conf file for my Aluminum 17". I ask one thing in return. :)

If this solves your problem I want you to email and tell me if your trackpad is acting odd. See this this post:

http://www.yellowdog-board.com/viewtopic.php?t=341

Hope this works for you:

Michael
mfcoyle@wideopenwest.com

###############################################
# XFree86 4 configuration created by system-config-display

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "single head configuration"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"

# RgbPath is the location of the RGB database. Note, this is the name of the
# file minus the extension (like ".txt" or ".db"). There is normally
# no need to change the default.
# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
# By default, Red Hat 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of
# the X server to render fonts.
RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/korean:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/ISO8859-2/misc:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/ISO8859-2/75dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/ISO8859-2/100dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/ISO8859-9/misc:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/ISO8859-9/75dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/ISO8859-9/100dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/KOI8-R/misc:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/KOI8-R/75dpi:unscaled"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
Load "extmod"
Load "fbdevhw"
Load "glx"
Load "record"
Load "freetype"
Load "type1"
Load "dri"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# Change "XkbModel" to "macintosh_old" if you are using
# the deprecated adb keycodes.
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "keyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
Option "XkbModel" "macintosh"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
#Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Protocol" "Auto"

Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
EndSection

Section "Modes"

# Generated
# D: 96.219 MHz, H: 54.670 kHz, V: 59.945 Hz
Identifier "Modes0"
ModeLine "1440x900" 96.2 1440 1504 1536 1760 900 903 906 912 -hsync -vsync
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
ModelName "Apple Aluminum PowerBook G4"
UseModes "Modes0"
HorizSync 30.0 - 100.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 60.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"

#Option "ShadowFB" "true"
#Option "fbdev" "/dev/fb0"
#BusID "0:0:0"
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "radeon"
BoardName "ATI Radeon Mobility M10/M11"
Option "UseFBDev" "true"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1440x900"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1440x900"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1440x900"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1440x900"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Group 0
Mode 0666
EndSection

##############################

[xsoto]

If your brave you can modify the xfree86config file by hand. its located here "/etc/X11/XF86Config" in the file below the moniter and above the screen there should be a device listing for your vid card just change the driver to "vesa" and then try to start x

I did modify XF86Config by hand and modified to change to "vesa" driver, but then X wont start at all, saying "There is no such driver".

By the way, I tried Mandrake 10.1PPC and shows the same issues with the screen flickering. It seems is not a Yellowdog "feature" only.

[xsoto]

[quote="mcoyle"]Below is my working XF86Conf file for my Aluminum 17". I ask one thing in return.

If this solves your problem I want you to email and tell me if your trackpad is acting odd. See this this post:

http://www.yellowdog-board.com/viewtopic.php?t=341]

Well, thanks mcoyle. I just wrote down the config file, but I wont be able to check it out until xmas. I wont have time until then, and then I hope I'll have the time to check it out again.

Anyway, I can tell you about the trackpad that I mainly was using a 2 button wheel mouse with ydl, and the mouse worked fine. But the trackpad was usable in the meantime while the usb mouse was connected, maybe there was some configuration needed.

As far as I tried the trackpad I did not find it working in any way odd. But I promise I'll drop you a line as soon as I get the time to check out again ydl and I'll dedicate far more time to check out the trackpad.

Thanks again for the XF86Config file.

Regards

[Richard]

Changing the driver to Radeon works for me. This enables the built in X radon driver, which AFAIK is 2D only on the 9700s (it does 3D for 9200 and older only).

No apparent wierdness on the trackpad yet although I can only find one button?? Where's the other one gone??

(Seriously I want to set up something like sidetrack but haven't found a good package yet. I have tap-to-click working but nothing else.)