Can't boot the PowerBook G4 off the Kubuntu CD

[Ivan_Frey]

I have a PowerBook G4. I've burnt the Kubuntu Gutsy Gibbon PowerPC iso, but I can't boot off of it.

I pressed return at the boot prompt and the system stops with a light grey band just above the bottom edge of my screen.

I also tried "live video=ofonly" and I get a black screen with a frozen underscore in the upper left hand corner.

I'm not a happy camper.

Ivan.

[integr8e]

Re: Can't boot the PowerBook G4 off the Kubuntu CD

Did you burn it as an ISO file? I'm not implying you didn't, I just had a rough experience with burning duds at first because I kept burning the Kubuntu Live CD as a data CD, and not an ISO. You may want to double check, and even burn another copy (if your hardware supports it, burn the CD at no more than 8x's speed to reduce the possibility for errors). Then, try again.

Edit: If you're saying the CD boots, but all you get is a black screen with a blinking cursor, you're probably just experiencing issues with the video driver being used. Try pressing Ctrl+Alt+F2 (I believe those keys are on your Mac); that will take you to a terminal where you can enter the following command to select the proper driver for your GPU:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

Choose the appropriate driver for your hardware, and just select the default options for everything else - they can be corrected later, if they need be. Once you finish everything, and are back at the terminal, enter the following command to start the GUI:

sudo /etc/init.d/kdm start

If you receive more errors, and nothing happens, run the first command again and choose "vesa" as your video driver. Then try the second command again.

[Ivan_Frey]

Re: Can't boot the PowerBook G4 off the Kubuntu CD

I've been checking the Ubuntu Apple PPC Users Forum and it appears that Ubuntu 7.10 for PPC has serious problems.

I used Mac OS X's Disk Utility to burn the image.

Anyhow when I use the live-nosplash-powerpc option at the boot prompt I end up with a busybox prompt.

I tried modprobe ide-core and exit, but got nowhere.

[Snowhog]

Re: Can't boot the PowerBook G4 off the Kubuntu CD

Don't give up yet! Reboot and elect to edit the boot option. Remove the quite and splash options and try again. This will at least, allow you to see the boot messages, and hopefully, see what the last message is before failure (if it fails).

[integr8e]

Re: Can't boot the PowerBook G4 off the Kubuntu CD

You may also even want to try the Alternate CD.

[Ivan_Frey]

Re: Can't boot the PowerBook G4 off the Kubuntu CD

Don't give up yet! Reboot and elect to edit the boot option. Remove the quite and splash options and try again. This will at least, allow you to see the boot messages, and hopefully, see what the last message is before failure (if it fails).

Did you mean the quiet option? How do I turn off both the quiet and splash options?

Ivan.

[Snowhog]

Re: Can't boot the PowerBook G4 off the Kubuntu CD

How do I turn off both the quiet and splash options?

Instead of hitting enter on the boot menu listing, edit the boot entry (the instructions at the bottom of the boot menu tells you what key to press (e I believe). Then use your backspace key to remove the quiet and splash items, and enter to continue.