MX Linux Forum

Posted: **Thu Mar 26, 2020 10:18 pm**

These machines have a 64-bit CPU but are firmware restricted to a lowly 32-bit efi and I'm having some issues getting MX-Linux to bring up a full working desktop.

One thing I have discovered is our Wiki page https://mxlinux.org/wiki/system/boot-parameters/ with the MX Linux Boot Cheat codes either don't work for MX-18 & MX-19 Live, or are a little outdated because some of them simply do not work. Two such example are: nomodeset and noacpi.

Our MX-18 and MX-19 ISO's burnt to USB seem to successfully get past the 32-bit efi limitation, but I have not been able to get a working desktop. I have once only been able to get a console login prompt, so I think the challenge is related to the very old Radeon X1600 graphics and underlying AGP/PCI bus.

I stumbled across Matt Gadients site where he provides instructions and some downloadable ISO's he's modified to swap out the bootloader with a 32-bit version, but they don't make any difference whatsoever. Just for kicks, the url is https://mattgadient.com/linux-dvd-image ... 06-models/

Just putting this out there to see if anybody has had any success with such a machine and might be able to give me some clues.

Specs below taken from the OSX 10.6.8 installed system.

Code: Select all

Hardware Overview:

    Model Name:	iMac
    Model Identifier:	iMac5,1
    Processor Name:	Intel Core 2 Duo
    Processor Speed:	2.16 GHz
    Number Of Processors:	1
    Total Number Of Cores:	2
    L2 Cache:	4 MB
    Memory:	4 GB
    Bus Speed:	667 MHz


ATI Radeon X1600:

    Chipset Model:	ATY,RadeonX1600
    Type:	GPU
    Bus:	PCIe
    PCIe Lane Width:	x16
    VRAM (Total):	128 MB
    Vendor:	ATI (0x1002)
    Device ID:	0x71c5
    Revision ID:	0x0000
    Displays:
iMac:
    Resolution:	1680 x 1050
    Pixel Depth:	32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
    Main Display:	Yes


Intel ICH7-M AHCI:

    Vendor:	Intel
    Product:	ICH7-M AHCI
    Link Speed:	1.5 Gigabit
    Negotiated Link Speed:	1.5 Gigabit
    Description:	AHCI Version 1.10 Supported

Posted: **Fri Mar 27, 2020 12:01 am**

m_pav,
On Matt's site,
Did you scroll all the way down to the
Converting the ISO
I had a 2006 iMac and ran antiX by using that process

cheers,
ohh

Posted: **Fri Mar 27, 2020 2:13 am**

oldhoghead wrote: Fri Mar 27, 2020 12:01 amDid you scroll all the way down to the
Converting the ISO

Yep, that's why I said it didn't make any difference. I have a bunch of iso's and so far, none of them have worked, either in their standard form or tweaked and I have tried a few different distros, just really want to use MX if I can. I'm not averse to using AntiX, but it would be easier for regular operators who have never used Linux to work with a UI that is little bit more familiar.

I'm in VirtualBox preparing a new MX8.3 snapshot ISO with the antiX 4.9 kernel from MXPI. I'll have it built before too long, I'll burn it to USB and give it a whirl just as soon as I can. If it works, I'll repeat with MX19 cause that's my ultimate goal.

I think the modern kernels have removed critical elements for older systems like this one, so the 4.9 kernel might be my best bet yet.

Posted: **Fri Mar 27, 2020 4:19 am**

No dice with the 18.3 iso and the 4.9 kernel, same as before, the best it will do is halt at the "waiting for /dev to be fully populated..." It seems to load the graphics because the display font changes from massive to correct resolution for the display a micro second before it stops. :(

Posted: **Fri Mar 27, 2020 4:43 am**

A long time ago, I too tried to install Linux, but on an old G3 Mac. Also an iMac. Never again, shall I try that futile, painful sort of thing. Macs bend over backwards to keep Linux off of them.

Even so much as installing Virtualbox in Mac OS is hard these days (to run a Linux VM); you'll need to reboot into a rescue mode, and type some very esoteric codes into a root terminal there, which enable the security permissions within the Mac OS kernel which Virtualbox silently fails to install properly without.

Posted: **Fri Mar 27, 2020 1:59 pm**

m_pav

I don't know if it helps, but I could not get a usb drive to install on my old iMac, but used the cd-dvd drive to install, on reboot hold down the
c key to boot from the dvd, after install and then reboot you have to press the option key to choose what you want to boot from, your choices will include
windows, that is where you will find your install. It won't show up as Linux. Of course you probably already know this.
One cheat code that might help when /dev takes too long
after splash

Code: Select all

video=SVIDEO-1:d

Posted: **Fri Mar 27, 2020 2:55 pm**

Hello m_pav,

Have you had a look at this:

https://www.kali.org/docs/base-images/k ... ll-on-mac/

This worked for me on the last Intel Mac I encountered (Polycarbon MacBook, maybe 2009, Nvidia, but 32 bit EFI, me thinks) using MX 18.3. Could not use a USB drive to boot, only a DVD. I then upgraded this machine to 19 and SSD.

The Tramp

EDIT: Just re-read your post, I see you have the AGP Radeon. I have not had any experience with this model, Sorry.

Posted: **Fri Mar 27, 2020 3:49 pm**

Thanks for your responses. I've spent a whack load of time on this one, but we're in lock down, so what is time? Actually, it makes no difference, my part time work is in essential services and I'm usually finished by 8am at this time of the year, so I have the rest of the day ahead of me

Thanks oldhoghead, I've been considering trying an install from optical media. Your response reminded me of when I had a computer service and repair shop. I recall very clearly how in 2010-ish, I had one of these in for a new HDD because it was totally dead. Try as I might, the only way I could install MAC OS was to do it via the optical drive, a Mac prepared USB boot disk from a near identical machine simply would not work.

Funny how I forgot that, must be getting old

Found some unused blank Imation Forcefield DVD's I purchased some 7+ years ago. They'll do just fine for this test.

Posted: **Fri Mar 27, 2020 5:23 pm**

Wow, booting from optical media got me past the stop-point and I'm looking at a full desktop. Next step is to really check all hardware is working, then try a frugal install and see how that goes, if it's possible to boot from USB or whether I'll need to do a full installation. After that, swap out the old spinning platter for a SSD, image it across and let it roar.

I'll mark the post as solved when I can confirm either a frugal or full installation.

Desktop up and running live
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1RtXrN ... pl5vtAr0i2

inxi -Fxxxza (no r because it is too big to snapshot)
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1cnFuP ... SUaQJFUTqW

Posted: **Fri Mar 27, 2020 5:33 pm**

i normally do not che ck into this section but saw your posts.

i will check tomorrow when i go out to the work building. I run an old white macbook that my daughter had laying around. useless as such so i burned an dvd iso of mx 19 32 bit and installed it.deb 10 would not install due to something like 860 some MB ram. believe it or not. i had deb9 on it. i was told by one of the devs here to try 32 bit. wireless works out there and i can get stuff to work but not too many windows and it is slow. but does load. terminal is working. it has a dvd player but not burner i guess - is that the old mac combo drive? been a while. not sure what year it is from but i was successful installing 32 bit mx19 and have updated everything to current state. did not try the wireless printer for no needs to in my old shed/workarea. lays intrenet streaming music and have files on it for needed farnm stuff and tractor/chainsaw info etc. libreoffice works =. did not hook up thunderbird accounts out there. will check some system info and get back to you tomorrow AM.

Posted: **Fri Mar 27, 2020 5:39 pm**

m_pav

Were all getting older

Good luck with getting that iMac going, mine died several months ago. I bought a 2013 iMac, I moved a few weeks ago and
all our stuff is in storage until we buy a place. So I don't have access to all my notes, computers, and am working off my laptop. I did do a how-to for
installing on the old iMac, but it too is in storage (somewhere). That cheat code helped alleviate a long delay on this laptop while it was trying to populate/dev. Your welcome btw. I still remember that you sent me a cd of Mepis Lite. Still got it somewhere.

cheers,
ohh

Posted: **Sat Mar 28, 2020 8:50 am**

Code: Select all


System:    Host: shed Kernel: 4.19.0-6-686-pae i686 bits: 32 compiler: gcc v: 8.3.0 
           parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.19.0-6-686-pae 
           root=UUID=78c5c72b-9e81-457c-a668-88769404a828 ro quiet splash 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.14.2 tk: Gtk 3.24.5 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm4 dm: LightDM 1.26.0 
           Distro: MX-19.1_386 patito feo October 15  2019 base: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster) 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: Apple product: MacBook2,1 v: 1.0 serial: <filter> Chassis: 
           type: 10 v: Mac-F4208CAA serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: Apple model: Mac-F4208CAA v: PVT serial: <filter> UEFI: Apple 
           v: MB21.88Z.00A5.B07.0706270922 date: 06/27/07 
CPU:       Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core2 T7200 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Core Merom 
           family: 6 model-id: F (15) stepping: 6 microcode: D1 L2 cache: 4096 KiB 
           flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 7980 
           Speed: 998 MHz min/max: 1000/2000 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 998 2: 998 
           Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: Split huge pages 
           Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: EPT disabled 
           Type: mds status: Vulnerable: Clear CPU buffers attempted, no microcode; SMT disabled 
           Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI 
           Type: spec_store_bypass status: Vulnerable 
           Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
           Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full generic retpoline, STIBP: disabled, RSB filling 
           Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel Mobile 945GM/GMS 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics driver: i915 
           v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:27a2 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: intel unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa 
           resolution: 1280x800~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel 945GM x86/MMX/SSE2 v: 1.4 Mesa 18.3.6 
           direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio 
           vendor: SigmaTel STAC9221 Codec driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 
           chip ID: 8086:27d8 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.19.0-6-686-pae 
Network:   Device-1: Marvell 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet driver: sky2 v: 1.30 port: 1000 
           bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 11ab:4362 
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR5418 Wireless Network Adapter [AR5008E 802.11bgn] 
           vendor: Apple AirPort Extreme driver: ath9k v: kernel port: 1000 bus ID: 02:00.0 
           chip ID: 168c:0024 
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 149.05 GiB used: 7.38 GiB (5.0%) 
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Toshiba model: MK1655GSXF size: 149.05 GiB block size: 
           physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 1.5 Gb/s rotation: 5400 rpm serial: <filter> 
           rev: 5B scheme: GPT 
Partition: ID-1: / raw size: 146.77 GiB size: 143.46 GiB (97.75%) used: 7.38 GiB (5.1%) fs: ext4 
           dev: /dev/sda2 
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 2.00 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap swappiness: 15 (default 60) 
           cache pressure: 100 (default) dev: /dev/sda3 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 31.0 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:     No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster main contrib non-free
           2: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list 
           1: deb http://mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ buster main non-free
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/various.list 
Info:      Processes: 177 Uptime: 2m Memory: 890.4 MiB used: 347.0 MiB (39.0%) Init: SysVinit 
           v: 2.93 runlevel: 5 default: 5 Compilers: gcc: 8.3.0 alt: 8 Shell: bash v: 5.0.3 
           running in: quick-system-in inxi: 3.0.36

this ia Mcbook white model

DVD Cn play BuT IT ONLY BURNS CD'S not DVD'S.
MINIMAL RAM.

trackpad ia slow and glitchy and not too good but i found a usb logitech wireless mouse i use and that is good. hope this helps.

Posted: **Sat Mar 28, 2020 6:41 pm**

Update: I only have a Logitech wireless keyboard, PC style, no special mac keys so I have to do some things differently. Before I created this therad, I installed ReFind Boot Manager, so much better than long key presses, finds any temporary boot device with ease and it was from here I found the stop points.

I tried a frugal install, it works, but can only be accessed using a boot DVD, the UEFI menu can't seem to access it. Optical media speed is sooooo sloooowww, I can't put up with that so I did a regular install placing grub on PBR and again in ESP. Refind finds it and it's plain sailing from there - almost

Sound works and it works too well, the speakers are extremely loud, to the point the voice coil core separated from the outer suspension rings and sounded seriously bad, it was like sandpaper on my eardrums. Ripped the machine open, repaired the speakers with PVA glue carefully applied with a straightened paperclip and just enough heat to re-soften the suspension rings and dry the glue. Sound is nice again.

ISSUES:
No wireless. This model uses Broadcom wireless so I have to work that one out
No webcam, As above, but I think I may find some answers in the Debian nonfree repos.

Speed, it's OK, but suffers from delays with mouse actions related to clicks, esp right clicks. The menus do weird things while the interrupts are processed but they do not take, so have to repeat.
Video, can play 1080p Youtube clips full screen with about 20% loss through cyclic momentary blurring.

In short, I have managed to install MX as was my goal, so I will mark this thread as solved, however, there are things that need to be addressed. I've yet to try Fluxbox, but will spend some time on that to see if the issues related to pauses are minimised.

I'm hoping my son can do his remote schooling using this machine because his Acer Chromebook Flip has no webcam and I'm the IT support for the school, who are going full-on with multiple forms of video conferencing, so a bigger screen and a webcam will be vital.

Still open to assistance from those who've travelled this road before and shout out to Phantom Tramp whose post I missed (4 sets of glasses, old-man-eyetis)

Posted: **Sat Mar 28, 2020 7:57 pm**

good luck my friend. i hope it gets better from here. wish i knew more to help you.

Posted: **Sat Mar 28, 2020 8:54 pm**

I got both working, with limitations .....

To get the Webcam I had to ensure I had the original driver available on a working OSX installation for the machine and to install isight-firmware-tools using the regular repos.

During installation of the above, the installer opened a search window with a preset path and the name of the package it was looking for at the end of the path. The path for Debian Buster which mounts external storage devices inside /media was not quite correct. I mounted the mac partition, manually located the search path from /media, then copied and pasted the full search path into the installers search bar and viola, it was done in a few moments. NOTE: Before mounting an Apple partition to browse its contents, you'll need to install hfsplus and possibly hfsutils. I'll add into that hfsprogs just in case.

I could have just edited the start of the path, but I wanted to ensure the file name at the end of the path existed first. A restart proved the webcam worked with guvcview at 480p max, but it failed to be discovered by the web browser, so that was a huge let-down, so it's not suitable for my son - typical #@&*^%$ Mac, there's always something!

The wireless was easier, I only had to un-blacklist the WL driver using our MX Network Assistant and a few minutes later, I was connected and surfing. It failed to connect to my 5G signal, but 2.4G is enough for this old beast.

Ooh well, at least I have a working machine that is up to date. Might be a loaner for when someone brings me a computer that needs fixin.

Moving onto a spare Toshiba notebook I resurrected from the grave, that's has to work because I don't want to sacrifice my Logitech C910 HD webcam, that has a whole different purpose now that community gatherings are "outlawed" :lipsrsealed: through this lockdown

MX Linux Forum

Want to install MX onto a 2006 iMac 5.1 Core2Duo [SOLVED]

Want to install MX onto a 2006 iMac 5.1 Core2Duo [SOLVED]

Re: Want to install MX onto a 2006 iMac 5.1 Core2Duo

Re: Want to install MX onto a 2006 iMac 5.1 Core2Duo

Re: Want to install MX onto a 2006 iMac 5.1 Core2Duo

Please think twice.

Re: Want to install MX onto a 2006 iMac 5.1 Core2Duo

Re: Want to install MX onto a 2006 iMac 5.1 Core2Duo

Re: Want to install MX onto a 2006 iMac 5.1 Core2Duo

Re: Want to install MX onto a 2006 iMac 5.1 Core2Duo

Re: Want to install MX onto a 2006 iMac 5.1 Core2Duo

Re: Want to install MX onto a 2006 iMac 5.1 Core2Duo

Re: Want to install MX onto a 2006 iMac 5.1 Core2Duo

Re: Want to install MX onto a 2006 iMac 5.1 Core2Duo

Re: Want to install MX onto a 2006 iMac 5.1 Core2Duo [SOLVED]

Re: Want to install MX onto a 2006 iMac 5.1 Core2Duo [SOLVED]