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#1 2007-07-20 00:41:57

xnooby2
Member
Registered: 2007-07-15
Posts: 104

Will ArchLinux run natively on a iMac (Core 2 Duo) ?

I have an iMac running OSX, and a laptop running Arch Linux.  Will ArchLinux run on my iMac?  It has Intel Core 2 Duo chips, 500GB drive, 20" monitor, and 2GB RAM.  Its a really nice machine, but using a laptop is a little awkward and I dont want to run Arch in Parallels because the mouse integration is laggy.  I'm not sure if I want to wipe out OSX, but I might if I know Arch would install properly.  Or I could get a $500 pc clone and run Arch on that.

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#2 2007-07-20 01:41:08

ataraxia
Member
From: Pittsburgh
Registered: 2007-05-06
Posts: 1,553

Re: Will ArchLinux run natively on a iMac (Core 2 Duo) ?

I have this same (very nice) machine - in fact I'm writing this post on it. I see no reason why Arch wouldn't at least boot, though there might not be drivers for some of the oddball bits like the Bluetooth or even the Airport. I'd suggest using an external drive, since it's so easy to boot Macs from those.

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#3 2007-07-20 02:00:57

xnooby2
Member
Registered: 2007-07-15
Posts: 104

Re: Will ArchLinux run natively on a iMac (Core 2 Duo) ?

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#4 2007-07-20 14:47:40

xnooby2
Member
Registered: 2007-07-15
Posts: 104

Re: Will ArchLinux run natively on a iMac (Core 2 Duo) ?

I reformatted my iMac and re-installed OSX on a 200GB partition.  Then I installed rEfit on OSX, and used that boot off the Arch FTP disk.  Last I installed Arch using the Arch on MacBook ArchWiki.  It works!  I got X working, but have not messed with sound.  Fonts need fixing, I have no idea if the DVD burner works, etc.  Still lots to do, but at least its working.  I'm using the i686 version of Arch, since the x86_64 sounds like it is still being developed.  It's quick.

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#5 2008-04-29 05:14:24

handy
Member
From: Oz
Registered: 2008-03-26
Posts: 719

Re: Will ArchLinux run natively on a iMac (Core 2 Duo) ?

I have written the following in the hope that it may help those investigating the installation of Arch on their  iMac.  Parts of this guide are specifically for the Alu' 24" iMac, though some of the following can also be used as a helpful guide for an initial Arch install on any computer.

I have an aluminium 24" iMac, on which I have just installed Arch 64bit, twice!  I had a serious problem logging into Gnome & anything that required the root password failed. I worked around these problems but was never happy with the setup.  I think that the iMac aluminium keyboard may have caused the problem, due to it not having a num-lock key, or an LED to indicate num-lock on/off; my passwords were numerical.  Of course I may be wrong.  My second install was done with an MS Digital Media keyboard & I don't have the above problem, also my ctrl-alt-Fkeys work now.


Deleting OS X?

Some people seriously consider dropping OS X altogether.  I personally think that there is a good reason to keep a small OS X partition, as it allows you to be able to do firmware updates. 
Some people use an external USB or Firewire drive with which to boot OS X for the firmware updates, & I have heard that people have been able to do it via optical drive, from experience I do not know about these other methods.  In the future I will find info' on those topics & supply links here.


rEFIt First

In preparation of an Arch (or any other Linux/BSD based OS for that matter) install, the first thing to do is install rEFIt http://refit.sourceforge.net/ on your OS X partition.  It is also possible to edit the refit.conf file so that Arch will be the default boot OS, see here: http://refit.sourceforge.net/doc/c3s3_config.html it's the very last section of the refit.conf, basically you just uncomment legacyfirst. The only other option in refit.conf that most users will want to configure is the timeout number, (which is located quite close to the start of the refit.conf file) by default it is 20 seconds, I set it to 5 seconds.


Partitioning & Filesystems

There are multiple ways to repartition the iMac drive, my favourite (probably because it is the easiest & being graphical it is most likely the safest) is to boot the Ubuntu 7.10 (or later) LiveCD & run GParted from the desktop menu.  I have shrunk the OS X, HFS+ partition, created Ext3, JFS & Linux Swap partition, deleted & moved partitions on the iMac using GParted & the Ubuntu LiveCD.  Great stuff!
The only present limitation that GParted has with the HFS+ file system, is that it can only shrink the HFS+ file system & can not enlarge it.  I'm sure it won't be too long & this limitation won't exist either.

Just a note on using GParted, or any other GUI type of partition management tool, it is generally accepted to be good safe practice to only Apply ONE process at a time.  What that means for those unfamiliar with GParted (& the other applications of it's ilk) is you can give it multiple instructions which it stores up until you hit the Apply button, after which it goes through the instructions one after the other.  If this doesn't make sense now, it very quickly will on using GParted.


My iMac partition scheme is as follows:

Partition...Filesystem......Size.........Mountpoint

sda1 ........ *FAT32* ....... 200Mb .... EFI system partition - While the ESP looks like a FAT32 volume, it is actually an EFI file system, which you want to know how to replace before you delete it.  This means don't delete it unless you are sure that you know what you are doing, as it may become essential to Apple firmware updates in the future.  Currently the ESP is empty & the firmware boots OS X directly!?  At least it is only 200Mb's wasted drive space, though more importantly it counts as one of the four partitions that can be seen by Apple's newly adopted GPT partitioning scheme.  More on GPT in the following paragraph.   
sda2 ......... HFS+ ........... 50Gb ..... OS X - After thinning out OS X some & keeping tools I use plus iWork, CrossOver Games & Guild Wars, I have about 25Gb of free space to play with here, & for the odd game that may arrive in the future (Guild Wars 2). big_smile
sda3 ......... Ext3 ............ 15Gb ...... / - Arch - there is currently 12Gb free, it is a new install though.
sda4 ......... JFS .............. 30Gb ...... /home - that should be more than enough space for me there, & I can always resize with GParted.
sda5 ......... Linux Swap .... 2Gb ..... swap - rarely if ever used, but I have the space.
sda6 ......... JFS ............ 200Gb ...... /thevoid - storage for video's music, unsafe backup, whatever...

The GPT partitioning scheme that Apple uses  http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn2006/tn2166.html allows OS X to only see 4 partitions, so be sure to install your boot loader i.e. GRUB/Lilo, & any other partition that you may want OS X to see (like a shared FAT32 data drive) on sda3 & sda4, Windows must also be on sda3 or sda4.  Partitions beyond Apple's imposed limit of 4 can still be created & used, e.g. Linux Swap, & other partitions, but they won't be accessible by OS X or directly bootable, though I see no reason why a boot loader like GRUB positioned on sda3 or sda4 could not boot other OS's on partitions numbered greater than sda4. 
This certainly does place limitations on what we can do.  If you require more than this scheme will allow you, you could do away with OS X, & set up the drive on MBR only, using an external drive with OS X on it to update the firmware.  The details of setting up the MBR system I'll include a link to at a later date.

So just to sum up on all of this partitioning stuff, if you have need to use sda3 & sda4, be sure to put any swap partitions on a partition number greater than sda4.

When partitioning is finished you must restart the iMac & re-sync your partitions with rEFIt, which is quick & easy:  You choose to start the partitioning tool in the rEFIt boot-menu & follow the very simple instructions there. 

rEFIt may prefer to have partitions in numerical order on the drive, i.e. sda1, sda2, sda3, sda4, sda5, sda6 ... & not shuffled.  This is unconfirmed, any feedback on the subject will be appreciated.

Then reboot & hold down the C key, or wait as I do for the rEFIt boot-menu to appear & choose to boot the Arch install CD.


Install Arch

I used both the Arch Beginners Guide http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners_Guide & the Official Install Guide http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Off … tall_Guide  I used the Core install from the CD & updated later, so I don't know how easy the FTP install sets up, the CD install & network setup went perfectly for me.  The Beginners Guide has all that was necessary for my install, though I used the Official Guide to further my understanding, as well as other pages in the Arch wiki & elsewhere, many of which are linked to in this guide.


Installing & Configuring X

When installing the Xserver, http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xorg I installed as though I was not going to use the proprietary ATi drivers (now called Catalyst), this allowed me to use both the vesa & the xf86-video-ati open source drivers.  I only did this out of what turned out to be a false sense of fear of the approaching fight to get ATi's Catalyst drivers to work.  I think if I were installing a third time I would go with vesa first & then install the Catalyst drivers.  I did find that there were some problems with both the vesa & the xf86-video-ati drivers, that may have been able to be fixed by someone who knows how to configure the xorg.conf file better than I.  According to /var/logs/Xorg.0.log the size of the screen was a problem for the xf86-video-ati driver, I didn't look too hard for what was upsetting the vesa driver's colours when in an X session.

Prior to the installation of the ATi Catalyst driver I installed hwd ( pacman -S hwd ) & then used hwd to create my first xorg.conf, which worked well enough for me in both installs (see above) to progress to the installation of the ATi Catalyst drivers; you must use the aticonfig file (provided in the Catalyst installation) to install the drivers & create the new ATi xorg.conf.  The command that most users would use is the following:

aticonfig --initial --input=/etc/X11/xorg.conf

I must say that my first installation of the ATi Catalyst drivers on Arch was faultless, on the second install I needed to edit the xorg.conf screen resolution from 1600x1200 to the correct 1920x1200.  The refresh rate for the monitor is set at 60Hz, hopefully this is correct, I can find no information on the refresh rates of the iMac's 24" screen?  If anyone knows these specification for any of the iMacs (any of the intel Macs actually) could you post them, or a link please?

Even though the aticonfig generated xorg.conf needed an easy tidy up due to internal duplication of some sections both times I installed Arch, it worked, & booted Gnome, from where I did my xorg.conf editing to clean it up. 

Finally, the Arch install of the ATi Catalyst drivers for the iMac works very well indeed, which certainly was an unexpected surprise to me!


Installation of Valuable Tools

    Sudo

The sudo command is used to easily executing root commands: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Sudo

By entering visudo at the terminal you automatically open the sudoers file for editing.

The following is all you will need to know to use visudo (though it is a specific use of the vi(m) text editor an incredibly powerful & complex tool used by many programmers).  Visudo is the default way to edit your /etc/sudoers file, (there is a command that allows safe use of other editors which I won't go into here):

After you start visudo (vim), you're in command mode.

    * Switch between modes

1. From command mode to insert mode, press i

Enter some text.

2. from insert mode to command mode, press ESC

You are now in command mode. Vim is waiting for your commands. Notice if you try typing, you get weird and unexpected results, because, well, you need to learn some commands, and Vim is not in insert mode.

3. Press ESC again to make sure you are truly in command mode and press : (colon)

Now you are in ex, which will allow us to save your first file. Type:

wq

for write and quit.

Your file is written and vim will exit.

If you search sudo you will find a variety of things that can be done to configure the /etc/sudoers file to suit your needs.
 
To install:  pacman -S sudo


    AUR & Yaourt

If you followed the Beginners Guide, you have probably already installed yaourt.  If not & you want access to the AUR repositories: http://aur.archlinux.org/index.php then you should install it.

To install:  pacman -S yaourt


    Aurvote

Aurvote is how you vote for packages in the AUR, so it is quite helpful to the community if you use aurvote.
 
To install:  yaourt -S aurvote


    Tupac & Qupac

Read about tupac & qupac on the AUR forums & here: http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?O … _Search=Go   

To install:  yaourt -S tupac qupac  if you choose to install both the packages.


Gnome Installation

The Arch Beginners Guide gives very good instructions for the installation & basic setup of Gnome, searching for Gnome in the Arch wiki will bring up more useful information regarding Gnome, & the following site http://archux.com/page/installing-and-setting-gnome I found extremely helpful in vetting the available files supplied in the installation of Gnome via the pacman -S gnome & the pacman -S gnome-extra commands, if you are not a Gnome expert this site makes it so easy & safe to customize your Gnome install making sure that you know what is essential for Gnome to run; you can always add any of the packages that you left out at a later date by simply running pacman -S (whatever you want?).


Gnome Configuration Tips

Once Gnome is installed there are a few essentials that I like to use, the majority of which require installation; knowing about these can certainly save a new user a great deal of time:
       

    GDM Setup

If you prefer an automatic login to Gnome then the easiest way is to use gdmsetup: run it, $ sudo gdmsetup go to the Security tab, & tick Enable Automatic Login, add the user name to the User: field.  If you want to be able to Log Out of your normal user account & Login to Gnome as Root, then you need to go further down gdmsetup's Security panel & tick Allow Local System Administrator Login.  Be very careful about any further editing of gdmsetup, it is possible to make things very difficult for yourself if you don't know what you are doing.
 
To install:  pacman -S gdmsetup


    gconf-editor

A powerful Gnome configuration editor which I use to bring back the directory column in Nautilus, as I don't like to use Nautilus without it (personal taste I know).  To do this you can enter  $ gdonf-editor in the terminal, or use the Gnome menu- Applications - System Tools - Configuration Editor:  When running, expand the apps directory, then scroll down to nautilus & expand that directory, scroll down to preferences & select it, then in the right hand window find always_use_browser & place a tick in the box to select this type of nautilus display then close the dialog.
 
To install: no need to install.


    Alacarte Main Menu Editor

Is vastly superior to the default Gnome menu editor.
 
To install:  pacman -S alacarte


Installation Of The (My) Essentials

Following are my personal essentials that must be installed before I consider my installation somewhere near complete.  We all have our own favorite's I know, though hopefully someone may find the following helpful?   

    Vidalia

http://www.vidalia-project.net/ Sets up & manages Tor - The Onion Router - https://www.torproject.org/ beautifully & easily, I have been using vidalia on Linux & OS X for some time, it is worth researching Tor regarding your online anonymity.
 
To install:  yaourt -S vidalia


    Firefox

The popular web browser.

To install:  pacman -S firefox


    VLC

The popular & powerful media player: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/.
 
To install:  pacman -S vlc


    libdvdcss

This library is required to play CSS protected DVD's (99% of commercial DVD's).  It is illegal in the U.S. & possibly a few other countries, so check out the legalities if you think you must?
 
To install:  pacman   -S libdvdcss


    bin32-wine

Wine: http://www.winehq.org/, I use Wine to run DVDShrink  3.2, as it is still the most reliable solution for ripping DVD's on my hardware.  K9Copy is getting better all of the time, & it is only a matter of time before it is better than DVDShrink (on my system), I do look forward to that day.  I also run Smartripper under Wine, as there are rare occasions that I need to use it to rip something that DVDShrink could not handle.

To install:  yaourt -S bin32-wine


    NeroLinux

I use this commercial software for the same reason I use DVDShrink; from experience, on my hardware it is the most reliable solution.  As K3B continues quickly developing the day is coming when NeroLinux will be superseded on my machine by a great OSS alternative.
 
To install:  yaourt -S nerolinux


Controlling the screen brightness:.

Below is the C code for a little program that adjusts the brightness on many LCD Apple screens.  It is easy to compile & setup following these instructions:

Copy & paste the C code below to /home.  Save the code as a file, backlight.c

Now open a terminal in the directory where backlight.c is located.

Type the following in the Terminal:

gcc -o backlight backlight.c

You now have a program called backlight. It should adjust the brightness. 

To change the brightness, you have to have direct access to video memory, which means that you have to be superuser (root).

Type su, then your root password when prompted.

Now test the program by typing ./backlight 10 in the terminal.

You can give it values from 1 to 15. Find a value you like.

Now enter the following in the Terminal:

cp backlight /usr/local/bin.

Which copies the program to the standard location for user installed programs.

Next, to run it at startup. Still as root, edit /etc/rc.local. Add a line saying /usr/local/bin/backlight N, where N is the number code you want for the brightness.

That should do it smile)

Source:

/*
* Apple Macbook Pro LCD backlight control
*
* Copyright (C) 2006 Nicolas Boichat <nicolas @boichat.ch>
* Copyright (C) 2006 Felipe Alfaro Solana <felipe_alfaro @linuxmail.org>
*
* This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
* it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
* the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
* (at your option) any later version.
*
* This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
* but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
* MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
* GNU General Public License for more details.
*
* You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
* along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
* Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
*
*/

#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/io.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

void init()
{
    if (ioperm(0xB2, 0xB3, 1) < 0)
    {
        perror("ioperm failed (you should be root).");
        exit(2);
    }
}

int get_current_value()
{
    outb(0x03, 0xB3);
    outb(0xBF, 0xB2);
    char t = inb(0xB3) >> 4;
    return t;
}

int calculate_new_value(const char *arg)
{
    int val, new = atoi(arg);

    if (arg[0] == '+' || arg[0] == '-')
        val = new + get_current_value();
    else
        val = new;

    if (val > 15)
        val = 15;
    else if (val < 1)
        val = 1;

    return val;
}

int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
    if (argc > 2)
    {
        printf("Usage:\n");
        printf("%s : read current value\n", argv[0]);
        printf("%s value : write value [0-15]\n", argv[0]);
        exit(1);
    }

    init();

    if (argc < 2)
    {
        printf("Current value : %d\n", get_current_value());
        exit(0);
    }

    if (argc == 2)
    {
        int value = calculate_new_value(argv[1]);
        outb(0x04 | (value << 4), 0xB3);
        outb(0xBF, 0xB2);
        printf("new value: %d\n", value);
    }

    return 0;
}


Getting sound to work in Arch for the Alu' iMac 20" & 24" models:

Add the following to /etc/modprobe.conf

alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

options snd-hda-intel model=imac24

Restart computer or the sound system.

Using the above gives a very workable alsamixer, the sound quality is still 2nd rate (as ALSA still has a way to go) so using VLC & its mixer is very helpful when watching DVD's. I have not tested the line out or mic. Perhaps someone will post regarding them?
_______________________________________

This post is now in the Arch wiki: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/IMac_Aluminium

Last edited by handy (2008-10-18 06:48:50)


I used to be surprised that I was still surprised by my own stupidity, finding it strangely refreshing.
Well, now I don't find it refreshing.
I'm over it!

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#6 2008-04-29 06:06:35

cactus
Taco Eater
From: t͈̫̹ͨa͖͕͎̱͈ͨ͆ć̥̖̝o̫̫̼s͈̭̱̞͍̃!̰
Registered: 2004-05-25
Posts: 4,622
Website

Re: Will ArchLinux run natively on a iMac (Core 2 Duo) ?

Nice post handy.
I really like seeing these kinds of 'how I did something' type posts.
Looking forward to further details. big_smile


"Be conservative in what you send; be liberal in what you accept." -- Postel's Law
"tacos" -- Cactus' Law
"t̥͍͎̪̪͗a̴̻̩͈͚ͨc̠o̩̙͈ͫͅs͙͎̙͊ ͔͇̫̜t͎̳̀a̜̞̗ͩc̗͍͚o̲̯̿s̖̣̤̙͌ ̖̜̈ț̰̫͓ạ̪͖̳c̲͎͕̰̯̃̈o͉ͅs̪ͪ ̜̻̖̜͕" -- -̖͚̫̙̓-̺̠͇ͤ̃ ̜̪̜ͯZ͔̗̭̞ͪA̝͈̙͖̩L͉̠̺͓G̙̞̦͖O̳̗͍

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#7 2008-04-30 11:51:09

mips1
Member
Registered: 2008-01-02
Posts: 99

Re: Will ArchLinux run natively on a iMac (Core 2 Duo) ?

handy wrote:

Controlling the screen brightness.  When solved I'll post here.

For now you could try using the xgamma command to set "brightness"

xgamma -gamma 0.8

Play around with a range from about 0.7 to 1.0

This could probably also be achieved with the nvidia-settings or whatever it is called utility (System->NVIDIA X Server Settings if installed in KDE, System Preferences > Displays > Color > Calibrate in Gnome)

Apparently the display brightness is controlled by the Macs Open Firmware, could be wrong here but maybe look into the "nvsetenv" command if there are any options.

Also look at PBButtonsd/GTKPBButtons as it has support for things you need in PPC as wel as Intel architectures on LAPTOPS.
http://pbbuttons.berlios.de/

Last edited by mips1 (2008-04-30 11:59:10)

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#8 2008-04-30 12:07:13

mips1
Member
Registered: 2008-01-02
Posts: 99

Re: Will ArchLinux run natively on a iMac (Core 2 Duo) ?

handy wrote:

Sound does not work, it did in Ubuntu with nicfagn's patch: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p= … ostcount=5
I believe that the ALSA package version 1.0.16 should now work with this iMac without a patch?   Perhaps someone more experienced than I am at this kind of thing could have look at the patch & make an Arch ALSA package for us? smile  Anyway, I am yet to focus on this problem, when I find a solution I will post here.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=22383
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Gutsy_Intel_HD_Audio_Controller
http://www.mythic-beasts.com/resources/macmini/
http://www.sabayonlinux.org/forum/viewt … 25&p=74858
http://wiki.sabayonlinux.org/index.php? … ound_Cards
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuonMactel

Last edited by mips1 (2008-04-30 12:21:28)

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#9 2008-04-30 15:36:22

handy
Member
From: Oz
Registered: 2008-03-26
Posts: 719

Re: Will ArchLinux run natively on a iMac (Core 2 Duo) ?

Thanks mips, I'll check out all of your information & the links after I have slept.  By the way, you were making reference to nVidia above & my iMac unfortunately has an ATi HD2600 Pro GPU.  I do wish it was an nVidia GPU of some sort, even though the ATi drivers did install surprisingly well.


I used to be surprised that I was still surprised by my own stupidity, finding it strangely refreshing.
Well, now I don't find it refreshing.
I'm over it!

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#10 2008-04-30 18:03:32

mips1
Member
Registered: 2008-01-02
Posts: 99

Re: Will ArchLinux run natively on a iMac (Core 2 Duo) ?

Does ati not have a similair utility to nvidia? I'm not familiar with ati as I have never had them in linux.

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#11 2008-05-01 01:16:33

handy
Member
From: Oz
Registered: 2008-03-26
Posts: 719

Re: Will ArchLinux run natively on a iMac (Core 2 Duo) ?

mips1 wrote:

Does ati not have a similair utility to nvidia? I'm not familiar with ati as I have never had them in linux.

Thanks mips, the xgamma command works, though I didn't test whether it needs to be reset after a reboot?

Anyway I found that I could use the ATI Catalyst Control Center to do the same thing, as you suggested. smile

I hadn't yet looked at solving this issue before, beyond choice & minor adjustments of display colours.  My eyes are already grateful to you mips, as these monitors are incredibly bright at their default setting.

At this point I haven't looked at the links you posted re, the sound issue, it will be nice if the sound problem is as easy as this one was to fix, though I doubt anything could be! wink

Last edited by handy (2008-05-01 01:39:15)


I used to be surprised that I was still surprised by my own stupidity, finding it strangely refreshing.
Well, now I don't find it refreshing.
I'm over it!

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#12 2008-05-01 10:42:51

handy
Member
From: Oz
Registered: 2008-03-26
Posts: 719

Re: Will ArchLinux run natively on a iMac (Core 2 Duo) ?

Thanks for those mips, the first link which is the Puppy Linux Discussion Forum had the most useful information, allowing me to get sound.  I updated my post above in the hope that it may be useful to someone else in the future. 

ALSA 1.0.16 still has a bug in it for the alu' iMac, & nicfagn's patch for 1.0.16 apparently has fixed all of the problems.  I will try to adapt the patch process to Arch, though I won't know if I have the requisite knowledge or not until I try...  You don't know what you don't know. smile

I can now watch DVD's AND hear them, though the sound quality is not as good as it could be, it is acceptable though, also the video display is breaking up in horizontal bands when there is a lot of action, & because I don't know the lingo it is very difficult to describe video problem.  It is possibly a graphics driver problem?  I would be interested to hear from other iMac users if they have the same problem.

A Mac is like a Notebook computer in the way the different model's are so limited in their hardware variations, which has the benefit of model specific problems & solutions.  Hmm, I think I'm just trying to find ways to console myself for having an ATI GPU.


I used to be surprised that I was still surprised by my own stupidity, finding it strangely refreshing.
Well, now I don't find it refreshing.
I'm over it!

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#13 2008-05-02 03:54:58

handy
Member
From: Oz
Registered: 2008-03-26
Posts: 719

Re: Will ArchLinux run natively on a iMac (Core 2 Duo) ?

Nicolas, aka nicfagn on the Ubuntu forums, has been developing a patch for ALSA since version 1.0.14, see this thread for more info':  http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=47969

It may be of use to someone.

He told me in a reply to a PM, that using model=mbp3 in the following line:

options snd-hda-intel model=mbp3

did the same thing for the 20" & 24" iMacs as his 1.0.16 patch.

Previously the best I could do was by using model=imac24, which gave an alsamixer setup with only 3 control options, & the headphones did not function properly.

This information has been incorporated into Post 5, above.


I used to be surprised that I was still surprised by my own stupidity, finding it strangely refreshing.
Well, now I don't find it refreshing.
I'm over it!

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#14 2008-05-02 11:30:35

Misfit138
Misfit Emeritus
From: USA
Registered: 2006-11-27
Posts: 4,189

Re: Will ArchLinux run natively on a iMac (Core 2 Duo) ?

Excellent work handy.

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#15 2008-05-19 15:48:39

Misfit138
Misfit Emeritus
From: USA
Registered: 2006-11-27
Posts: 4,189

Re: Will ArchLinux run natively on a iMac (Core 2 Duo) ?

..Now add it to the wiki. wink

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#16 2008-05-19 23:41:20

handy
Member
From: Oz
Registered: 2008-03-26
Posts: 719

Re: Will ArchLinux run natively on a iMac (Core 2 Duo) ?

Misfit138 wrote:

..Now add it to the wiki. wink

I tried the other night, but I could not access the initial page to add a new document?

So I gave up & did something else.


I used to be surprised that I was still surprised by my own stupidity, finding it strangely refreshing.
Well, now I don't find it refreshing.
I'm over it!

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#17 2008-05-21 04:56:12

handy
Member
From: Oz
Registered: 2008-03-26
Posts: 719

Re: Will ArchLinux run natively on a iMac (Core 2 Duo) ?

Misfit138 wrote:

..Now add it to the wiki. wink

I have transferred post_#5 to the following wiki address:

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/IMac_Aluminium

I doubt it is correctly located,  but it does come up in a search of the Arch wiki.

Perhaps you could give me some advice on relocating it Misfit138?

Also, it is my intention to wikify it more as time goes by, though I have next to no wiki experience, so I'm re-inventing the wheel as I go...


I used to be surprised that I was still surprised by my own stupidity, finding it strangely refreshing.
Well, now I don't find it refreshing.
I'm over it!

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#18 2008-09-26 07:37:57

Kooothor
Member
From: Paname
Registered: 2008-08-02
Posts: 226

Re: Will ArchLinux run natively on a iMac (Core 2 Duo) ?

What about the keyboard map ?
Wich one did you choose ?

Can you post your xorg.conf pls ?

thx big_smile


ktr

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#19 2008-09-26 08:58:24

JeremyTheWicked
Member
From: Poland
Registered: 2008-05-23
Posts: 193

Re: Will ArchLinux run natively on a iMac (Core 2 Duo) ?

With regards to the refresh rate: afaik all LCD monitors have a refresh rate of 60 Hz so you should be alright.


arch(3) adj amused because you think you understand something better than other people ;P

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#20 2008-09-26 22:06:36

Kooothor
Member
From: Paname
Registered: 2008-08-02
Posts: 226

Re: Will ArchLinux run natively on a iMac (Core 2 Duo) ?

mips1 wrote:
handy wrote:

Controlling the screen brightness.  When solved I'll post here.

For now you could try using the xgamma command to set "brightness"

xgamma -gamma 0.8

Play around with a range from about 0.7 to 1.0

Actually, this doesn't change brightness of screen but gamma (^^).
It is also doable in the Ati config manager.

also I fail at loading "applesmc".... sad
and will pommed work on imac (non macbook) ?


ktr

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#21 2008-10-17 06:44:29

handy
Member
From: Oz
Registered: 2008-03-26
Posts: 719

Re: Will ArchLinux run natively on a iMac (Core 2 Duo) ?

Here is a copy of my xorg.conf it may be of some use to someone, though I must say I am very impressed with how easily the ATi catalyst drivers install.
_______________

Section "ServerLayout"

# PS/2 Mouse not detected
# Serial Mouse not detected
    Identifier     "Xorg Configured"
    Screen      0  "aticonfig-Screen[0]" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "USB Mouse" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"

# Additional fonts: Locale, Gimp, TTF...
#    FontPath     "/usr/share/lib/X11/fonts/latin2/75dpi"
#    FontPath     "/usr/share/lib/X11/fonts/latin2/100dpi"
# True type and type1 fonts are also handled via xftlib, see /etc/X11/XftConfig!
#    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/Type1"
    RgbPath      "/usr/share/X11/rgb"
    ModulePath   "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/misc:unscaled"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/misc"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/PEX"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/cyrillic"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/ttf/western"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/ttf/decoratives"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/truetype"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/openoffice"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-bitstream-vera"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/latex-ttf-fonts"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/defoma/CID"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/defoma/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"

#    Load  "type1"
    Load  "ddc"  # ddc probing of monitor
    Load  "dbe"
    Load  "dri"
    Load  "extmod"
    Load  "glx"
    Load  "bitmap" # bitmap-fonts
    Load  "freetype"
    Load  "record"
#   Load  "synaptics"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option        "AllowMouseOpenFail" "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "Keyboard0"
    Driver      "keyboard"
    Option        "CoreKeyboard"
    Option        "XkbRules" "xorg"
    Option        "XkbModel" "pc105"
    Option        "XkbLayout" "us"
#    Option "XkbVariant" ""
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "USB Mouse"
    Driver      "mouse"
    Option        "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
    Option        "SendCoreEvents" "true"
    Option        "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
    Option        "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
    Option        "Buttons" "5"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[0]"
    Option        "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
    Option        "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
    Option        "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[0]"
    Driver      "fglrx"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]"
    Device     "aticonfig-Device[0]"
    Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[0]"
    DefaultDepth     24
    SubSection "Display"
        Viewport   0 0
        Depth     24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
    Mode         0666
EndSection


I used to be surprised that I was still surprised by my own stupidity, finding it strangely refreshing.
Well, now I don't find it refreshing.
I'm over it!

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#22 2008-10-17 19:24:09

neotuli
Lazy Developer
From: London, UK
Registered: 2004-07-06
Posts: 1,204
Website

Re: Will ArchLinux run natively on a iMac (Core 2 Duo) ?

Oh wow, it's posts like this these that make people go "the arch community rocks".


The suggestion box only accepts patches.

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#23 2008-10-18 05:14:41

handy
Member
From: Oz
Registered: 2008-03-26
Posts: 719

Re: Will ArchLinux run natively on a iMac (Core 2 Duo) ?

neotuli wrote:

Oh wow, it's posts like this these that make people go "the arch community rocks".

It looks like it has been done for the community, but in reality it is just so I will know what to do when I have to reinstall in the future. wink

My memory sucks!

Not really wink  though it certainly will help me in the future I'm sure. :-)

Last edited by handy (2008-10-22 12:34:01)


I used to be surprised that I was still surprised by my own stupidity, finding it strangely refreshing.
Well, now I don't find it refreshing.
I'm over it!

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#24 2008-10-18 06:21:49

handy
Member
From: Oz
Registered: 2008-03-26
Posts: 719

Re: Will ArchLinux run natively on a iMac (Core 2 Duo) ?

Many thanks to gnud for posting the instructions on how to simply handle the backlight.c source code & how to set the program up on Arch, many Mac users will now be able to take their sunglasses off! cool

Last edited by handy (2008-10-18 07:15:11)


I used to be surprised that I was still surprised by my own stupidity, finding it strangely refreshing.
Well, now I don't find it refreshing.
I'm over it!

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