Because i want to regroup some interesting informations/process/hooks to configure iMac Intel 5,1 late 2006 model with Debian GNU/Linux Lenny (2008/08/28)
Update (2011/08/12) : aluminium iMac Intel 12,1 / Wheezy , see the «video» section.
Before starting
This hardware can be used with i386 or amd64 architecture. The little bench test i made shows that the use of amd64 arch improve cache read access.
Get space from others filesystems or OS
I successfully re-partionned the drive of the iMac with gparted to get some Gigas for GNU/Linux
After installing
It is recommended to install with the ethernet interface (sky2 driver) if netinstall (wireless not natively supported by linux driver)
Update (2015/12/08) No issues with default stable nor testing install.
Wireless
Wireless on this model (Broadcom 4328) is not yet supported by any Linux driver 1 . NDISwrapper does the job quite well.
Update (2015/12/08) See https://wiki.debian.org/wl no need for ndiswrapper / driver loading / init script anymore.
Update (2015/12/08) If you want normal behaviour of ‘F’ keys, then configure as a module parameter following instructions on: https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Apple/PageFragmentKeyboard
Video
Aluminium iMac intel 12,1 mid 2011 and 7,1 mid 2007 (and potentially other models)
* Xorg radeon driver (default setup after installation)
The RadeonHD 6600M needs KMS to run Xorg with the free radeon Xorg driver. By default, KMS is enabled, but the card needs a non-free firmware that is not installed and will make the screen unuseable at boot time when the kernel initialiazes KMS. You will need to install the package «firmware-linux-nonfree (http://packages.debian.org/wheezy/firmware-linux-nonfree). For this, modify the grub command line (press e) and add to the kernel boot parameters :
You will then be able to boot and login as root. Edit /etc/apt/sources.list to add contrib and non-free, you should have something like :
deb http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/debian wheezy main contrib non-free
iMac Intel 5,1 late 2006 (and potentially other models)
Update (2015/12/08) on this specific iMac model: It doesn’t work on stable. Go for testing and you’ll get a reasonable working driver: still some glitches and flashing second monitor from time to time. AMD dropped support for older graphics cards in Catalyst v. 9.3, which also requires the use of a Kernel older than v. 2.6.28 and X server older than v. 1.5. See: http://askubuntu.com/questions/310754/ati-radeon-xpress-1200-graphics-card-driver-install-problems
Radeonhd
Update (2015/12/08) This package does not exist on stable: https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=radeonhd
Installed by default Desktop install and provide 3D/2D acceleration support
$ sudo aptitude install xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd $ glxgears # from mesa-utils 13798 frames in 5.0 seconds = 2759.461 FPS 13968 frames in 5.0 seconds = 2793.599 FPS 13927 frames in 5.0 seconds = 2785.283 FPS
$ fglrxinfo display: :0.0 screen: 0 OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc. OpenGL renderer string: ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 OpenGL version string: 2.1.7769 Release
Apple Infrared Remote
As you have seen before, the IR Receiver is connected via USB bus:
$ lsusb |grep -i ir Bus 004 Device 003: ID 05ac:8240 Apple, Inc. IR Receiver [build-in]
This don’t require any other kernel support and you just have to install lirc:
# /etc/lirc/hardware.conf # # Arguments which will be used when launching lircd #don't start lircmd even if there seems to be a good config file #start_lircmd=false irexec, exist. #start_irexec =false #try load appropriate kernel modules load_modules =true # run "lircd --driver=help" for list of supported drivers. driver =macmini device is set >
begin remote name Apple_remote_iMac5,1 bits 8 eps 30 aeps 100 one 0 0 zero 0 0 pre_data_bits 24 pre_data 0x87EE27 gap 211986 toggle_bit_mask 0x0 begin codes VOLUP 0x0B VOLDOWN 0x0D BACKWARD 0x08 FORWARD 0x07 PLAY 0x04 MENU 0x02 end codes end remote
Because if not you don’t have volume up button enabled (not investigated).