insights get wheezy distro on iMac G4?[generally solved]

[este_el_paz]

The tutorials are at forum.debian.net.
if you d a normal boolean search with kernel compile forums.debian.net, then you will come upon a few tutorials.

Mr=B: . . . alrighty, thanks for that, that was mostly for humor that I posted nadir's special search terms . . . but, I'll check out the tutorials a bit more, however with your suggestions and nadir's links to the "lite version" I probably have enough data to get myself deeply into trouble . . . "a little knowledge" and all that. But, in reading the JDeere post he was reassuringly saying, "don't worry if you screw up, you can always boot back into your first kernel" . . . but it seems that he was referring to using GRUB, which for PPC we are using Yaboot; my LMDE install has GRUB and I have seen the different kernels in the boot process, but in Yaboot not. Can PPC do GRUB so we could get the added choice of various kernels in the GUI?

Also, since I'm older and rely on treachery to overcome problems . . . and still looking for a way to nano my way out of this problem; could I boot the iMac/Debian computer in target mode and connect to it by FW with my MintPPC iBook and open a terminal/text editor in the iBook and then modify the iMac system timer file that way????????? The code(s) to run to do it that way -- I don't exactly know -- perhaps I would try to load the "xconfigure" or the other utilities in the iBook? (not sure if I would have to) OR, if I could just navigate to the kernel using "nano /etc/kernel xyz.3.9.35" in the iBook, Or if I could simply launch the nano text editor in the iBook GUI, navigate to the iMac kernel using the "open file" option, open it in the GUI text editor, make the changes, CTRL-D to save it . . . and that would be it?? Is it worth trying it that way, can it be done? Right now the primary issue to overcome is the multiple kernel panics while trying to boot, after that things are OK, "if it aint' broke, etc."

e.e.p.

[nadir]

I am not sure if i tried to put grub on the ppc with Debian or if i tried that on FreeBSD in general (not on a ppc).
I failed, btw. I think it is possible:
https://duckduckgo.com/html/?q=grub%20and%20ppc
in theory.

Here is a link about configuring yaboot:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=994882
And to keep being honest: i did not understand that neither.

And that, the actual example, is one of the things where i meant: ppc is difficult. It's a piece of cake on a PC (install and/or remove a kernel, configure grub). Nothing serious can happen, nice and easy. If you bork a ppc you might have it borked. You got live-CDS, to chroot and restore the old kernel by removing the old one, they fail to boot .... etc.pp. Ok, difficult for me.
Like said above: i for one was not able to make my self-compiled kernel (compilation itself took >6 hours) be recognized by yaboot at all. Took the backports one after that.

[este_el_paz]

@nadir: thanks for the links and the general advice on the difficulty level. What about my target mode/nano idea?

e.e.p.

[nadir]

Keep this in mind:
I don't know about it.

To me it looks like it would be like this:
a) You got one or several kernels installed.
b) The way they are configured you will find in /boot/config-* (actual kernel being /boot/config-$uname -r)
c) You can't change those values in those files. You have to recmpile, and will find the new values in there
d) But there is a tool called sysctl.conf. "man sysctl" might help (it doesn't help me, btw)
e) There is also a config file for sysctl, and that you can edit
(in mine there is:
vm.swappiness=10
vm.vfs_cache_pressure=50
).
f) for the record: /lib/modules/***kernel-version***

Nothing of what i wrote above helps you with your kernel panics, i think.
(It tells you where to find some files, what to search for online, and thats pretty much it).
I would not know how to figure out _why_ a kernel panics, and, if i knew why, how to solve it.
If i got such troubles i solve it by installing another kernel (either by using backports-debian for stable or my upgrading the system, sometimes i tried the liquorix kernel)

It can be annoying if people talk about things they barely understand. Just ignore it, in case it is like that.
Mr-B's advice to look at forums.debian.net is a good one (in the past there have been lots of good threads about kernels. I recall someone called "garincha" or similar to have made good posts. julian67 too, bugsbunny, etc ). Else check kernelnewbies or similar.
The short version is that i don't think your actual idea, simply editing files with nano, does work.

good luck.

[este_el_paz]

@nadir: OK, thanks bud . . . there's enough information for me to read through at this point. I'll post back when I've got things totally SNAFU'd . . . .

e.e.p.

[huggybear]

Code: Select all

vm.swappiness=10
vm.vfs_cache_pressure=50


Those things improve the overall speed by using more RAM rather than to swap. They are useful for more modern computers, but I guess your RAM is a bit tight, so this could make things slower actually. At least that's how I got it.

[este_el_paz]

@Huggybear: ah, yes, RAM is one of the tight sticking points in the equation . . . which I'm stumbling along with until a hardware crossroads comes along, i.e., something breaks. In the meanwhile I'm going to try to bring myself up to speed on the system timer adjustment topic, and then determine whether I have the time/capacity to do it, etc.

e.e.p.

[nadir]

Code: Select all

vm.swappiness=10
vm.vfs_cache_pressure=50


Those things improve the overall speed by using more RAM rather than to swap. They are useful for more modern computers, but I guess your RAM is a bit tight, so this could make things slower actually. At least that's how I got it.

I got it from here:
http://antix.freeforums.org/speed-up-yo ... -t124.html
(like usually there is an explanation by julian67, somewhere at forums.debian.net, and one which is reasonable -and also like usually nothing of all that fiddling helps that much at all... iirc).

I for one don't know.

[huggybear]

Yeah, I've got it from Julian's post. My notebook uses more RAM now, but certain programmes run more smoothly and start faster (especially with preload installed).

So, yeah, maybe installing preload might help you a bit, not sure. But I do remember that the sysctl hacks were for bigger beasts.

[nadir]

I have already said that i don't understand sysctl.
That said:
I think it is the other way around than you said above.
- preload will help _if_ you got enough of RAM and load apps you use often.
- The entry for sysctl in it's config will start to use _swap_ more early (assuming you have set it for that purpose).