adjust the screen after installing Ubuntu on a eMac

L

LeoTheLion89

Registered
unlike OS X i am not able to adjust the screen width/height or the position up/down/left/right using Ubuntu the screen is off center and cut off and i have no way to fix it putting it at 1280x960 only makes it cut off on all edges how can i adjust it?
 
Ah - I also have Ubuntu, and the screen on my eMac is slightly offset, about 1cm to the left. I can't use 1280x960 at all, the bottom 4cm is completely distorted, so I stay with 1024x768 which looks OK on the full screen, except for the offset.
As there is NO mechanical adjustment to the eMac display (if there's one area that Apple cut expenses on the eMac, it's the display), you have to rely on what the software drivers give you. The Ubuntu video drivers don't give you any control on the eMac.
I have not found any method within Ubuntu that will improve the video on the eMac.

If you come up with a way to do anything to the video within Ubuntu, let me know.

You might get a response if you post on the Ubuntu forums, I have not tried that yet.
 
once i install Ubuntu how do i set the eMac to boot the Ubuntu partition by default? like on windows will the Ubuntu bootloader let me choose between Ubuntu and Mac OS X?
 
I don't know how to do that.
When you install Ubuntu, it will likely set it to boot to Ubuntu by default - it usually does that for me, so you could simply leave it set that way.
You can set the boot partition from within OS X to default to the OS X boot, but that won't see the Ubuntu partition at all. If you change the default boot to the OS X partition, then there's no way that I have found to set it back to default to Ubuntu. Again, you can probably post your question on the Ubuntu support forums, and someone might help you out with some command line change for that - I don't know that much about Ubuntu inner workings.
However, anytime you restart, holding the Option key, you can select either OS X, or the Ubuntu partition to boot from. That works really well for me, but it's not quite the same as a default boot.
 
the Option boot screen just hangs it can sit there 20 minutes and not do a thing so im weary on that also i know this is a MAC form but i need help installing ubuntu on my eMac whilemanually partitioning the HDD its telling me i need a newworld partition so i make my 10GB the base / with the ext4 FS but when i use some free space (134MB) to install swap space than another 134MB to install the newworld the newworld sets it as /home or /use NOT /boot even setting it to boot manually it sets it as /usr if i select NewWorld Boot Partition it sets it as /home not /boot how do i set it and MAKE it be /boot?
 
Notice the spammer that posted on #6?

I have to experiment. The Ubuntu will not continue with the install until the partitions are setup properly. IIRC - the data/software partition (yours is 10 GB?) would be newworld, and must be set for mount point (/)
Ubuntu needs the mount point, even if you think it doesn't.
Then a small partition for the bootloader (1MB works, I think), with mount point /boot
And, Ubuntu will try to have a swap partition (choose swap), which is pretty good with 4MB. You can bypass the swap, but Ubuntu will tell you that you might have perfomance issues if you don't have sufficient RAM in the computer (Well! where have you heard that before?) As you have more than 1GB, that should all be good.
As I said, Ubuntu won't continue with the install until the partitions are set correctly.
Watch Out - that you don't use your main OS X partition by mistake. The Ubuntu install will let you do that, and clear out your OS X installation, if you don't pay attention to what you are doing when you are working with the partitions - Ubuntu won't even warn you, and then you will struggle, as you would probably have to wipe out all the partitions, and reinstall everything from scratch.
I'm guessing you will want to avoid doing this several times... :D
 
well i got Ubuntu installed and i can press X to boot OS X L to boot ubuntu and C to boot CD i am using CCC to back up my OS X partition made a DMG of my Leo DVD partition and will be formatting my USB HDD (old eMacs HDD) to have Mac Leo Install Ubuntu and a plain paartition carrying my OS X backup in turn i will boot from my USB Drive reinstall Leo restore the image and the install Ubuntu i have read and PPC Macs have been bootable from USB Drives since the iMac slot load even steps to make it bootable
 
Feel free to try to boot to USB. I know I have tried multiple methods, and none have worked for me on any eMac.
USB has just not been an acceptable boot, when Firewire has been a much better choice on the Mac - at least until Apple changed over to intel processors.
You may have better luck, and you are on your own to search for a usable method to boot to USB.
You will be MUCH better off using a Firewire hard drive. You won't need to type any commands each time you need to boot to firewire.
 
well success eMac boots from USB i took my Leo image restored it to my external USB HDD rebooted and held the option key and the USB drive showed up AND booted i backed up just my applications and music folders using CCC can i restore the image after installing Leo without wiping the system?
 
on my external HDD i want to make 3 partitions 1 containing the Leo Install Image one containing the Ubuntu LIVE CD image and i want to make a 3rd just for data how can i make the 3rd partition FAT32 while having the other 2 HFS+ for booting?
 
If you want a windows bootable partition, then fat32 is not enough. You'll need to format that hard drive for MBR (master boot record) partition scheme, under the Partition tab, then Options. It means that you have to wipe that hard drive, and set up the partitions again.

I thought you said that your eMac internal hard drive had one partition with the Leopard installer? If that's correct, then you booted to that partition, and not to your USB external. A USB drive with an OS X bootable partition will NOT appear in the Option-boot select screen.
You have Ubuntu installed on another partition, so I thought that the yaboot loader was providing you with the USB capability, so I tested that out here, and that's not it, either.
I propose that your eMac was booting to your Leopard installer partition, and not a USB external drive. It's just not possible to boot to USB unless you have the open-firmware commands setup to allow USB booting. Your eMac also will not show a USB device in the the Option-boot screen - it does not have that capability, no matter what you do.
The Open Firmware solution lets you boot to a USB drive, but doesn't show a menu, or give you any other choices - it just boots to USB if the Open Firmware is setup for it. Otherwise, a bootable USB device is ignored.......
You booted to your Leopard installer partition on your internal hard drive, not the USB one. Does that make sense to you?
 
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