Requirements

- BootMii (either installed as boot2 or as IOS)
- SD(HC) card (at least 1GB, 2GB recommended)
- USB keyboard

Preparing the SD card

You have to create 2 partitions. One little FAT16/32 for BootMii, HBC and the kernel and one big ext3 for the filesystem ("userland"). You can do this for example with gParted in Ubuntu. If you don`t have Ubuntu installed, use the latest LiveCD. For this tutorial it is important to set the descriptions of the partitions.

- Backup your current BootMii folder
- 1. partition: At least 32 MB, FAT16/32, "kernel" as description
- 2. partition: Remaining free space, EXT3, "filesystem" as description
- Copy your BootMii folder to the first partition

Installing the kernel

The mike kernel must be booted via BootMii! If you boot it with the homebrew channel, wifi and other things won`t work.

There are two ways to boot the kernel:

1.)
The first one (and also the recommended one) is to copy the kernel to the first partition of your sd card, for example to the BootMii folder. To boot the kernel you can use the sd card explorer in BootMii and select the kernel. It could happen that it doesn`t work and return to the BootMii main menu. If this happens try to update to the newest BootMii version (beta4). If it also doesn`t work with beta4 then you have to use the second way.

2.)
With the second way you will have to replace the executable of the BootMii GUI with the kernel. This should always work, but the disadvantage is that the kernel will boot immediately after launching BootMii. So you won`t see the GUI of BootMii. If you need the BootMii GUI you may use a second sd card for Linux only.

- Rename the file "ppcboot.elf" in the BootMii folder to "ppcboot.elf.backup"
- Download the latest mike kernel (mikep5) with your appropriate TV mode:

- 480i PAL: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/gc-linux/...480i(PAL60).elf
- 576i PAL: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/gc-linux/...i.576i(PAL).elf
- 480p PAL: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/gc-linux/...i.480p(PAL).elf
- 480i NTSC: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/gc-linux/....480i(NTSC).elf
- 480p NTSC: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/gc-linux/....480p(NTSC).elf

- Rename the kernel to ppcboot.elf and copy it to your BootMii folder
- If you have BootMii beta1 or beta2 you need to download the latest armboot.bin to prevent an error with the mike kernel: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/gc-linux/mikep1-armboot.bin. Rename it to "armboot.bin" and replace it with the one in your new BootMii folder. If you are running BootMii beta3 or later you might skip this step, because it should already include a newer version of armboot.bin

Installing the filesystem

- Download XWhiite 0.2 to your Desktop: http://hbcapps.com/debian-etch-4.0+whiite-...ite-0.2.tar.bz2
- Open a terminal and login as root (sudo su)
- Change the directory to your Desktop:

cd /home/yourusername/Desktop

- Extract the filesystem to your sd card:

tar -C /media/filesystem/ -xjvf debian-etch-4.0+whiite-0.1+xwhiite-0.2.tar.bz2

- Backup your xorg.conf:

cd /media/filesystem/etc/X11/
cp xorg.conf xorg.conf.backup

- Open your xorg.conf and set your TV mode (pal or ntsc):

gedit /media/filesystem/etc/X11/xorg.conf

- Find the Subsection "Display" in the section "Screen"
- Replace "pal_50" with "ntsc_60" if you have a NTSC TV
- If you have the problem with the "small line" try to remove the lines with "HorizSync", "VertRefresh", "Modeline "pal_50"" and "Modeline "ntsc_60"" in the section "Monitor" and the whole subsection "Display"

- Now you can try to boot your Wii with Linux.

Getting WiFi to work

- Download the necessary debian packages and put them to /media/filesystem/home/wii/:

- nano: http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/...ch1_powerpc.deb
- wpasupplicant: http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/...5-2_powerpc.deb
- wireless-tools: http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/...f.1_powerpc.deb
- udev: http://security.debian.org/debian-security...ch1_powerpc.deb
- libiw28: http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/...f.1_powerpc.deb
- libvolume: http://security.debian.org/debian-security...ch1_powerpc.deb
- wifi firmware: http://sourceforge.net/projects/gc-linux/f...tar.gz/download

- Boot your Wii Linux
- Open a terminal and login as root (pwd is "whiite")
- Install the packages:

cd /home/wii/
dpkg -i *.deb

- Extract the wifi firmware:

cd /
tar -xzvf /home/wii/openfwwf-5.2-bin.tar.gz

- Edit the wifi settings:

nano /etc/network/interfaces

- For WPA 1/2 add this:

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂwpa-ssid YOUR_SSID_GOES_HERE
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂwpa-psk YOUR_SECRET_GOES_HERE
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂwpa-key-mgmt WPA-PSK
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂwpa-pairwise TKIP CCMP
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂwpa-group TKIP CCMP
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂwpa-proto WPA RSN
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂwpa-ap-scan 1
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂwpa-scan-ssid 1

- For WEP (ASCII string key) add this:

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂwireless-essid YOUR_SSID_GOES_HERE
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂwireless-key YOUR_ASCII_SECRET_GOES_HERE

- For WEP (binary key) add this:

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂwireless-essid YOUR_SSID_GOES_HERE
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂwireless-key s:0123-4567-89

- Test your wifi connection:

ifup wlan0
ping www.google.com

- If you get responses: CONGRATULATIONS! Now your Wii will automatically connect your wifi on every boot

And what now?

- Now you can update your system (as root!):

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade

- You can also install a "normal" desktop environment like XFCE4. It`s more comfortable to use, but will use more RAM and will run slower. But it`s quite usable.

apt-get install xfce4

- Install whatever you want! Have fun!

Problems and their solutions

Problem: No sound
Solution: CODEusermod -G audio


by elmurato
revision 5


PS: If something isn`t clear feel free to ask so that I can improve this tutorial. Thanks!

Sources

http://www.gc-linux.org/wiki/WL:whiite-linux
http://www.tehskeen.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9777
http://www.gc-linux.org/wiki/MINI:KernelPreviewThree
http://www.gc-linux.org/wiki/WL:Wifi_Configuration

 

[shyam513]

Nice tutorial, well laid out

 

[OriginalHamster]

We are practicing Linux in my institute so I install xwhiite in my Wii =D, no problems so far just the hcitool scan command doesn't seem to work right on me.

 

[-DarkAceZ-]

Followed this tutorial, but i get this from my terminal:

xwhiite:/# ifup wlan0
ioctl[SIOCSIWPMKSA]: Invalid argument
ioctl[SIOCSIWMODE]: Invalid argument
Could not configure driver to use managed mode
ioctl[SIOCGIFFLAGS]: No such device
Could not set interface 'wlan0' UP
ioctl[SIOCGIWRANGE]: Invalid argument
ioctl[SIOCGIFINDEX]: No such device
/etc/wpa_supplicant/functions.sh: line 156: 1620 Segmentation fault start-
stop-daemon --start --oknodo $DAEMON_VERBOSITY --name $WPA_SUP_PNAME --startas $
WPA_SUP_BIN --pidfile $WPA_SUP_PIDFILE -- $WPA_SUP_OPTIONS -D $WPA_SUP_DRIVER $W
PA_SUP_CONF
wpa_supplicant: /sbin/wpa_supplicant daemon failed to start
run-parts: /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/wpasupplicant exited with return code 1
Internet Software Consortium DHCP Client 2.0pl5
Copyright 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 The Internet Software Consortium.
All rights reserved.

Please contribute if you find this software useful.
For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/dhcp-contrib.html

wlan0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
Bind socket to interface: No such device
exiting.
Failed to bring up wlan0.

What am i doing wrong??

I am in need of some serious help! We're getting this error, even though we booted it through bootmii! I'm running it on an IOS.
Here's exactly how we boot the kernel:
Power Wii
Launch Homebrew Channel
Press HOME and press "Launch Bootmii"
Goto SD Card explorer
launch /bootmii/mike5.elf (Or whatever it was called)
...And as root, after following the steps in the tut, we get the same error as above! Any idea what we did wrong?

 

[-DarkAceZ-]

Followed this tutorial, but i get this from my terminal:

xwhiite:/# ifup wlan0
ioctl[SIOCSIWPMKSA]: Invalid argument
ioctl[SIOCSIWMODE]: Invalid argument
Could not configure driver to use managed mode
ioctl[SIOCGIFFLAGS]: No such device
Could not set interface 'wlan0' UP
ioctl[SIOCGIWRANGE]: Invalid argument
ioctl[SIOCGIFINDEX]: No such device
/etc/wpa_supplicant/functions.sh: line 156: 1620 Segmentation fault start-
stop-daemon --start --oknodo $DAEMON_VERBOSITY --name $WPA_SUP_PNAME --startas $
WPA_SUP_BIN --pidfile $WPA_SUP_PIDFILE -- $WPA_SUP_OPTIONS -D $WPA_SUP_DRIVER $W
PA_SUP_CONF
wpa_supplicant: /sbin/wpa_supplicant daemon failed to start
run-parts: /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/wpasupplicant exited with return code 1
Internet Software Consortium DHCP Client 2.0pl5
Copyright 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 The Internet Software Consortium.
All rights reserved.

Please contribute if you find this software useful.
For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/dhcp-contrib.html

wlan0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
Bind socket to interface: No such device
exiting.
Failed to bring up wlan0.

What am i doing wrong??

I am in need of some serious help! We're getting this error, even though we booted it through bootmii! I'm running it on an IOS.
Here's exactly how we boot the kernel:
Power Wii
Launch Homebrew Channel
Press HOME and press "Launch Bootmii"
Goto SD Card explorer
launch /bootmii/mike5.elf (Or whatever it was called)
...And as root, after following the steps in the tut, we get the same error as above! Any idea what we did wrong?

Actually, no the error is a bit different. It's slightly different:

[/color][/font][/color][/font]
xwhiite:/# ifup wlan0
ioctl[SIOCSIWPMKSA]: No such device
ioctl[SIOCSIWMODE]: No such device

Could not configure driver to use managed mode

ioctl[SIOCGIFFLAGS]: No such device


Could not set interface 'wlan0' UP

ioctl[SIOCGIWRANGE]: No such device



ioctl[SIOCGIFINDEX]: No such device

/etc/wpa_supplicant/functions.sh: line 156:  1915 Segmentation fault	  start
stop-daemon --start --oknodo $DAEMON_VERBOSITY --name $WPA_SUP_PNAME --startas $
WPA_SUP_BIN --pidfile $WPA_SUP_PIDFILE -- $WPA_SUP_OPTIONS -D $WPA_SUP_DRIVER $W
PA_SUP_CONF
wpa_supplicant: /sbin/wpa_supplicant daemon failed to start
run-parts: /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/wpasupplicant exited with return code 1

Internet Software Consortium DHCP Client 2.0pl5
Copyright 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 The Internet Software Consortium.
All rights reserved.

Please contribute if you find this software useful.
For info, please visit [url="http://www.isc.org/dhcp-contrib.html"]http://www.isc.org/dhcp-contrib.html

wlan0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
Bind socket to interface: No such device
exiting.
Failed to bring up wlan0.

It's altered a bit... Why? (No invalid arguments, the /etc/wpa_supplicant/functions.sh: line 156: 1915 Segmentation fault line was changes, and a dash wasn't in the error at start
stop-daemon)

 

[-DarkAceZ-]

Sorry for the triple-post, but can't anyone help me? fishears? Thumpie Bunny Eve? hojnikb?
I'd really like to get Wifi working on XWhiite...

 

[hojnikb]

You can try this kernel
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B1pW8ozECPcTMzAxN2NjOWYtMTM2Mi00MjdhLTk0NWUtNDYyZGEyOTRmZjE0&hl=zh_CN

And this tarball
https://rs943l32.rapidshare.com/#!download|943l36|438987521|debian-etch-4.0_whiite-0.1_xwhiite-0.2_kennedn.tar.gz|207931|R~B16B41CC45AB4440ABB57482BA66860C|0|0

I managed to get it working after like the 100th time, and I've uploaded a tarball of it with xfce4 desktop installed along with synaptic to easily download/install packages.

http://rapidshare.com/files/438987521/debi..._kennedn.tar.gz

Just follow the steps given in the tutorial at the start of this thred, exept skip the stuff about editing the xorg file and installing the wifi packages (still need to edit the /etc/network/interfaces file).

and use this command to untar the tarball to your sd card instead:

tar -C /media/filesystem/ -xavf debian-etch-4.0+whiite-0.1+xwhiite-0.2_kennedn.tar.gz (notice that the -xjvf command is now -xavf) this is because I (accidentally) compressed it in a slightly different format but oh well ;D no harm done.


Edited by kennedn, 24 December 2010 - 11:46 PM.

 

[-DarkAceZ-]

This might sound strange, but THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU FOR POSTING!!!!
Anyway, the quote you made is actually the tarball we used then, but I think the ppcboot.elf might be new. I'll try this right away!

 

[-DarkAceZ-]

Hmm, still didn't work... I noticed that the "/etc/wpa_supplicant/functions.sh: line 156: 1915" 1915 line keeps on changing though.

The link you gave me to the tarball was the same as the one in the quote, right?

 

[-DarkAceZ-]

It has to be the kernel that's the problem, since Linux isn't noticing the Wii's WiFi hardware... Can you upload your kernel/ppcboot.elf/mikep5.elf?

 

[Littlefighter19]

Don't this site contains (nearly) everything you need?: http://sourceforge.net/projects/gc-linux/files/

 

[-DarkAceZ-]

Hmm, I'll try that kernel as soon as I'm back on Linux.

 

[Littlefighter19]

For me it doesn't seem to work, since wlan 0 still doesn't get up

 

[-DarkAceZ-]

Nope, still won't work. I did notice that there is a small change in the screen area when you use the 480p elf if you have a 480i screen. It looks higher quality, and IMO it almost looks like it's covering more of the screen...

 

[Coto]

Wii's internal WLAN chipset won't work if booted from ios. It is a must to have a launch-day with boot1 bug (boot2 bootmii vulnerability).

In english: mikep5 as ios doesn't have all the features mikep5 as boot2 has (DVD access, wifi chipset access, etc)

I had a boot2 exploited wii before and I could get up wireless service on xwhiite in about 2 days. Now I have a boot1 fixed wii (no boot2 exploit available) and can't get the wlan0/1 card to be recognized even if mikep5 is run off bootmii (as ios)

 

[-DarkAceZ-]

The tutorial said it works when booted from bootmii when you use the mini elf...

 

[Coto]

The tutorial said it works when booted from bootmii when you use the mini elf...

yes tested both mikep5 mini and ios elf. No wifi even if booted from bootmii. Maybe I did something wrong, but unlike before (using the same tarball I modified and kept a year ago on my launch day wii) I couldn't bring up the wlan0 card because network devices weren't detected at all

 

[-DarkAceZ-]

Well that's what's happening to me... If only we could figure something out... It worked for some of the guys, from what they said in their posts... So what's new in the mikep5 patch?

 

[Littlefighter19]

Damn I hate bad Updates, why can't Updates only be good?
Probably the guys who developed mikep5 thought: "Oh the most guys would like to boot from HBC, why don't we "add" this feature", and removed Wifi Support with this

 

[-DarkAceZ-]

Hmm? What are you saying? I don't know if the update effected this or not, I was just asking what's new in it. On this page http://sourceforge.net/projects/gc-linux/files/kernel/2.6.32/ mikep5-patch. I was wondering if it would help our situation if we applied it.

 

[Littlefighter19]

no, this is just a patch for the GC Version. (As it says mikep5-patch-2.6.32-gc.bz2)