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

 

[fishears]

I'm now running this with XFCE4 rather than FluxBox. I find it a much nicer WM and it seems to run faster....

I'm still stuck with two problems though:
1) I've got no sound (unless I run a media player as root - then I get sound)
2) The top and bottom of the screen are missing no matter what I do with xorg.conf

Can anyone shed some light on these problems?
Thank you

for 1) it sounds like you have to add yourself to the audio user group, as root do

CODEpasswd -a audio

can't help with 2. I haven't got round to trying Linux on the Wii yet

Thanks for the tip - I'll give that a try

EDIT: It was "usermod -G audio " that worked in the end...

 

[elmurato]

@ all
Thanks for the positive feedback.

Elmurato:

I think you are confusing what the Mike info says about wifi only working under mini and not IOS.
WiFi appears to still work if you have BootMii as an IOS (though as of yet I haven't been able to get it to work correctly, but the wifi is detected and it sees my router).
It just won't work if you try to run Linux directly from the Homebrew channel - you have to run it through BootMii.

(I have a newer Wii that cannot install BootMii to Boot2)

I didn`t know that! Thank you for the info. But I have a question before I edit that part: If you have BootMii as IOS do you need this mike kernel IOS? http://downloads.sourceforge.net/gc-linux/...-2.6.30.ios.elf

Since the armboot.bin that comes with the lastest bootmii is newer than the one that was posted when the first mini based kernel was released you may as well not replace it, save time and all that.

I will edit this part. Again, thank you!

pls takenote that "Must boot from BOOTMII" is very important, i missed the part and linux reported "cannot read /proc/net/wireless"

Fix in progress...

QUOTE(SifJar @ Sep 2 2009, 09:35 PM)

I have a question. In the tutorial, you renamed the .elf a .dol and replaced a file, meaning it bypassed the BootMii menu. Is it possible to leave it as a .elf and just select it from the BootMii menu? If you want to keep "Ceiling Cat" (the BootMii menu) and also be able to launch Linux I mean.

I tried the SD card explorer in BootMii but I couldn`t find a possibility to launch a .dol. That would be awesome, because if this were possible we would only need 1 sd card...

EDIT: Updated to revision 2

 

[ozguy]

I didn`t know that! Thank you for the info. But I have a question before I edit that part: If you have BootMii as IOS do you need this mike kernel IOS? http://downloads.sourceforge.net/gc-linux/...-2.6.30.ios.elf

No. You still use the MINI elf.
The IOS elf is if you want to run it as item in the Homebrew Browser instead of through the BootMii menu.

At least that is my understanding, and what worked for me.

 

[elmurato]

@ ozguy
Fast reply ^^ Alright. Now everything is clear. But this MIKE kernel IOS is a little bit contradictory, isn`t it? I mean a MIKE kernel with wifi support as IOS, which won`t work with wifi?! Hmm, strange...


EDIT: Updated to revision 3 (also fixed "ppcboot.dol" -> "ppcboot.elf")

 

[fishears]

This is great. I'm now running Transmission BT client under XFCE4 so my Wii is now a light-weight, low-power BitTorrent client. Downloading media direct to my USB HD!!!
Does it get any better than this for a geek?!

 

[Screemer]

that's exactly what i am planing to use my wii for and to share the usb hdd as a samba share. ~16Watt Powerconsumption + HDD is pretty good

 

[tempest69]

If you have BootMii installed as IOS (ie. You need to run it from the HomeBrew Channel), start the HomeBrew Channel, then press the HOME button to bring up the HomeBrew menu, then choose Launch BootMii.
A gamecube controller is optional. You can still control the IOS BootMii using the Reset/Power buttons.
You can also copy the Mike elf file to ppcboot.elf so it loads straight into Linux rather than loading into the BootMii menu.

Seems there are a lot of misconceptions about BootMii as IOS floating around. I guess because most of the people who have been around the longest and thus have most of the answers are lucky enoough to have older Wii's that can use Boot2.

No, it seems that wii's owner that can't install BootMii as boot2 , can't use Reset/power buttons in bootmii menu. gamecube controlers mandatory.
That's my case...
I will try another time but i'm pretty sure of that : I remenber that the nand backup of my wii (boot2 locked) was impossible because the menu was inaccessible in bootmii without a gamecube controller ...

 

[ozguy]

No, it seems that wii's owner that can't install BootMii as boot2 , can't use Reset/power buttons in bootmii menu. gamecube controlers mandatory.

Well, don't know what to tell you, but I have BootMii as IOS because I have a late 2008 Wii that cannot use Boot2.
My wireless gamecube controller batteries were dead, so I could not use it, so on a whim I tried power/reset and it worked.

I wonder.... I am not sure if I still had the wireless transmitter plugged in or not at the time, if that would make a difference.

 

[tempest69]

I wonder.... I am not sure if I still had the wireless transmitter plugged in or not at the time, if that would make a difference.

i'm not sure too if it will make a difference. i've googled a little and not all wii are concerned with this problem... mine is, and there are others too.
I will try also with my gamecube controller plugged (Xarcade + GC adaptator, very big, so it is not always plugged) and see if reset/shutdown works when it is plugged...

 

[fishears]

Is it just me that has the weird pink artifacts on certain shaded images?
Maybe another problem with Progressive....

On another note, I really recommend switching to XFCE for your UI. I'm using this (Wii LInux) a lot more since I switched. Transmission is doing overtime downloading to my USB drive and my PC hasn't been needed for a day. Got Foxmarks syncing my bookmarks with my other computers. I'll be coding on it next

 

[El Snorro]

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??

 

[ozguy]

Are you sure you ran it inside BootMii?
It is not recognizing the wlan adaptor, so looks like you tried to run it as IOS.

 

[elmurato]

Is it just me that has the weird pink artifacts on certain shaded images?

I have the same problem. I think this is due to the xorg driver which is in a very early development stage.

QUOTE(El Snorro @ Sep 3 2009, 10:21 PM) Followed this tutorial, but i get this from my terminal:
...
wlan0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
...

That is the main error message. Like ozguy said you probably didn`t start it with BootMii.

 

[Ferrie]

I tried the SD card explorer in BootMii but I couldn`t find a possibility to launch a .dol. That would be awesome, because if this were possible we would only need 1 sd card...

You can load it with BootMii. If BootMii starts the countdown to load HBC or Wii menu just press "power" go to the SD icon, press "reset", go with the power butten to the file you want to boot (in my case the file "mikep3-zImage-2.6.30.mini.480p(PAL).elf" and than press "reset" again to start whiite, works like a charm. And all my homebrew is on one SD card

p.s. this only works in Boot2, not in IOS mode...

 

[elmurato]

You can load it with BootMii. If BootMii starts the countdown to load HBC or Wii menu just press "power" go to the SD icon, press "reset", go with the power butten to the file you want to boot (in my case the file "mikep3-zImage-2.6.30.mini.480p(PAL).elf" and than press "reset" again to start whiite, works like a charm. And all my homebrew is on one SD card

p.s. this only works in Boot2, not in IOS mode...

I swear I exactly tried that before! But it didn`t work. After your post I tried it again and VIOLA! It boots. There are things out there you don`t need to understand

Thank you for your answer. Now I`m putting everything on my primary sd card ^^ I will edit the tut soon.

 

[Ferrie]

I've got a question for the "real" wii-linux people here about Xorg. I've read that you can edit the xorg.conf to run at the resolution you want. I've done this, added the line "640x480_60" instead of "pal_60" But that had no effect whatsoever, than i changed it to "720x480_60" just to see if it would boot. It booted perfect, but still no change. Now i wonder, is xorg.conf being (partial or full) overruled by the startup file (in my case "mikep3-zImage-2.6.30.mini.480p(PAL).elf") or is there something i miss...? I want to know because, like a lot of people here, i don't see my whole desktop. And if the output resolution is being controlled by the bootmii startup .elf that we need some new elfs for widescreen TV's

 

[El Snorro]

Are you sure you ran it inside BootMii?
It is not recognizing the wlan adaptor, so looks like you tried to run it as IOS.

I ran it from hbc, so i should load the corresponding .elf file from the topic start directly with bootmii (i have bootmii as boot2).
Will try tonight, thanks

QUOTE(Ferrie @ Sep 4 2009, 06:54 AM) I've got a question for the "real" wii-linux people here about Xorg. I've read that you can edit the xorg.conf to run at the resolution you want. I've done this, added the line "640x480_60" instead of "pal_60" But that had no effect whatsoever, than i changed it to "720x480_60" just to see if it would boot. It booted perfect, but still no change. Now i wonder, is xorg.conf being (partial or full) overruled by the startup file (in my case "mikep3-zImage-2.6.30.mini.480p(PAL).elf") or is there something i miss...? I want to know because, like a lot of people here, i don't see my whole desktop. And if the output resolution is being controlled by the bootmii startup .elf that we need some new elfs for widescreen TV's

I would like a .elf for widescreen (16:9) Tv's too!!

 

[fishears]

I've got a question for the "real" wii-linux people here about Xorg. I've read that you can edit the xorg.conf to run at the resolution you want. I've done this, added the line "640x480_60" instead of "pal_60" But that had no effect whatsoever, than i changed it to "720x480_60" just to see if it would boot. It booted perfect, but still no change. Now i wonder, is xorg.conf being (partial or full) overruled by the startup file (in my case "mikep3-zImage-2.6.30.mini.480p(PAL).elf") or is there something i miss...? I want to know because, like a lot of people here, i don't see my whole desktop. And if the output resolution is being controlled by the bootmii startup .elf that we need some new elfs for widescreen TV's

I agree. We can mess around all we like with the xorg.conf but if it doesn't match a video mode supported by the firmware then it won't help us. I'm assuming the two modelines provided are in fact the only two modes presently supported.

 

[shadoxXx]

*SOLVED*
Hi, got a problem. I followed your tutorial (great job anyways

) and moved all the files to my sd card. but when i turn my wii on, it boots like it should (i guess).
then it shows up something like this, about 10 times (didn´t count):

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/4949/dsc00001mk.jpg
btw: even if it says something about sdhc, i´m using a normal one

after that comes this (and stays until i shut down the wii):

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/269/dsc00002h.jpg

i hope someone can help me

edit: even though i am using the newes bootmii version, updating the armboot.bin fixed the problem

 

[El Snorro]

Guys when i run xwhiite via bootmii it just shows tiny little line of background screen in the middle of my TV, the rest of my screen is just black. I do see my wiimote moving so linux is running, but just a tiny little bit (like a horizontal line of 10cm's) of screen, the rest is black..
I already tried reinstalling xwiithe, without any luck.
But when i try running it from the HBC it runs OK (exept wifi offcourse)

Can anyone help??
Thanks!