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

 

[jznomoney]

if you dont have wireless protection like wpa or wep what lines do you add to the /etc/network/interfaces

 

[minxkitty8]

if you dont have wireless protection like wpa or wep what lines do you add to the /etc/network/interfaces

Its on this page
http://www.gc-linux.org/wiki/WL:Wifi_Configuration
Which is at the bottom of the post elmarto made
The code is
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wireless-essid YOUR_SSID_GOES_HERE

 

[jznomoney]

Ok that worked thanks. It connects to the network but after a few minutes it seems to drop out. I have bootmii installed as an IOS not the boot2. Is there anything else I could be doing wrong?

 

[minxkitty8]

Ok that worked thanks. It connects to the network but after a few minutes it seems to drop out. I have bootmii installed as an IOS not the boot2. Is there anything else I could be doing wrong?

Idk as u can see in my post above ur 1st one u can clearly see that i have no clue what the hell im doing. But if i could guess i would say that its your router, tell me what kind of router u have and if it has built in parental controls or not.

 

[jznomoney]

its a linksys wrt54g ver2 with dd-wrt on it. I know it doesn't have parental controls enabled.

 

[minxkitty8]

its a linksys wrt54g ver2 with dd-wrt on it. I know it doesn't have parental controls enabled.

well then i have no clue i think the problem with mine is with parental controls, i would try this:
Install xorg linux and try to connect to wifi. Or a better idea, install a wii emulator and try to install the xwhiite with wifi and see if that works. Beyond that, i dont think i can help you without doing a little resarch and im way to busy to do that for a couple of weeks.

 

[elmurato]

Updated to rev5

- Changed kernel links from mikep4 to mikep5 (now with internal dvd drive support)

 

[minxkitty8]

Updated to rev5

- Changed kernel links from mikep4 to mikep5 (now with internal dvd drive support)

Your the best

Mabe my network will work now

 

[Link2097]

can someone help me when i do: ifup wlan0 as root
it says: send_packet: Network is down. and
receive_packet: Network is down.

 

[jznomoney]

I got my network to work properly. I used the new firmware plus I have two wireless routers running in my house and they were both operating on the same channel. I seperated them one is on channel 11 and the other on channel 1.

 

[longtom1]

I got my network to work properly. I used the new firmware plus I have two wireless routers running in my house and they were both operating on the same channel. I seperated them one is on channel 11 and the other on channel 1.

Why would you want 2 wireless routers running at the same time. How big is your house

 

[jznomoney]

One is for one end of the house the other is for the other side.

 

[jznomoney]

is there a way to use Debian Lenny 5.0 instead of etch 4.0?

 

[loopdeer]

I'm still really new to Wii Linux (not that it really matters), but when I tried to get it working it would fail to turn on. Can anybody help me?

 

[elmurato]

is there a way to use Debian Lenny 5.0 instead of etch 4.0?

Some month ago I tried upgrading to Lenny. It worked, except the graphic driver :S Which is a big problem...

loopdeerI'm still really new to Wii Linux (not that it really matters), but when I tried to get it working it would fail to turn on. Can anybody help me?

What`s your problem? If you have an error message please post it here.

 

[blkhockeypro19]

Has anybody fixed the graphics issue where the top and bottom of the screen get cut off? I'm on a 480i NTSC TV using the correct 480i NTSC elf

 

[HaTaX]

Worked well for me, went through a few headaches that were SD card related, one wouldn't stay stable and the other wouldn't boot at all.. (For anyone trying to get a SD card to boot, it's a good idea to take a linux system and do a "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mmc**** bs=1M" to it and see if it can be made bootable after that. This WILL ERASE EVERYHING on that SD card!)

Anyway, got it all up and working and everything seems to be working fine. I added a file named "apps" in the "/home/wii/.fluxbox/" folder so that it starts up the VNC server at boot time. This way I can just throw the SD card in and get to it from my computer. As a bonus if you mess up the TV output, it will typically look okay via VNC.

/home/wii/.fluxbox/apps:

[startup] {vncserver}

Going to play with it a bit more and also try out xfce on it. Thanks for the writeup!!

 

[Nam]

I got it installed properly, but it always fail when the time comes to bring the wi-fi up...
DCHPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port..........
send_packet: network is down.

(and repeats several times on different intervals)

I am using auto wlan0 and it works perfectly on debian lenny 5.0... Why not on etch ?

 

[rant]

I just installed this succesfully. I have a weird problem with WLAN though. The connection itself is succesful,
I can ping google and ssh to the Wii but the connection is weirdly slow. I get only 3-4kb/s down from the debian repos.
I tried testing the speed with other servers, and the issue is just with the Wii. I tried switching between WEP and WPA but the speed
was similar. Is there anyone with this same issue or any tips on what to try?

 

[sge]

I got it installed properly, but it always fail when the time comes to bring the wi-fi up...
DCHPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port..........
send_packet: network is down.

(and repeats several times on different intervals)

I am using auto wlan0 and it works perfectly on debian lenny 5.0... Why not on etch ?

That happened to me oddly on Debian Lenny 5.0 using MIKEp5 (wifi drivers in mainline kernel) AND Debian Etch 4.0 using MIKEp5 and MIKEp3 (manually installing drivers).

I was able to connect to my router by repeatedly bringing the wireless interface down ("ifdown wlan0"). Then up ("ifup wlan0"). It usually takes a few tries.

It eventually manages to associate to the router AND authenticate without timing out. It then passes me my IP through DHCP (dynamic/static IP have the same unreliability) and then I get a slow/unreliable connection to my router.

I try apt-get, with very slow speeds and many "PHY timeouts" or something (I assume thats talking about b43-phy, the Wii's wireless interface).

EDIT: There will probably be more information on the whiite-linux talk page: http://www.gc-linux.org/wiki/Talk:WL:whiite-linux#WiFi_fails


QUOTE(rant @ Feb 3 2010, 05:24 PM) I just installed this succesfully. I have a weird problem with WLAN though. The connection itself is succesful,
I can ping google and ssh to the Wii but the connection is weirdly slow. I get only 3-4kb/s down from the debian repos.
I tried testing the speed with other servers, and the issue is just with the Wii. I tried switching between WEP and WPA but the speed
was similar. Is there anyone with this same issue or any tips on what to try?

I get those speeds too. Strange, before I re-installed whiite-linux, I used to be able to SSH at decent speeds but now there is lots of lag when typing commands. Switching between my regular WEP-binary (64bit Hexadecimal key) key and a completely open access point makes no difference.

I thought it was only me (I had to factory reset my router earlier). I get heaps of wireless dropouts via Whiite-Linux, but IOS/Wii System Menu works fine (regular speed/reliability).

I have problems even authenticating/associating to the router (lots of time outs). But it eventually manages to establish a connection.