Re: PPC64 install && Firefox

[Ken Cunningham]

> On Apr 8, 2024, at 1:02 AM, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz 
>  wrote:
> 
> On Mon, 2024-04-08 at 19:38 +1200, Mike Hosken wrote:

>> As for Firefox thanks for the info, hopefully it will get fixed as it would 
>> make
>> ppc64 still very useable in this modern era. 
> 
> Well, someone interested in Firefox on big-endian targets would have to take 
> a look
> at it. I currently don't have the time for it.
> 
> Adrian


FireFox is quite broken, for a long time now.

There was a browser thread a few months ago.

The only browser I have found that is worth using on ppc64 debian so far is 
SeaLion.

https://lists.debian.org/debian-powerpc/2023/11/msg00012.html


It works pretty.well, and was updated not long ago. It's not perfect either, 
but so far is much better than anything else.

K

How to snapshot debian

[Ken Cunningham]

What's a relialble way to snapshot debian installations?

Ken

Re: What are the current available browser options for debian-ppc64?

[Ken Cunningham]

Hi Adrian, 

I’m getting stuck building firefox, and as you’re building it already, how do 
we get past this?

thanks,

Ken



I did this:

$ apt-get build-dep firefox
$ apt source firefox
$ apt install python-is-python3
$ cd firefox-120.0
$ dpkg-buildpackage -us -uc

but I keep getting this:

——

make[1]: Entering directory '/home/cunningh/firefox/firefox-120.0'
MOZ_OBJDIR=debian/objdir MACH_BUILD_PYTHON_NATIVE_PACKAGE_SOURCE=none 
PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE=y python3 ./mach python 
python/mozbuild/mozbuild/preprocessor.py --marker % -Fsubstitution 
-DGRE_VERSION="120"  -DPRODUCT_DOWNLOAD_NAME="firefox"  -Dbrowser="firefox"  
-DBROWSER="FIREFOX"  -DBrowser="Firefox"  -DMOZ_APP_REMOTINGNAME="Firefox"  
-DUSE_SYSTEM_FFI="1"  -DUSE_SYSTEM_LIBEVENT="1"  -DUSE_SYSTEM_NSPR="1"  
-DUSE_SYSTEM_NSS="1"  -DUSE_SYSTEM_VPX="1"  -DUSE_SYSTEM_ZLIB="1"  
-DSHORT_SOURCE_CHANNEL="release"  -DDIST="trixie"  -DTRANSITION=""  
-DMOZ_FFVPX=""  -DMOZ_ENABLE_VAAPI=""  -DMOZ_ENABLE_V4L2=""  
-DCRASH_REPORTER=""  -DDEB_HOST_ARCH="ppc64" debian/browser.mozconfig.in -o 
debian/firefox.mozconfig
MACH_BUILD_PYTHON_NATIVE_PACKAGE_SOURCE=none ./mach python --virtualenv build < 
/dev/null
Creating global state directory from environment variable: 
/home/cunningh/firefox/firefox-120.0/debian/.mozbuild
Creating global state directory from environment variable: 
/home/cunningh/firefox/firefox-120.0/debian/.mozbuild
Creating local state directory: 
/home/cunningh/firefox/firefox-120.0/debian/.mozbuild/srcdirs/firefox-120.0-576c6d4c4ec6
Site not up-to-date reason: 
"/home/cunningh/firefox/firefox-120.0/debian/.mozbuild/srcdirs/firefox-120.0-576c6d4c4ec6/_virtualenvs/common"
 does not exist
Site not up-to-date reason: 
"/home/cunningh/firefox/firefox-120.0/debian/.mozbuild/srcdirs/firefox-120.0-576c6d4c4ec6/_virtualenvs/common"
 does not exist
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/cunningh/firefox/firefox-120.0/./mach", line 125, in 
main(sys.argv[1:])
  File "/home/cunningh/firefox/firefox-120.0/./mach", line 117, in main
mach = check_and_get_mach(os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__)), args)
   ^
  File "/home/cunningh/firefox/firefox-120.0/./mach", line 37, in 
check_and_get_mach
return load_mach(dir_path, mach_path, args)
   
  File "/home/cunningh/firefox/firefox-120.0/./mach", line 23, in load_mach
return mach_initialize.initialize(dir_path, args)
   ^^
  File "/home/cunningh/firefox/firefox-120.0/build/mach_initialize.py", line 
199, in initialize
command_site_manager.activate()
  File "/home/cunningh/firefox/firefox-120.0/python/mach/mach/site.py", line 
603, in activate
self.ensure()
  File "/home/cunningh/firefox/firefox-120.0/python/mach/mach/site.py", line 
575, in ensure
_create_venv_with_pthfile(
  File "/home/cunningh/firefox/firefox-120.0/python/mach/mach/site.py", line 
1277, in _create_venv_with_pthfile
os.makedirs(virtualenv_root)
  File "", line 225, in makedirs
FileExistsError: [Errno 17] File exists: 
'/home/cunningh/firefox/firefox-120.0/debian/.mozbuild/srcdirs/firefox-120.0-576c6d4c4ec6/_virtualenvs/common'
make[1]: *** [debian/rules:228: stamps/virtualenv] Error 1
make[1]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/cunningh/firefox/firefox-120.0'
make: *** [debian/rules:343: build] Error 2
dpkg-buildpackage: error: debian/rules build subprocess returned exit status 2

---

Re: What are the current available browser options for debian-ppc64?

[Ken Cunningham]

I added an 8GB swapfile, and (slowly) got this backtrace:

# cat error.txt
Thread 1 "firefox" received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
i32_load8_u (addr=2014643200, mem=) at rlbox.wasm.c:146
146 rlbox.wasm.c: No such file or directory.
(gdb) bt
#0  i32_load8_u (addr=2014643200, mem=) at rlbox.wasm.c:146
#1  w2c_rlbox_streqci
(var_p0=var_p0@entry=262000, var_p1=2014643200, instance=)
at rlbox.wasm.c:774
#2  0x7fffe9195c48 in w2c_rlbox_getEncodingIndex
(var_p0=, instance=) at rlbox.wasm.c:66243
#3  w2c_rlbox_getEncodingIndex (var_p0=262000, instance=0x7fffd992c000)
at rlbox.wasm.c:690
#4  w2c_rlbox_MOZ_XmlInitEncodingNS_0
(instance=0x7fffd992c000, var_p0=438820, var_p1=438816, var_p2=262000)
at rlbox.wasm.c:2316
#5  0x7fffe91e305c in w2c_rlbox_initializeEncoding
(instance=instance@entry=0x7fffd992c000, var_p0=var_p0@entry=438672)
at rlbox.wasm.c:48270
#6  0x7fffe92a77a8 in w2c_rlbox_prologInitProcessor
(instance=0x7fffd992c000, var_p0=438672, var_p1=445856, var_p2=511392, 
var_p3=262140) at rlbox.wasm.c:45278
#7  0x7fffe92b82e4 in w2c_rlbox_MOZ_XML_Parse_0
(var_p3=0, var_p2=65536, var_p1=445856, var_p0=438672, 
instance=0x7fffd992c000) at rlbox.wasm.c:49293
#8  w2c_rlbox_MOZ_XML_Parse
(instance=0x7fffd992c000, var_p0=438672, var_p1=445856, var_p2=65536, 
var_p3=0) at rlbox.wasm.c:20709
--Type  for more, q to quit, c to continue without paging--
#9  0x7fffea00fd50 in 
rlbox::rlbox_wasm2c_sandbox::impl_invoke_with_func_ptr(XML_Status 
(*)(unsigned int, unsigned int, int, int), unsigned int&&, unsigned int&&, 
unsigned int&&, bool&&) (func_ptr=, this=0x7fffd992c000)
at ./build-browser/dist/include/mozilla/rlbox/rlbox_wasm2c_sandbox.hpp:763
#10 
rlbox::rlbox_sandbox::INTERNAL_invoke_with_func_ptr&, rlbox::tainted, unsigned long, bool>(char const*, void*, 
rlbox::tainted&, 
rlbox::tainted&&, unsigned long&&, 
bool&&) (func_name=, func_ptr=, this=)
at ./build-browser/dist/include/mozilla/rlbox/rlbox_sandbox.hpp:790
#11 nsExpatDriver::ParseChunk(char16_t const*, unsigned int, 
nsExpatDriver::ChunkOrBufferIsFinal, unsigned int*, unsigned long*)
(this=0x74856400, aBuffer=, aLength=aLength@entry=32768, 
aIsFinal=aIsFinal@entry=nsExpatDriver::ChunkOrBufferIsFinal::FinalChunk, 
aConsumed=0x7fffc50c, aLastLineLength=0x7fffc510) at 
./parser/htmlparser/nsExpatDriver.cpp:1248
#12 0x7fffea01015c in nsExpatDriver::ChunkAndParseBuffer(char16_t const*, 
unsigned int, bool, unsigned int*, unsigned int*, unsigned long*)
(this=this@entry=0x74856400, aBuffer=aBuffer@entry=0x7fffd8f90020 

Re: What are the current available browser options for debian-ppc64?

[Ken Cunningham]

Trying to run firefox under gdb with the debug symbols installed appears to 
result in an out-of-memory situation on my DualG5 with 3.5GB ram, I’m afraid.

Perhaps someone else has a system with more memory, or set up better than mine, 
that could help.

Ken

-

$ gdb firefox
GNU gdb (Debian 13.2-1) 13.2
Copyright (C) 2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later 
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
Type "show copying" and "show warranty" for details.
This GDB was configured as "powerpc64-linux-gnu".
Type "show configuration" for configuration details.
For bug reporting instructions, please see:
.
Find the GDB manual and other documentation resources online at:
.

For help, type "help".
Type "apropos word" to search for commands related to "word"...
Reading symbols from firefox...
Reading symbols from 
/usr/lib/debug/.build-id/4b/b6e1779513b3b7402680ba3c0652341bfc3155.debug...
(gdb) run
Starting program: /usr/bin/firefox 
[Thread debugging using libthread_db enabled]
Using host libthread_db library "/lib/powerpc64-linux-gnu/libthread_db.so.1".
Killed
-


tail of dmesg:

[  858.582364] [   1641]  1000  16415653044030   493568 9100
 0 gdb
[  858.582372] [   1645]  1000  1645 3750   6449152  192
 0 firefox
[  858.582379] 
oom-kill:constraint=CONSTRAINT_NONE,nodemask=(null),cpuset=/,mems_allowed=0,global_oom,task_memcg=/user.slice/user-1000.slice/session-2.scope,task=gdb,pid=1641,uid=1000
[  858.582447] Out of memory: Killed process 1641 (gdb) total-vm:3617920kB, 
anon-rss:2817920kB, file-rss:0kB, shmem-rss:0kB, UID:1000 pgtables:482kB 
oom_score_adj:0

Re: What are the current available browser options for debian-ppc64?

[Ken Cunningham]

To be honest, I did run it under gdb, and ran the backtrace, but the backtrace 
was mostly uninterpretable without the debug symbols of course.

So somewhere in libxul was all I could offer.

I’ll see if adding the debug symbols narrows it down a bit.

Ken

> On Nov 21, 2023, at 02:13, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz 
>  wrote:
> 
> Hello!
> 
>> On Mon, 2023-11-20 at 15:39 -0800, Ken Cunningham wrote:
>> on my system I had another segfault, in libxul.
> 
> A more detailed backtrace would be useful. libxul is basically all of
> Firefox, so referring to a crash in libxul is not saying much.
> 
> Try installing the debug package from here:
> 
>> https://box.fu-berlin.de/s/oLNPG2EoPtyC8tb
> 
> and then run firefox from gdb.
> 
>> hopefully others had more luck. sure be nice to get a current browser!
> 
> It would be nice if more people could step forward and help me resolve these
> issues. Running gdb and testing patches isn't that difficult, for example,
> and would help me a lot in the process in shaping Debian Ports architectures.
> 
> Adrian
> 
> --
> .''`.  John Paul Adrian Glaubitz
> : :' :  Debian Developer
> `. `'   Physicist
>  `-GPG: 62FF 8A75 84E0 2956 9546  0006 7426 3B37 F5B5 F913

Re: What are the current available browser options for debian-ppc64?

[Ken Cunningham]

> On Nov 20, 2023, at 12:37 PM, Jeffrey Walton  wrote:
> 
> On Mon, Nov 20, 2023 at 1:56 PM Ken Cunningham
>  wrote:
>> 
>> On 2023-11-20, at 2:06 AM, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz wrote:
>> 
>>>> On Nov 20, 2023, at 10:56 AM, Jeroen Diederen  
>>>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Firefox does not work.
>>> 
>>> Did you try the latest version 119?
>>> 
>>> If there is a patch which fixes the crash on big-endian targets, we could 
>>> include it in the Debian package or I could try to get it merged upstream.
>>> 
>> The one I have installed is:
>> 
>> firefox/unstable,now 119.0.1-1 ppc64
>> 
>> and it has a segmentation fault when you launch it.
> 
> Out of curiosity... would that happen to be a G4 or a non-Altivec machine?
> 
> Jeff

A Dual-G5 with 3.5G ram, designator PowerMac7,3

Ken

Re: What are the current available browser options for debian-ppc64?

[Ken Cunningham]

On 2023-11-20, at 3:21 PM, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz wrote:

> On Mon, 2023-11-20 at 22:32 +0100, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz wrote:
>> Anyways, this particular crash a known upstream bug in Firefox [2]. I wonder 
>> whether
>> it might be fixed by this particular patch [3].
> 
> I have rebuild the Firefox package for ppc64 with this patch included:
> 
>> https://people.debian.org/~glaubitz/firefox-ppc64/
> 
> Could anyone test this and report back, please?
> 
> Adrian
> 
> -- 
> .''`.  John Paul Adrian Glaubitz
> : :' :  Debian Developer
> `. `'   Physicist
>  `-GPG: 62FF 8A75 84E0 2956 9546  0006 7426 3B37 F5B5 F913

on my system I had another segfault, in libxul.

hopefully others had more luck. sure be nice to get a current browser!

Ken

Re: What are the current available browser options for debian-ppc64?

[Ken Cunningham]

On 2023-11-20, at 2:06 AM, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz wrote:

> Hello!
> 
>> On Nov 20, 2023, at 10:56 AM, Jeroen Diederen  wrote:
>> 
>> Firefox does not work.
> 
> Did you try the latest version 119?
> 
> If there is a patch which fixes the crash on big-endian targets, we could 
> include it in the Debian package or I could try to get it merged upstream.
> 
> Adrian


The one I have installed is:

firefox/unstable,now 119.0.1-1 ppc64

and it has a segmentation fault when you launch it.

It would be really great if that worked. Perhaps I will skill up and see if I 
can do something to help fix it. I worked on TenFourFox for a few months with 
Riccardo and Cameron a few years ago and we made progress there, so I'm 
slightly familiar with the old code base, at least.

Ken

Re: What are the current available browser options for debian-ppc64?

[Ken Cunningham]

Yes, that one works pretty well, better than I expected it would.

Thank you!


To get it to launch, I had to make a symlink, as it’s built against libffi6 but 
that version is not available any more on any of my apt sources it appears.… 

ie in: 

/usr/lib/powerpc64-linux-gnu

I did this, which is no doubt sinful:

ln -s libffi.so.8 libffi.so.6



Ken



> On Nov 19, 2023, at 4:48 PM, DistroHopper39B Business 
>  wrote:
> 
> SeaLion (https://github.com/wicknix/SeaLion 
> <https://github.com/wicknix/SeaLion>) is the best choice for PowerPC. 
> 
> On Sun, Nov 19, 2023 at 7:46 PM Ken Cunningham 
> mailto:ken.cunningham.web...@gmail.com>> 
> wrote:
> I am aware of a few projects out there working to try to keep a repackaged 
> TenFourFox going that have *.deb archives available, and I think there are 
> some official channels for a few different browsers inside debian (Firefox, 
> Epiphany).
> 
> Does anyone have or know about a browser they use on debian ppc64 they would 
> feel comfortable to recommend?
> 
> Does it involve any installation trickery? If so, some short notes on how to 
> get it installed would be appreciated.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Ken
> 
> 

What are the current available browser options for debian-ppc64?

[Ken Cunningham]

I am aware of a few projects out there working to try to keep a repackaged 
TenFourFox going that have *.deb archives available, and I think there are some 
official channels for a few different browsers inside debian (Firefox, 
Epiphany).

Does anyone have or know about a browser they use on debian ppc64 they would 
feel comfortable to recommend?

Does it involve any installation trickery? If so, some short notes on how to 
get it installed would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Ken

Re: Fork of current version of »hfs« package

[Ken Cunningham]

Yes, Iain Sandoe has had the blocks patches in his gcc repos for many years now 
(2016 at least) but has not yet had them polished up enough to push them to gcc 
mainline.

If gcc is a hard requirement for you then no option. Just trying to make this 
as easy as possible...

K

On 2023-05-30, at 2:37 PM, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz wrote:

> On Tue, 2023-05-30 at 13:53 -0700, Ken Cunningham wrote:
>> The blocksruntime library is easy to build and available broadly,
>> in case just including it becomes the easier path.
>> 
>> http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/libb/libblocksruntime/libblocksruntime_0.4.1.orig.tar.gz
> 
> The library has clang has a hard requirement which I don't consider
> acceptable:
> 
>> https://buildd.debian.org/status/package.php?p=libblocksruntime=sid
> 
> Adrian
> 
> -- 
> .''`.  John Paul Adrian Glaubitz
> : :' :  Debian Developer
> `. `'   Physicist
>  `-GPG: 62FF 8A75 84E0 2956 9546  0006 7426 3B37 F5B5 F913

Re: Fork of current version of »hfs« package

[Ken Cunningham]

The blocksruntime library is easy to build and available broadly, in case just 
including it becomes the easier path.

http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/libb/libblocksruntime/libblocksruntime_0.4.1.orig.tar.gz

Ken



On 2023-05-30, at 1:48 PM, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz wrote:

> Hi Lennart!
> 
> On Tue, 2023-05-30 at 16:39 -0400, Lennart Sorensen wrote:
>> I had a poke at it, dealt with a couple of compile issues, then
>> encountered Blocks and went WTF did Apple invent here?  I don't even
>> understand the description of their proprietary extension to C/C++/ObjC.
>> 
>> I had never seen code with ^ prefixed to things in this way and since I
>> don't understand what Blocks are supposed to accomplish I have no idea
>> how to remove them from the code.
> 
> The BlocksRuntime library is already partially patched out on my »linux« 
> branch
> using a patch originally from Fedora:
> 
>> https://github.com/glaubitz/hfs/commit/d6ea3fe324a6b018ebe7934b9f95a624b047dc2d
>> https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/hfsplus-tools/blob/rawhide/f/hfsplus-tools-no-blocks.patch
> 
> Additional occurrences should be patched out in a similar way.
> 
> Adrian
> 
> -- 
> .''`.  John Paul Adrian Glaubitz
> : :' :  Debian Developer
> `. `'   Physicist
>  `-GPG: 62FF 8A75 84E0 2956 9546  0006 7426 3B37 F5B5 F913
> 

Re: Installer doesn't find the mirrors

[Ken Cunningham]

Your issue is in French, but it looks like the one I recently faced as well if 
I am reading it correctly.

I fixed it using the information on this page:


https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/75807/no-public-key-available-on-apt-get-update


I hope this helps you too.

Ken



> On Apr 9, 2023, at 2:34 PM, David VANTYGHEM  
> wrote:
> 
> 
> Le 09/04/2023 à 23:09, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz a écrit :
>> Hello David!
>> 
>>> On Apr 9, 2023, at 10:02 PM, David VANTYGHEM  
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> If someone could help me please. I have no idea of the problem.
>> Please provide the syslog file that is stored as /var/log/syslog during 
>> installation. It’s otherwise not possible to debug the problem.
>> 
>> Adrian
> They are messages saying that PUBKEYS are not avalaibles.
> 
> -- 
> Passez à Linux : https://infolib.re
> 
> .--.
> |o_o |
> ||_/ |
> // \\ Envoyé depuis mon Linux
> (| |)
> / \_ _/ \
> \___)=(___/

Re: Seeking for help with Debian 11 (2022-03-28 image) - can't install GRUB

[Ken Cunningham]

One of the key things to know is that only certain very specific boot images 
will work. These have been hand-modified by Adrian to boot. Attempting to use 
any other random boot images will fail.

If you look back through Adrian’s messages in this mailing list, he announces 
the latest boot image every three or four months. 

Once you have that, things usually go smoothly.

Best,

Ken


> On Oct 12, 2022, at 10:22 PM, vavagoga  wrote:
> 
> 
> An update about my problem with GRUB..
> 
> After wiping up disk and PRAM reset I was able to install GRUB, but it 
> doesn't boot... If I start G5 when pressing "option" button it then shows GNU 
> icon as boot option, but it's not booting from there - when I click it screen 
> refreshes and nothing happens...
> 
> Are there any steps I could take to fix it somehow?..
> 
> (BTW "Select and Install Software" didn't install properly this time either, 
> but it was the closest to finish I ever got - it failed at 94% this time)
> 
> Would appreciate any help,
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> 
> On 2022-10-06 00:44, Ben Westover wrote:
>> Hello,
>> 
>> On October 5, 2022 5:37:35 PM EDT, vavagoga  wrote:
>>> Hey there!
>>> 
>>> I've been advised by kaiser.friedrich on youtube to join this list for more 
>>> detailed help with my problem..
>>> 
>>> I am trying to install Debian on my old G5, but installation always fail 
>>> during "Select and install software" and then also during GRUB 
>>> installation.. Maybe I am missing something during installation? (It seems 
>>> straightforward, but fails nevertheless)
>> Can you provide any specific errors or logs?
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> --
>> Ben Westover
> 

> 1000 updates, nearly 1 GB, all successful...

[Ken Cunningham]

Just a touch of feedback, keep everyone keen…

After being away from my DualG5 ppc64 debian system a while, I booted it up and 
ran an update  today

1094 updates, just shy of 1 GB in total, all downloaded and successfully 
installed, without a single hiccup…

Now that is — sweet.

K

Re: SSH, Telnet and FTP

[Ken Cunningham]

LLVM doesn’t work on Darwin PPC at all due to ABI inconsistencies, so that is 
useless on MacOS at present (perhaps someone like Adrian could fix it).

Homebrew only supports MacOS 10.15 and up, so that is useless on older darwin 
systems too.

Current ssh may well compile on darwin PPC uisng Macports — haven’t tried 
recently as I use debian now.

Ken



> On Jun 11, 2022, at 12:26 PM, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz 
>  wrote:
> 
> 
> 
>> On Jun 11, 2022, at 9:21 PM, Christian Calderon 
>>  wrote:
>> 
>> FWIW, last I checked MacPorts SSH doesn’t compile on ppc anymore.
> 
> Not sure why it shouldn’t though.
> 
> If not, try Homebrew. We have the latest versions of the GNU and LLVM 
> toolchain on 32-bit PowerPC after all
> 
> Adrian

Re: Off-Topic: G5 Open Firmware instability

[Ken Cunningham]

No doubt you know, but I don’t see anyone has said (may have missed it) that 
you will need to re-run thermal calibration after monkeying with the CPUs as 
otherwise they are not set up right.

To do that you will need to get that machine to boot from that ASD CD, one way 
or another.

Ken

> On May 13, 2022, at 11:12 AM, to...@suse.de wrote:
> 
> On Fri, May 13, 2022 at 07:51:27PM +0200, Linux User #330250 wrote:
>>> I downloaded ASD 2.6.3 which is the correct version for the hardware,
>>> converted the dmg to iso. If I boot with 'c' the screen goes all grey
>>> (which seems normal) then the machine hangs.  I can mount the ISO
>>> from Linux using "-t hfsplus" and the contents seem correct.
>> 
>> My experience with .dmg's as images for boot media is that they are best
>> created under Mac OS X. I've had many corrupted CDs and I also had some
> 
> Yeah, this had crossed my mind.  I can mount it using -t hfsplus but
> something may be wrong preventing it from booting.  I'll see if I can
> find a local mac user who can burn the dmg natively from MacOS.
> 
>> You did replace the PRAM battery, right? In my experience Power Macs act
>> up when a) no battery is installed and b) a weak/empty battery is used.
>> Anyway, if you didn't already, replace the battery with a new one. (And
>> make sure the new one isn't empty as well!)
> 
> Yup, new one.
> 
>> Long story short, I also think that the liquid cooling needs checking
>> first, especially before trying anything like thermal calibration for
>> the CPUs/fans from ASD...
> 
> I think the first step is to apply new thermal paste to the cpus and
> the Northbridge (backside of board). Draining, flushing and 
> refilling the cooling is an option but it seems like maybe the last
> step.  Maybe there are some intermediate steps between these two.  
> I'll do some research.
> 
>> I hope you can fix it. Good luck!
> 
> Thanks!  Appreciate the replies.
> 
> -- 
> Tony Jones
> SUSE Kernel Performance Team
> 

Re: GRUB Multiboot

[Ken Cunningham]

> On Mar 29, 2022, at 9:54 AM, Stan Johnson  wrote:
> 

> Fortunately, for x86_64 there is rEFIt, which like yaboot appears to no
> longer be maintained (but it still works). 

FYI this is the defacto successor to rEFIt, actively maintained, and is what I 
have been using as the bootmanager on my EFI macs the past few years:

https://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/installing.html

Re: netinst ppc64 2022-03-24 fails to install GRUB boot loader

[Ken Cunningham]

Your log said that you saw this:

grub-install: error: filesystem on /boot/grub is neither HFS nor HFS+

I have no idea what the filesystem on /boot/grub might be, but it should be HFS 
or HFS+ for this to work.

So, assuming you are using the blessed ISO and no other, what I would do is 
start fresh. 

eg, mount the drive from a different macOS system using Firewire mode, delete 
all the existing partitions on the drive using Disk Utility, and then reboot 
the system using the CD, holding down the “C” key during boot.

After it boots, let it have the entire disc, and let all the defaults be the 
defaults.

That should work. If it doesn’t work, time for a new log I guess.

Ken




> On Mar 27, 2022, at 6:56 PM, Dennis Clarke  wrote:
> 
> On 3/27/22 21:34, Ken Cunningham wrote:
>>> On Mar 27, 2022, at 6:10 PM, Jeffrey Walton  wrote:
>>> 
>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-Ugfqj1ank
>>> 
>>> Use the 32-bit version of grubfix32.sh, even on the 64-bit install.
>>> Use /dev/sda2 instead of /dev/sda3 when fixing grub.
>>> 
>>> Jeff
>>> 
>> FYI Adrian’s ISO works perfectly for me on both 32 bit and 64 bit systems.
>> There are (far too) many alternate ways of installing debian floating 
>> around, but I think the only method we should suggest is the one sanctioned 
>> here, as all the others lead to mayhem, IMHO.
>> Ken
> 
> I can report that the 32-bit powerpc netinst presents me with a GRUB
> menu and then "default install" leads to total failure. I took a picture
> as there was no other option while staring at a big white console with
> strange messages about invalid memory access.
> 
> The 64bit netinst seems to work fine until we get to the GRUB install
> stage and perhaps the previous syslog and partman files I submitted
> will shed some light. Otherwise a very stable machine that usually
> just runs fine is now quite dead until further notice.
> 
> 
> -- 
> Dennis Clarke
> RISC-V/SPARC/PPC/ARM/CISC
> UNIX and Linux spoken
> GreyBeard and suspenders optional

Re: netinst ppc64 2022-03-24 fails to install GRUB boot loader

[Ken Cunningham]

> On Mar 27, 2022, at 6:10 PM, Jeffrey Walton  wrote:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-Ugfqj1ank
> 
> Use the 32-bit version of grubfix32.sh, even on the 64-bit install.
> Use /dev/sda2 instead of /dev/sda3 when fixing grub.
> 
> Jeff
> 

FYI Adrian’s ISO works perfectly for me on both 32 bit and 64 bit systems.

There are (far too) many alternate ways of installing debian floating around, 
but I think the only method we should suggest is the one sanctioned here, as 
all the others lead to mayhem, IMHO.

Ken

Re: Updated Debian Ports installation images

[Ken Cunningham]

> On Mar 26, 2022, at 11:47 AM, Stan Johnson  wrote:
> 

> Your steps 2 and 3 should not be necessary. It should be possible to use
> manual partitioning (I'm testing that next); otherwise, it will not be
> possible to boot multiple operating systems.
> 
>> 
>> they just can't believe that is all you need to do.
>> 
> 
> If you want to trash all of the other operating systems on your disk,
> then by all means you should choose to use the entire disk. But I
> suspect that many users will not want to do that -- they'll instead want
> to continue using Mac OS, Mac OS X, and whatever other GNU/Linux
> distributions they may have in addition to Debian.
> 

You can start doing fancy stuff once you can at least get booted one time, I 
would say.

Sure, it’s great to multiboot six OSs once you get the very basics going, but 
too many people are still stuck in Kindergarten when they are thinking “Grad 
school”.

To be honest, I find it much easier to just use a separate drive for other OSs, 
but then I have the luxury of many available drive bays and many available 
drives, and not everyone has that.

Ken

Re: Updated Debian Ports installation images

[Ken Cunningham]

I think that people are used to installing linux on PPC Macs being very 
very very difficult, with many arcane manual steps and many hours needed 
on every walkthru available anywhere on the internet.



So when the steps are:


1. use the right ISO (hard enough to find, but once you have it...)

2. erase the installation disc

3. let the defaults take over and don't try to outsmart the installer


they just can't believe that is all you need to do.


Ken

Re: Updated Debian Ports installation images

[Ken Cunningham]

My suggestion continues to be to delete all your partitions, and let the ISO 
installer install the partitions it wants to install.

It has worked for me every time.

But if you don’t want to do that, and it fails to install for you, then I have 
no further suggestions.

Best,

Ken


> On Mar 25, 2022, at 10:09 PM, Stan Johnson  wrote:
> 
> On 3/25/22 10:12 PM, Ken Cunningham wrote:
>> Completely erase the hard drive, until you have a totally blank disk, with 
>> no partitions whatsoever on it.
>> 
>> To do this, I mounted the HD using Firewire disc mode from another system, 
>> and formatted it until it was bare.
> 
> Erasing the beginning of the disk (including the partition table) with
> something like "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=64k count=100" from
> rescue mode on the installation CD should be sufficient (and not as hard
> on the disk or as time consuming as erasing everything).
> 
>> 
>> Then let the CD installer ISO take care of doing everything. Let it use the 
>> whole disk mode. Don’t try to outsmart it in any way. Don’t use manual 
>> anything.
> 
> I think that's what I did when I let it take over the whole disk. It
> deleted everything, including Apple driver partitions, leaving only four
> partitions -- partition table, Apple_Bootstrap, rootfs and swap (see my
> step 3 below).
> 
>> 
>> Success should follow.
> 
> Not for me on the Pismo.
> 
>> 
>> Ken
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> 
>>> Hello,
>>> 
>>> My installation attempt using CD [2] above on a PowerBook G3 Pismo (500
>>> MHz; 2 GiB memory) failed.
>>> 
>>> 1) I started with a blank 120 GB disk. I partitioned the disk to include
>>> partitions (after the Apple drive partitions) for Apple_Bootstrap
>>> (/dev/sda6; 10 MiB), Mac OS 9 (/dev/sda7; 1 GiB), Mac OS X (/dev/sda8; 7
>>> GiB), Debian rootfs (/dev/sda9; 16 GiB), and swap (/dev/sda10; 2 GiB) --
>>> I left the rest of the disk un-partitioned.
>>> 
>>> 2) The installation CD booted and GRUB worked. I chose a default
>>> installation with manual partitioning, using the partitions I set up in
>>> step 1. Everything worked as expected until GRUB installation, which
>>> failed. The error message was that GRUB failed to install on /dev/sda9
>>> (the rootfs, not the Apple_Bootstrap, partition).
>>> 
>>> 3) In step 2, I thought it might have failed because my Apple_Bootstrap
>>> partition could have been too small, so I tried the installation again,
>>> choosing a default installation using the entire disk with only the
>>> default partitions. The resulting sizes were approximately as follows:
>>> Apple_Bootstrap (/dev/sda2; 256 MB); Debian rootfs (/dev/sda3; ~115
>>> GiB); and swap (/dev/sda4; ~768 MB). So this Apple_Bootstrap was
>>> certainly larger than the one I used in step 1, and I was optimistic
>>> that everything would work. But GRUB installation failed again, with the
>>> error message that "grub-install /dev/sda3" failed. Even if this had
>>> worked, it appears that I would have lost the Apple drivers needed to
>>> boot Mac OS 9.
>>> 
>>> 4) Booting into rescue mode on the installation CD, I was also not able
>>> to install GRUB on the Apple_Bootstrap partition directly (e.g. after
>>> step 3, I tried "grub-install /dev/sda2"). The error message was that
>>> the partition was not a partition of type PReP.
>>> 
>>> Please let me know of anything else that I could try.
>>> 
>>> thanks
>>> 
>>> -Stan Johnson
>>> 
>> 

Re: Updated Debian Ports installation images

[Ken Cunningham]

Completely erase the hard drive, until you have a totally blank disk, with no 
partitions whatsoever on it.

To do this, I mounted the HD using Firewire disc mode from another system, and 
formatted it until it was bare.

Then let the CD installer ISO take care of doing everything. Let it use the 
whole disk mode. Don’t try to outsmart it in any way. Don’t use manual anything.

Success should follow.

Ken



> 
> Hello,
> 
> My installation attempt using CD [2] above on a PowerBook G3 Pismo (500
> MHz; 2 GiB memory) failed.
> 
> 1) I started with a blank 120 GB disk. I partitioned the disk to include
> partitions (after the Apple drive partitions) for Apple_Bootstrap
> (/dev/sda6; 10 MiB), Mac OS 9 (/dev/sda7; 1 GiB), Mac OS X (/dev/sda8; 7
> GiB), Debian rootfs (/dev/sda9; 16 GiB), and swap (/dev/sda10; 2 GiB) --
> I left the rest of the disk un-partitioned.
> 
> 2) The installation CD booted and GRUB worked. I chose a default
> installation with manual partitioning, using the partitions I set up in
> step 1. Everything worked as expected until GRUB installation, which
> failed. The error message was that GRUB failed to install on /dev/sda9
> (the rootfs, not the Apple_Bootstrap, partition).
> 
> 3) In step 2, I thought it might have failed because my Apple_Bootstrap
> partition could have been too small, so I tried the installation again,
> choosing a default installation using the entire disk with only the
> default partitions. The resulting sizes were approximately as follows:
> Apple_Bootstrap (/dev/sda2; 256 MB); Debian rootfs (/dev/sda3; ~115
> GiB); and swap (/dev/sda4; ~768 MB). So this Apple_Bootstrap was
> certainly larger than the one I used in step 1, and I was optimistic
> that everything would work. But GRUB installation failed again, with the
> error message that "grub-install /dev/sda3" failed. Even if this had
> worked, it appears that I would have lost the Apple drivers needed to
> boot Mac OS 9.
> 
> 4) Booting into rescue mode on the installation CD, I was also not able
> to install GRUB on the Apple_Bootstrap partition directly (e.g. after
> step 3, I tried "grub-install /dev/sda2"). The error message was that
> the partition was not a partition of type PReP.
> 
> Please let me know of anything else that I could try.
> 
> thanks
> 
> -Stan Johnson
> 

Re: yaboot installation media

[Ken Cunningham]

A previous blessed ISO (Apr 17 2021) booted my IMac G4 without any troubles.

Then I just let all the defaults have their way with the machine, and wound up 
with a beautiful GRUB-booting system running debian 11 that has been running 
ever since.

So there is no specific “G4” problem with GRUB…. 

Ken

> On Mar 24, 2022, at 6:49 PM, Ben Westover  wrote:
> 
> In case it's useful, here's the exact system I have: 
> https://everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g4/specs/powermac_g4_350.html
> 
> It's running Open Firmware 3.1.1 (1.2f2 BootROM). This is what it came with, 
> and I was unable to find any upgrades online for this particular model.
> 
> --
> Ben Westover

Re: Updated Debian Ports installation images

[Ken Cunningham]

> On Mar 20, 2022, at 9:55 AM, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz 
>  wrote:
> 
> 
> 
>> On Mar 20, 2022, at 5:01 PM, Jeffrey Walton  wrote:
>> 
>> On Sun, Mar 20, 2022 at 11:40 AM Ken Cunningham
>>  wrote:
> 
>> If the webmaster would provide the actual instructions (or the ISO
>> README would provide it), then we could perform an install.
> 
> Haven’t you posted to this list before and used the Debian Ports images in 
> the past or am I confusing you with someone else?
> 
> Anyway, the documentation is outdated when you use the Debian Ports ISO 
> images.
> 
> Adrian


I didn’t write that quoted bit.

My installation is working great.

Ken

Re: Updated Debian Ports installation images

[Ken Cunningham]

Jeff, the debian installation process moved to GRUB a while back.

I still think the monthly install/setup FAQ would be a good plan, by the way.  
There was a flurry of interest for a short while.

Best to all,

Ken




> On Mar 20, 2022, at 6:12 AM, Jeffrey Walton  wrote:
> 
> On Sun, Mar 20, 2022 at 9:07 AM John Paul Adrian Glaubitz
>  wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> On Mar 20, 2022, at 1:53 PM, Jeffrey Walton  wrote:
>>> 
>>> Unfortunately, we still can't boot a PowerMac. Yaboot does load, but
>>> it results in Unknown or corrupt filesystem.
>> 
>> I do not quite understand the connection to Yaboot. The current images use 
>> GRUB, both for booting the installer and the installed system.
>> 
>> Yaboot is unmaintained upstream, so it’s unlikely it will be able to work 
>> with modern ext4 systems in the foreseeable future.
>> 
>> If you insist on using Yaboot, you will have to use ext2 or ext3.
> 
> I don't insist on it. The instructions tell us to use it. The only
> instructions I am aware of is the one where we do 'boot
> cd:,/install/yaboot'.
> 
> If the instructions have changed, can you please tell us where the
> updated instructions are located?
> 
> The README on the ISO has an Installing section, but there are no 
> instructions.
> 
> Jeff
> 

Re: Request for a once-montly PowerPC for Apple Systems FAQ?

[Ken Cunningham]

Perhaps you and Jeff (who expressed interest and has such skills) might work 
together on it?

Although there are lots of this and that’s about it, in the end, it would help 
a lot of people get going with less trouble.

Best, 
K


> On Feb 1, 2022, at 3:44 PM, Riccardo Mottola  
> wrote:
> 
> Hi Ken,
> 
> 
> Ken Cunningham wrote:
>> 
>> All your excellent work deserves to be used! So make it easier for
>> people, is all I'm about here. 
> 
> I understand where you are. I have long experience with PPC and Linux
> and yet an install was not easy, depending on the flux of packages
> 
> We could start with something very simple, a single email with most
> annotations. Some stuff should change rarely: grub, partitioning main
> net cards. And, of course the "current best working ISOs" for 32bit and
> 64bit.
> 
> We shall write it, not Adrian, who, at most, can comment/fix it
> 
> Riccardo
> 

Re: Request for a once-montly PowerPC for Apple Systems FAQ?

[Ken Cunningham]

On 2022-02-01 01:30, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz wrote:

Hello Ken!

On 1/31/22 17:09, Ken Cunningham wrote:

But most people have no idea even what boot iso to use, it seems, from the 
1,200 questions
over and over and over about it on the Linux on PowerPC Macs facebook group 
(and the 1,199
wrong answers :> ).

As I explained in [1], there is a reason why I am currently not yet producing 
working images
every time. Getting all the necessary bits and pieces into place requires lots 
of efforts due
to the amount of necessary quality assurance.

I know that it's a frustrating situation, but configuring the bootloader on 
Apple PowerMacs is
unfortunately much more complicated than on computers with UEFI or U-Boot, for 
example.

Adrian


[1] https://lists.debian.org/debian-powerpc/2021/12/msg00032.html


Indeed. I'm certainly familiar with all that, but I can tell you a great 
many are not.


This would be exactly the reason for the FAQ (or similar).

The Facebook users (mostly) had no idea this mailing list existed, until 
I started sending everyone here.  But even then, someone coming here 
will not easily see that that they need to find a special iso to install 
debian on PowerPC Macs, or which one it is.


All your excellent work deserves to be used! So make it easier for 
people, is all I'm about here.


Ken

Re: Request for a once-montly PowerPC for Apple Systems FAQ?

[Ken Cunningham]

You'd be perfect, Jeff, if you have the inclination.


Thing is, you could write it, Adrian could do a few technical 
corrections when he has time if he sees something glaring go past, and 
we would all see it go by once a month and could chime in with tweaks we 
discovered, if useful.



I suspect we'd all learn something in the process.

Ken


On 2022-01-31 08:16, Jeffrey Walton wrote:

On Mon, Jan 31, 2022 at 11:09 AM Ken Cunningham
 wrote:

Thanks.

I’m in great shape, everything running fairly well on my machines.

But most people have no idea even what boot iso to use, it seems, from the 1,200 
questions over and over and over about it on the Linux on PowerPC Macs facebook 
group (and the 1,199 wrong answers :> ).

Perhaps someone with writing skills and interest might be interested, in time.

I'd be happy to help with writing. I enjoy writing docs for some reason.

I think the problem is, Debian does not have a good strategy for
dissemination of long term information for PowerPC. They have a wiki
but there's little information about PowerPC. Instead, Debian places
the long term information on static web pages that are woefully out of
date. No one can edit the web pages except Debian admins, and they
don't do it. (I tried to get them to update it a couple of years ago.
It went nowhere).

A FAQ might be a good first step to triage the problem.

But as Adrian points out, the people with the access and the knowledge
don't have time to tend to it. That problem begs a crowd source
solution like a wiki. But then we are back to the problem of using
static web pages instead of a wiki.

Information management is hard.

Jeff

Re: Request for a once-montly PowerPC for Apple Systems FAQ?

[Ken Cunningham]

Thanks. 

I’m in great shape, everything running fairly well on my machines.

But most people have no idea even what boot iso to use, it seems, from the 
1,200 questions over and over and over about it on the Linux on PowerPC Macs 
facebook group (and the 1,199 wrong answers :> ).

Perhaps someone with writing skills and interest might be interested, in time.

Best to all,

Ken



> On Jan 31, 2022, at 1:19 AM, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz 
>  wrote:
> 
> Hi Ken!
> 
> On 1/30/22 22:29, Ken Cunningham wrote:
>> I am noticing there is a tremendous amount of misinformation and outright 
>> confusion floating
>> around about installing debian (current) on PowerPC Apple systems. Current 
>> walkthroughs are
>> telling people what seems to me to be the completely wrong way to go about 
>> things. Older
>> debian and other walkthroughs are no longer valid. People are following 
>> recipes from 2,
>> 3, or 8 years ago, adding all the wrong apt sources and installing software 
>> from all over
>> the place, thinking they are following the current recommendations, which it 
>> seems to me,
>> they are not.
> 
> Since writing documentation involves quite some work, I can't currently do 
> that. So, if anyone
> wants to help, let me know. But also keep in mind that there are still some 
> issues left to
> be fixed in the installation system on Apple PowerMac.
> 
> I have explained a bit on the background here:
> 
>> https://lists.debian.org/debian-powerpc/2021/12/msg00032.html
> 
>> Other distros are dropping PowerPC Apple systems, and people are looking for 
>> direction.
>> 
>> Given that this list is the defacto standard for the source of such info, I 
>> wonder if
>> someone might agree to maintain a once-monthly “This is how…” FAQ or similar.
> 
> Well, it always involves time and effort, there is no free lunch :-).
> 
>> 1. which exact iso is the current recommended install iso for Apple PowerPC 
>> machines
> 
> You can search the mailing list to find the images where people reported that 
> they work.
> 
>> 2. whether to use 64bit on G5s or not
> 
> I'm not sure why this is a question? The ppc64 port is in very good shape and 
> runs perfectly
> find on the PowerMac G5. I don't see any reason not to use it.
> 
>> 3. what is the current recommended setup for apt sources
> 
> # binary default
> deb http://ftp.ports.debian.org/debian-ports/ unstable main
> deb http://incoming.ports.debian.org/buildd/ unstable main
> deb http://ftp.ports.debian.org/debian-ports/ unreleased main
> 
> # source
> deb-src http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ unstable main
> deb-src http://incoming.debian.org/debian-buildd/ buildd-unstable main
> 
> 
>> 4. how to get the common video cards working
> 
> That depends on your video card.
> 
>> 5. how to get the b43 wifi working
> 
> You have to use the b43-fwcutter tool.
> 
>> 6. how to get the sound working
> 
> Depends on your hardware. Sound works out of the box on my iBook G4.
> 
>> Ideally something really brief, and recipe-like, for many new users to 
>> follow. All
>> this info is out there, but in different places and not easy to cull into 
>> one spot.
> 
> Well, the driver-related questions are not specific to PowerMacs. For 
> example, if you
> use an ATI/AMD video card, you need the firmware on both x86 and PowerPC 
> machines and
> you install them the same way.
> 
>> This might solve a great number of questions out there, and bring in happy 
>> new users!
> 
> But it means time and effort that needs to be spent. Especially, since 
> several of these
> questions are not specific to PowerPC.
> 
> Adrian
> 
> -- 
> .''`.  John Paul Adrian Glaubitz
> : :' :  Debian Developer - glaub...@debian.org
> `. `'   Freie Universitaet Berlin - glaub...@physik.fu-berlin.de
>  `-GPG: 62FF 8A75 84E0 2956 9546  0006 7426 3B37 F5B5 F913
> 

Request for a once-montly PowerPC for Apple Systems FAQ?

[Ken Cunningham]

I am noticing there is a tremendous amount of misinformation and outright 
confusion floating around about installing debian (current) on PowerPC Apple 
systems. Current walkthroughs are telling people what seems to me to be the 
completely wrong way to go about things. Older debian and other walkthroughs 
are no longer valid. People are following recipes from 2, 3, or 8 years ago, 
adding all the wrong apt sources and installing software from all over the 
place, thinking they are following the current recommendations, which it seems 
to me, they are not.

Other distros are dropping PowerPC Apple systems, and people are looking for 
direction.

Given that this list is the defacto standard for the source of such info, I 
wonder if someone might agree to maintain a once-monthly “This is how…” FAQ or 
similar.

Even just:

1. which exact iso is the current recommended install iso for Apple PowerPC 
machines
2. whether to use 64bit on G5s or not
3. what is the current recommended setup for apt sources
4. how to get the common video cards working
5. how to get the b43 wifi working
6. how to get the sound working

Ideally something really brief, and recipe-like, for many new users to follow. 
All this info is out there, but in different places and not easy to cull into 
one spot.

This might solve a great number of questions out there, and bring in happy new 
users!

If anyone is interested, of course, in spearheading such a document.

Best,

Ken

lazarus-ide odd library error: PPC64_ADDR16_HI reloc at 0x0000000010303aea for symbol `gtk_marshal_VOID__POINTER_POINTER' out of range

[Ken Cunningham]

I'm hoping for some ideas from those who have been around a while.

I use lazarus sometimes, and I installed it on powerpc-32bit debian 11, and
saw this error:

startlazarus: error while loading shared libraries: R_PPC64_ADDR16_HI reloc
at 0x10303aea for symbol `gtk_marshal_VOID__POINTER_POINTER' out of
range

I rebuilt lazarus from source on that 32bit powerpc system, and it works
fine now, that error is not seen.

I installed lazarus on a PowerMac G5 running 64bit debian 11 and saw the
same error. However, rebuilding it did not fix it this time. I am not sure
what that error means, but I found a few references to similar issues in
other software here:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1812805
and here:
https://github.com/golang/go/issues/18044

and they suggested this:

LD_DEBUG=all startlazarus

which leads to the same error with more detail:

 1883:binding file /lib/powerpc64-linux-gnu/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0 [0]
to /lib/powerpc64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 [0]: normal symbol `__cxa_finalize'
[GLIBC_2.3]
  1883:
  1883:relocation processing: startlazarus
  1883:symbol=gtk_marshal_VOID__POINTER_POINTER;  lookup in
file=startlazarus [0]
  1883:symbol=gtk_marshal_VOID__POINTER_POINTER;  lookup in
file=/lib/powerpc64-linux-gnu/libdl.so.2 [0]
  1883:symbol=gtk_marshal_VOID__POINTER_POINTER;  lookup in
file=/lib/powerpc64-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0 [0]
  1883:symbol=gtk_marshal_VOID__POINTER_POINTER;  lookup in
file=/lib/powerpc64-linux-gnu/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0 [0]
  1883:symbol=gtk_marshal_VOID__POINTER_POINTER;  lookup in
file=/lib/powerpc64-linux-gnu/libX11.so.6 [0]
  1883:symbol=gtk_marshal_VOID__POINTER_POINTER;  lookup in
file=/lib/powerpc64-linux-gnu/libgdk_pixbuf-2.0.so.0 [0]
  1883:symbol=gtk_marshal_VOID__POINTER_POINTER;  lookup in
file=/lib/powerpc64-linux-gnu/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0 [0]
  1883:binding file startlazarus [0] to
/lib/powerpc64-linux-gnu/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0 [0]: normal symbol
`gtk_marshal_VOID__POINTER_POINTER'
startlazarus: error while loading shared libraries: R_PPC64_ADDR16_HI reloc
at 0x10303aea for symbol `gtk_marshal_VOID__POINTER_POINTER' out of
range


so -- is this a linker error from the toolchain, as one of those links
suggested? Or rather something specific to lazarus, and the bug report
belongs there? (if lazarus, unusual that rebuilding fixed it on 32bit). Or
is it a 64 bit thing, rarely seen?

I'm not 100% sure where to open a bug report just yet.

The lazarus file containing the error seems to be this one:

https://fossies.org/linux/lazarus/lcl/interfaces/gtk2/gtk2winapiwindow.pp

and specifically here:
  145 
  146 // TEMP solution until gtkmarshal.inc is implemented
  147 //  to get this compiled
  148


  149 procedure gtk_marshal_VOID__POINTER_POINTER (closure: PGClosure;
  150  return_value: PGValue;
  151  n_param_values: guint;
  152  param_values: PGValue;
  153  invocation_hint:
gpointer;
  154  marshal_data: gpointer);
cdecl; external gtklib;


Thanks for your interest.

Ken

Re: efficient use of http://snapshot.debian.org/ ?

[Ken Cunningham]

One useful tool to access older prebuilt binaries is debsnap. It will 
download recent builds of a given package in a given arch from 
snapshot.debian.org, for example:


debsnap --binary -a ppc64 libavcodec58

It looks like it downloads the most recent build it can find first, and 
then AFAICT, it will just keep on going until it runs out of binaries to 
download. I usually Control-C it after one or two binaries have been 
downloaded. That is more efficient than what I have been doing so far at 
least.


Another useful tool for managing the snapshot.debian.org archives 
appears to be metasnap. According to this:


https://lists.debian.org/debian-snapshot/2021/01/msg2.html

You can post up a buildinfo file to metasnap and it will give you a 
distilled list of archive snapshots that you add to sources.list to 
fulfill the package's needs.


However, when I tried it, I could not as yet get it to work properly... 
I'll report back if I sort out how to make that work.



Ken


On 2021-11-13 15:37, Ken Cunningham wrote:
When trying to install packages for both the 32bit and 64bit powerpc 
version of debian sid, it is pretty common to find a situation where 
the package can't be installed due to a missing supporting library.


The latest examples I came across were installing vlc, ffmpeg, 
firefox, and thunderbird, all of which installed but all of which had 
several libraries that couldn't be automatically resolved and required 
manual intervention.


Adrian already put up an explanation for why this happens.

https://lists.debian.org/debian-sparc/2017/12/msg00060.html

To work around this, I have been going to the snapshot.debian.org 
<http://snapshot.debian.org> web page, and entering the name of the 
library package that is needed in the appropriate search box. That 
brings up a list of recent snapshots, and browsing that list has (in 
most cases) led me to the last ppc or ppc64 version available. I 
download the deb and install it manually with "dpkg -i ./my_deb.deb" 
and move on to the next one, until they are all satisfied, and then 
the package I want installs.


So far this works, but it's somewhat tedious. There are instructions 
on the snapshot.debian.org <http://snapshot.debian.org> web page for 
adding snapshots to the sources.list , with an over-ride so they are 
not considered expired, but I'm not clear on how that would work 
exactly. There are dozens and dozens (hundreds, really) of snapshots. 
Would one add a snapshot from say a year ago, and ride with that? Or 
add multiple snapshots? The logic of how those get used in 
sources.list is not clear to me.


What I'm hoping for is that apt will find and use the latest snapshot 
version of the needed library on it's own, if that is at all possible, 
without my "manual" method being needed.


Thanks, anyone who knows how this is supposed to work.

Ken

efficient use of http://snapshot.debian.org/ ?

[Ken Cunningham]

When trying to install packages for both the 32bit and 64bit powerpc
version of debian sid, it is pretty common to find a situation where the
package can't be installed due to a missing supporting library.

The latest examples I came across were installing vlc, ffmpeg, firefox, and
thunderbird, all of which installed but all of which had several libraries
that couldn't be automatically resolved and required manual intervention.

Adrian already put up an explanation for why this happens.

https://lists.debian.org/debian-sparc/2017/12/msg00060.html

To work around this, I have been going to the snapshot.debian.org web page,
and entering the name of the library package that is needed in the
appropriate search box. That brings up a list of recent snapshots, and
browsing that list has (in most cases) led me to the last ppc or ppc64
version available. I download the deb and install it manually with "dpkg -i
./my_deb.deb" and move on to the next one, until they are all satisfied,
and then the package I want installs.

So far this works, but it's somewhat tedious. There are instructions on the
snapshot.debian.org web page for adding snapshots to the sources.list ,
with an over-ride so they are not considered expired, but I'm not clear on
how that would work exactly. There are dozens and dozens (hundreds, really)
of snapshots. Would one add a snapshot from say a year ago, and ride with
that? Or add multiple snapshots? The logic of how those get used in
sources.list is not clear to me.

What I'm hoping for is that apt will find and use the latest snapshot
version of the needed library on it's own, if that is at all possible,
without my "manual" method being needed.

Thanks, anyone who knows how this is supposed to work.

Ken

PowerMac7,3 DualG5 - simple recipe to get Apple on-board sound working

[Ken Cunningham]

I thought I would share that I got the Apple on-board sound working correctly 
on this system after some moderate futzing around, with these settings, and no 
additional parts needed:

$ cat /etc/modules
# /etc/modules: kernel modules to load at boot time.
#
# This file contains the names of kernel modules that should be loaded
# at boot time, one per line. Lines beginning with "#" are ignored.

snd-aoa
snd_aoa_soundbus
snd_aoa_i2sbus
snd-aoa-fabric-layout
snd_aoa_codec_tas



——


With that, and some time in alsamixer and lxde’s “Volume Control” to make sure 
things were at appropriate volume levels and not muted, it all works great, and 
Norah Jones sounds just as great as always, coming out the speakers on the G5.

So that is pretty much 100% of everything now on that Dual G5 running debian 11 
and all parts up to date.

Really really working good. I have installed a bunch of different desktop 
managers to try them out. For me, lxde remains the smoothest to use. xfce has 
stuttery menus when I use them, and mate works but is a bit sluggish compared 
to lxde.

Luckily it is so easy to switch between them that trying out various ones is no 
problem.

I have another G5, a Pismo, and a Dual G4 MDD to work on next. Goodness knows 
how much an SSD would help these out — made a huge difference to my MacBook 
2,1, so perhaps that will be down the road next.

Thanks Adrian and all for all your work. This works very nicely!

Ken

Re: PowerMac7,3 DualG5 with [AMD/ATI] RV360 [Radeon 9600/X1050 Series] GPU not loading firmware...

[Ken Cunningham]

> On Nov 6, 2021, at 9:53 AM, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz 
>  wrote:
> 
> Not sure why that didn't work for you, it always worked fine for me when I 
> tested it.

I suspect I know what might have happened.

When I first installed debian 64b from the 2021-04-17 image onto the DualG5, it 
would not boot after installation… got just past grub and died with a black 
screen and no ssh login available.

I used rescue mode from the CD to mount the root filesystem on the drive, and 
noticed in the syslog there were many errors relating to libffi8 symbols (as we 
know), so I manually built and installed libffi8 on the DualG5 using rescue 
mode from the CD. After that, it would boot.

During that process I also (for the first time) installed the various firmware 
packages. So likely something that was supposed to run did not (locked /boot 
from the CD I suspect).

If I had much experience at all with troubleshooting debian boots I would have 
known what to do — I will for next time (at least for that issue :> ).

BTW I also noticed that an Apple monitor attached to the Apple Display 
Connector on that ATI 9600 card would not bring up an image when X came up — 
just went black screen. Changing to a DVI monitor attached to the other 
connector on the card did work.

I have not retested that Apple monitor as yet -- now that the AMD firmware is 
actually working it might work now.

Best,

Ken

Re: libffi illegal instruction - again

[Ken Cunningham]

Thank you for the hint! — that work just perfectly.

Best,

Ken

> On Nov 3, 2021, at 11:01 AM, Cameron MacPherson 
>  wrote:
> 
> you have to add the following to your /etc/apt/sources.list to get the 
> experimental packages
> 
> deb http://ftp.ports.debian.org/debian-ports/ 
> <http://ftp.ports.debian.org/debian-ports/> experimental main
> 
> see here
> https://wiki.debian.org/DebianExperimental 
> <https://wiki.debian.org/DebianExperimental>
> 
> 
> On Wed, Nov 3, 2021, 10:42 AM Ken Cunningham  <mailto:ken.cunningham.web...@gmail.com>> wrote:
> It appears that when building portable code, the ax_gcc_archflag.m4 macro 
> clears -mcpu for almost every arch except powerpc:
> 
> https://github.com/libffi/libffi/blob/master/m4/ax_gcc_archflag.m4#L241 
> <https://github.com/libffi/libffi/blob/master/m4/ax_gcc_archflag.m4#L241>
> 
>   case $host_cpu in i*86|x86_64*|amd64*) flag_prefixes="$flag_prefixes -mcpu= 
> -m";; esac
> 
> 
> 
> The fact that PowerPC is excluded must result in m4 passing the “-mcpu=“ flag 
> matching the buildbot’s CPU, and breaks everything older than the buildbot.
> 
> This must happen with any build that uses this ax_gcc_archflag.m4 macro.
> 
> I wonder why powerpc* is excluded? Seems like this line should rather be:
> 
>   case $host_cpu in i*86|x86_64*|powerpc*|amd64*) 
> flag_prefixes="$flag_prefixes -mcpu= -m";; esac
> 
> 
> Ken
> 
> PS. Although I did not as yet sort out getting the “experimental” packages (I 
> keep getting an error when I try to use that option), building libffi in a 
> couple of minutes on the local machine and installing that of course works 
> easily. — K
> 
> 
> > On Nov 2, 2021, at 2:01 PM, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz 
> > mailto:glaub...@physik.fu-berlin.de>> wrote:
> > 
> > On 11/2/21 21:59, Cameron MacPherson wrote:
> >> i got the 3.4.2-3+ports package after apt upgrade -t experimental and there
> >> are no illegal instructions
> > 
> > As I expected. The build log didn't have any traces of "-mcpu=power8".
> > 
> > Adrian
> > 
> > -- 
> > .''`.  John Paul Adrian Glaubitz
> > : :' :  Debian Developer - glaub...@debian.org <mailto:glaub...@debian.org>
> > `. `'   Freie Universitaet Berlin - glaub...@physik.fu-berlin.de 
> > <mailto:glaub...@physik.fu-berlin.de>
> >  `-GPG: 62FF 8A75 84E0 2956 9546  0006 7426 3B37 F5B5 F913
> > 
> 

Re: PowerMac7,3 DualG5 with [AMD/ATI] RV360 [Radeon 9600/X1050 Series] GPU not loading firmware...

[Ken Cunningham]

Thank you for the clue! My knowledge of the inner workings of debian is nascent 
but growing.

With that clue, I noticed that after installing the firmware packages a new 
initrd.img was automatically helpfully generated, and the new image does 
contain the needed firmware as you point out.

old:

:/boot$ lsinitramfs initrd.img-5.14.0-3-powerpc64 | grep R300*
:/boot$ 

new:

:/boot$ lsinitramfs initrd.img-5.14.0-4-powerpc64 | grep R300*
usr/lib/firmware/radeon/R300_cp.bin


However, updating the grub.cfg to actually use it is a manual step that I 
didn’t know about/realize I would need to do, so after doing that:

sudo /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

The system now boots from the new, proper, image and all is well, the radeon 
driver is found and used:

$ sudo dmesg | grep radeon
[3.106881] [drm] radeon kernel modesetting enabled.
[3.107020] fb0: switching to radeondrmfb from OFfb ATY,Whelk_
[3.107675] fb1: switching to radeondrmfb from OFfb ATY,Whelk_
[3.107901] radeon :f0:10.0: vgaarb: deactivate vga console
[3.108119] radeon :f0:10.0: enabling device (0006 -> 0007)
[3.108738] radeon :f0:10.0: Invalid PCI ROM header signature: expecting 
0xaa55, got 0x
[3.196056] radeon :f0:10.0: VRAM: 256M 0xA000 - 
0xAFFF (128M used)
[3.196065] radeon :f0:10.0: GTT: 512M 0x8000 - 
0x9FFF
[3.196151] radeon :f0:10.0: dma_iommu_get_required_mask: returning 
bypass mask 0x1
[3.196351] [drm] radeon: 128M of VRAM memory ready
[3.196358] [drm] radeon: 512M of GTT memory ready.
[3.198547] [drm] radeon: 1 quad pipes, 1 Z pipes initialized
[3.198710] radeon :f0:10.0: WB enabled
[3.198724] radeon :f0:10.0: fence driver on ring 0 use gpu addr 
0x8000
[3.199225] [drm] radeon: irq initialized.
[3.199414] radeon :f0:10.0: firmware: direct-loading firmware 
radeon/R300_cp.bin
[3.200789] [drm] radeon: ring at 0x8001
[3.366523] radeon :f0:10.0: [drm] fb0: radeon frame buffer device
[3.378931] [drm] Initialized radeon 2.50.0 20080528 for :f0:10.0 on 
minor 0


Thanks!

My apologies that people coming into this mailing list are probably often like 
me, perhaps not deeply versed in debian/linux as yet, and finding themselves 
having to do a bit more than is needed compared to just booting Ubuntu onto an 
Intel system (which I have four of at present, for the past several years, and 
had to do almost nothing to get them to work).

Your patience is much appreciated!

That is now two PowerPC systems converted to debian, one 32bit, and this one 
64bit.

I have several more to go!

Best,

Ken


> On Nov 6, 2021, at 1:31 AM, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz 
>  wrote:
> 
> Hello Ken!
> 
> On 11/6/21 01:47, Ken Cunningham wrote:
>> $ ls -la /lib/firmware/radeon/R3*
>> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2048 Aug 24 08:46 /lib/firmware/radeon/R300_cp.bin
>> 
>> (...)
>> [2.627772] radeon :f0:10.0: firmware: failed to load
>> radeon/R300_cp.bin (-2)
>> [2.627802] radeon :f0:10.0: Direct firmware load for
>> radeon/R300_cp.bin failed with error -2
>> [2.627810] [drm:.r100_cp_init [radeon]] *ERROR* Failed to load firmware!
>> [2.628128] radeon :f0:10.0: failed initializing CP (-2).
>> [2.628145] radeon :f0:10.0: Disabling GPU acceleration
>> [2.628158] [drm] radeon: cp finalized
>> [2.794433] radeon :f0:10.0: [drm] fb0: radeon frame buffer device
>> [2.810380] [drm] Initialized radeon 2.50.0 20080528 for :f0:10.0 on
>> minor 0
> 
> Error 2 means that the file could not be found. Did you make sure that the 
> firmware
> is actually part of your initramfs image? Looking at the timestamp, just 2.62 
> seconds
> after the start of the kernel is too early for the hard drive to be available 
> yet.
> 
> Try using the lsinitramfs command to check whether your initramfs actually 
> contains
> the firmware. I don't remember exactly, but there might be a switch for 
> initramfs-tools
> to control which firmware to include.
> 
> Adrian
> 
> -- 
> .''`.  John Paul Adrian Glaubitz
> : :' :  Debian Developer - glaub...@debian.org
> `. `'   Freie Universitaet Berlin - glaub...@physik.fu-berlin.de
>  `-GPG: 62FF 8A75 84E0 2956 9546  0006 7426 3B37 F5B5 F913
> 

Re: PowerMac7,3 DualG5 with [AMD/ATI] RV360 [Radeon 9600/X1050 Series] GPU not loading firmware...

[Ken Cunningham]

I suspect I might have to create a new kernel with this firmware embedded in it?

https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/loading-firmware-into-kernel-at-boot-4175495624/

PowerMac7,3 DualG5 with [AMD/ATI] RV360 [Radeon 9600/X1050 Series] GPU not loading firmware...

[Ken Cunningham]

Wondering if there are any ideas on how to approach the mystery of the
R300_cp.bin firmware that will not load:

[2.627772] radeon :f0:10.0: firmware: failed to load
radeon/R300_cp.bin (-2)
[2.627802] radeon :f0:10.0: Direct firmware load for
radeon/R300_cp.bin failed with error -2
[2.627810] [drm:.r100_cp_init [radeon]] *ERROR* Failed to load firmware!
[2.628128] radeon :f0:10.0: failed initializing CP (-2).


I recently set up this DualG5 with Debian 11 Sid.

/$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor: 0
cpu: PPC970FX, altivec supported
clock: 2000.00MHz
revision: 3.0 (pvr 003c 0300)

processor: 1
cpu: PPC970FX, altivec supported
clock: 2000.00MHz
revision: 3.0 (pvr 003c 0300)

timebase: 
platform: PowerMac
model: PowerMac7,3
machine: PowerMac7,3
motherboard: PowerMac7,3 MacRISC4 Power Macintosh
detected as: 336 (PowerMac G5)
pmac flags: 
L2 cache: 512K unified
pmac-generation: NewWorld

---

/$ lspci
:f0:0b.0 Host bridge: Apple Inc. U3H AGP Bridge
:f0:10.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
[AMD/ATI] RV360 [Radeon 9600/X1050 Series]
0001:00:00.0 Host bridge: Apple Inc. U3 HT Bridge
0001:00:01.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] AMD-8131 PCI-X
Bridge (rev 12)
0001:00:02.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] AMD-8131 PCI-X
Bridge (rev 12)
0001:00:03.0 PCI bridge: Apple Inc. K2 HT-PCI Bridge
0001:00:04.0 PCI bridge: Apple Inc. K2 HT-PCI Bridge
0001:00:05.0 PCI bridge: Apple Inc. K2 HT-PCI Bridge
0001:00:06.0 PCI bridge: Apple Inc. K2 HT-PCI Bridge
0001:00:07.0 PCI bridge: Apple Inc. K2 HT-PCI Bridge
0001:01:07.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Apple Inc. K2 KeyLargo Mac/IO (rev 60)
0001:01:08.0 USB controller: Apple Inc. K2 KeyLargo USB
0001:01:09.0 USB controller: Apple Inc. K2 KeyLargo USB
0001:02:0b.0 USB controller: NEC Corporation OHCI USB Controller (rev 43)
0001:02:0b.1 USB controller: NEC Corporation OHCI USB Controller (rev 43)
0001:02:0b.2 USB controller: NEC Corporation uPD72010x USB 2.0 Controller
(rev 04)
0001:03:0d.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Apple Inc. K2 ATA/100
0001:03:0e.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Apple Inc. K2 FireWire
0001:04:0f.0 Ethernet controller: Apple Inc. K2 GMAC (Sun GEM)
0001:05:0c.0 IDE interface: Broadcom K2 SATA

---

I have installed the correct firmware packages I believe:

$ apt list | grep installed | grep firmware

WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in
scripts.

firmware-amd-graphics/unstable,now 20210818-1 all [installed]
firmware-linux-free/unstable,now 20200122-1 all [installed,automatic]
firmware-linux-nonfree/unstable,now 20210818-1 all [installed]
firmware-misc-nonfree/unstable,now 20210818-1 all [installed,automatic]

---


and the firmware seems to be there:

$ ls -la /lib/firmware/radeon/R3*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2048 Aug 24 08:46 /lib/firmware/radeon/R300_cp.bin

---

and yet I see this:

$ sudo dmesg | grep radeon
[2.532448] [drm] radeon kernel modesetting enabled.
[2.532582] fb0: switching to radeondrmfb from OFfb ATY,Whelk_
[2.533770] fb1: switching to radeondrmfb from OFfb ATY,Whelk_
[2.534038] radeon :f0:10.0: vgaarb: deactivate vga console
[2.534814] radeon :f0:10.0: enabling device (0006 -> 0007)
[2.536513] radeon :f0:10.0: Invalid PCI ROM header signature:
expecting 0xaa55, got 0x
[2.624118] radeon :f0:10.0: VRAM: 256M 0xA000 -
0xAFFF (128M used)
[2.624128] radeon :f0:10.0: GTT: 512M 0x8000 -
0x9FFF
[2.624213] radeon :f0:10.0: dma_iommu_get_required_mask: returning
bypass mask 0x1
[2.624413] [drm] radeon: 128M of VRAM memory ready
[2.624419] [drm] radeon: 512M of GTT memory ready.
[2.627065] [drm] radeon: 1 quad pipes, 1 Z pipes initialized
[2.627199] radeon :f0:10.0: WB enabled
[2.627210] radeon :f0:10.0: fence driver on ring 0 use gpu addr
0x8000
[2.627644] [drm] radeon: irq initialized.
[2.627772] radeon :f0:10.0: firmware: failed to load
radeon/R300_cp.bin (-2)
[2.627802] radeon :f0:10.0: Direct firmware load for
radeon/R300_cp.bin failed with error -2
[2.627810] [drm:.r100_cp_init [radeon]] *ERROR* Failed to load firmware!
[2.628128] radeon :f0:10.0: failed initializing CP (-2).
[2.628145] radeon :f0:10.0: Disabling GPU acceleration
[2.628158] [drm] radeon: cp finalized
[2.794433] radeon :f0:10.0: [drm] fb0: radeon frame buffer device
[2.810380] [drm] Initialized radeon 2.50.0 20080528 for :f0:10.0 on
minor 0

I tried forcing a reinstall of: firmware-amd-graphics

but that seems to have made no difference.

thanks to all!

Ken

Re: libffi illegal instruction - again

[Ken Cunningham]

It appears that when building portable code, the ax_gcc_archflag.m4 macro 
clears -mcpu for almost every arch except powerpc:

https://github.com/libffi/libffi/blob/master/m4/ax_gcc_archflag.m4#L241

  case $host_cpu in i*86|x86_64*|amd64*) flag_prefixes="$flag_prefixes -mcpu= 
-m";; esac



The fact that PowerPC is excluded must result in m4 passing the “-mcpu=“ flag 
matching the buildbot’s CPU, and breaks everything older than the buildbot.

This must happen with any build that uses this ax_gcc_archflag.m4 macro.

I wonder why powerpc* is excluded? Seems like this line should rather be:

  case $host_cpu in i*86|x86_64*|powerpc*|amd64*) flag_prefixes="$flag_prefixes 
-mcpu= -m";; esac


Ken

PS. Although I did not as yet sort out getting the “experimental” packages (I 
keep getting an error when I try to use that option), building libffi in a 
couple of minutes on the local machine and installing that of course works 
easily. — K


> On Nov 2, 2021, at 2:01 PM, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz 
>  wrote:
> 
> On 11/2/21 21:59, Cameron MacPherson wrote:
>> i got the 3.4.2-3+ports package after apt upgrade -t experimental and there
>> are no illegal instructions
> 
> As I expected. The build log didn't have any traces of "-mcpu=power8".
> 
> Adrian
> 
> -- 
> .''`.  John Paul Adrian Glaubitz
> : :' :  Debian Developer - glaub...@debian.org
> `. `'   Freie Universitaet Berlin - glaub...@physik.fu-berlin.de
>  `-GPG: 62FF 8A75 84E0 2956 9546  0006 7426 3B37 F5B5 F913
> 

success on a PowerPC iMac 6,1

[Ken Cunningham]

Hello,

I thought I would mention a successful debian install on a PowerPC iMac 6,1:

$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor   : 0
cpu : 7455, altivec supported
clock   : 999.97MHz
revision: 3.3 (pvr 8001 0303)
bogomips: 66.56

timebase: 33280357
platform: PowerMac
model   : PowerMac6,1
machine : PowerMac6,1
motherboard : PowerMac6,1 MacRISC3 Power Macintosh
detected as : 287 (Flat panel iMac)
pmac flags  : 0010
L2 cache: 256K unified
pmac-generation : NewWorld
Memory  : 768 MB

I used the cd from 

https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/snapshots/2021-04-17/ 


as the more recent CD I tried did not work, as per this message I found later:

 >

following that the installation went smoothly through, looking much like the 
screen capture images here in this walkthough:

>

I chose the “entire disc” installation method to keep things simpler, and I 
chose the LXDE desktop, as on a previous attempt using the default choice of 
the Xfce desktop there was an error.

It is quite neat to see this system able to run current versions of rust, ghc, 
llivm/clang-13, gcc-11.2, etc.

thanks to all for all your efforts.

I have four more Apple PPC machines to work on next over the coming few weeks. 
The next efforts will be a couple of Dual-G5s I have nearby.

Best,

Ken