Bug#394971: This bugs affects the official powerpc port as well.

[Charles Plessy <charles-debian-nospam@plessy.org>]

retitle 394971 [powerpc] [powerpc64] load the fan control modules.
thanks

Dear D-I team,

This bug not only affects the unofficial powerpc64 port, but also and
more importantly the official powerpc port, on iMac G5 hardware.

I reported the problem for the first time in the following installation
report:
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=340980

I confirmed that it is not fixed in RC1:
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=399334

It was figured out in the following report that the module
windfarm_cpufreq_clamp had to be loaded before the windfarm_pm81 in
order to start fan control:
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=397942

I would like to stress out that once the fans start at full speed, it is
not posible to stop them, as it is a low-level hardware preservation
system triggered when the CPU reachs a defined temperature. Therefore,
depending on the room temperature, the user will not have the opportunity
to load the module by hand before the fans start.

If it is not possible to integrate fan support to the installer, I would
like to suggest the following addition to the installer errata:

* Fan control is not supported during the installation on iMacs G5. You
  can safely run the installer with the fans at full speed. Please add
  windfarm_cpufreq_clamp and the relevant windfarm module to
  /etc/modules before rebooting, in order to have fan control on your
  newly installed Debian.

Have a nice day,

-- 
Charles Plessy
http://charles.plessy.org
Wako, Saitama, Japan