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Re: Debian 8.0 PPC not working on Pegasos II G4



Hi there,

When I was installing Wheezy on my Pegasos II around 2013, I ran into the
following issues:

- the RDB partitioning didn't work (the disk I was trying to install on
had RDB already), and made the installer to crash and burn in various
ways. I changed my HDD setup to MBR, then it worked. (Note that if you
*upgrade* and don't reinstall, the already installed system will still
work from RDB.)

- The mainboard's Marvell Gigabit Ethernet didn't work. The problem was
that in the mainline kernel some custom PHY support code got enabled in
the mv643xx_eth driver by default, which didn't work at all with my
Pegasos II. It had to be disabled and forced back to generic PHY support
via a module argument during load. (Note that you probably still need
very-latest SmartFirmware for the GBit Eth to work properly, but I have
it, so it works for me.) If I remember correctly, I had to blacklist the
marvell module (this is about Marvell PHYs) in /etc/modprobe.d

- I had serious stability issues with the VIA Ethernet controller, so I
avoid using it. I'm using a PCI Marvell Gigabit ethernet card instead, so
this issue remains unsolved. This was also the case before Wheezy, if I'm
correct, but this was too long ago already...

- The video acceleration and Radeon support was entirely gone. I managed
to fix this via some magic kernel arguments I got in answers from this
list. I also had to force the Radeon into PCI mode with some XOrg config,
of course, but that's "known" trick for the Pegasos II since forever.

I have two Pegasos IIs , so I'm planning to try Jessie on the "other one",
which normally runs MorphOS, to see if I get stuff working. I would be
very surprised (and pleased!) to see if any of the above issues got fixed
and won't need a bit of manual massaging. BTW, I reported these issues
(and the solutions too, IIRC) on this ML, but I got little to no feedback.
So I stopped caring, "worksforme" anyway...

Otherwise I'm running latest Wheezy on my Pegasos II as my home
server/firewall in 24/7, with stock binary kernels and minimal
customization (mostly what's detailed above) and it's quite stable.

Best,
--
Charlie

On Sat, 2 May 2015, aPEX wrote:

> Hello, 
>
> I and also the other guys in our forum already tried to install 7.8, which ends in the same problem like 8.0. Which version was
> running on your Peg-2?
>
> I only remember that 6.x was running fine.  
>
> But it would be nice to find the problem, because the part with the installation works fine up to 95%.
>
> MfG, Robert
> Send from iPhone 5
>
>
> Am 01.05.2015 um 17:30 schrieb Herminio Hernandez Jr. <herminio.hernandezjr@gmail.com>:
>
>       Thanks for responding 
>
>       Sent from my iPhone
>
> On May 1, 2015, at 10:28 AM, Luigi Burdo <intermediadc@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>       Guys i had this machine with radeon radeon 9000 and / 9800pro
>       and was working good with debian wheezy 7.x .
>       i sold it in september 2014.
>       the machine is one of the best powerpc platform that i had ...phase 5 after bplan after genensis
>       was make great hardware.
>
>       i suggest the guys to install wheezy that was tested and working by me in person.
>
>
>       Luigi
>
>
>       On 01/05/15 16:57, Herminio Hernandez, Jr. wrote:
>       Do you have any advice for these guys?
>       ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>       From: aPEX <aPEX@gmx.ch>
>       Date: Fri, May 1, 2015 at 9:36 AM
>       Subject: Re: Debian 8.0 PPC not working on Pegasos II G4
>       To: "Herminio Hernandez Jr." <herminio.hernandezjr@gmail.com>
>
>
>       Hello Herminio,
>
> in our forum now 3 other guys with a PEG-II did a test and came excatly to the same result / problem.
>
> I am not a linux specialist, but the kernel part which is starting the installation is working fine.
> But because the installation fail and later also the booting there must be a difference in the
> kernel which is installed later.
>
> The Pegasos is based on the CHRP plattform:
> http://www.freescale.com/files/32bit/doc/app_note/AN2666.pdf
>
> Thank you if you can help in any kind.
>
> Best regards, Robert
>
>
>
>       Am 01.05.2015 um 16:27 schrieb Herminio Hernandez Jr. <herminio.hernandezjr@gmail.com>:
>
> Oh that is not good. Let me reach out to a friend. 
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On May 1, 2015, at 8:41 AM, aPEX <aPEX@gmx.ch> wrote:
>
>       Hello,
>
> I tried this but it ends in this, see picture.
> <IMG_0051.JPG>
>
>
>
>       Am 30.04.2015 um 20:57 schrieb Herminio Hernandez Jr. <herminio.hernandezjr@gmail.com>:
>
>       If you are yaboot try this
>
>       Linux radeon.modeset=1 video=offb:off video=radeonfb:off 
>
>       If that does not help then add this as well radeon.agpmode=-1
>
>       Sent from my iPhone
>
>             On Apr 30, 2015, at 1:46 PM, aPEX <aPEX@gmx.ch> wrote:
>
>             Hello,
>
>             it is a RADEON 9000 Pro with 128MB Memory.
>
>             Best regards, aPEX
>
>
>
>                   Am 30.04.2015 um 19:38 schrieb Herminio Hernandez Jr.
>                   <herminio.hernandezjr@gmail.com>:
>
>                   What is the video card you are using?
>
>                   Sent from my iPhone
>
>                         On Apr 30, 2015, at 12:07 PM, aPEX <aPEX@gmx.ch>
>                         wrote:
>
>                         Hello,
>
>                         no one who can help? Debian 6.8 was still running
>                         fine…
>                         I think if I will try Debian 8 I will have same
>                         problem like with 7.8?
>
>                         Best regards, aPEX
>
>
>
>                               Am 27.04.2015 um 20:27 schrieb aPEX
>                               <aPEX@gmx.ch>:
>
>                               Hello all,
>
>                               I was using a long time Debian 6.x on my
>                               Pegasos II G4 with 1Ghz CPU und 2GB
>                               Memory.
>                               Last week I got the stupid idea to
>                               install everything new using latest
>                               Debian 7.8, because
>                               on the DVD there is still the install
>                               script for the Pegasos. :-)
>
>                               Installation itself is working fine till
>                               95% and then abort there, some like
>                               after-installation trigger.
>                               We tested it on several Pegasos II that
>                               we have, always the same. I can go on
>                               without installing
>                               more software, but I assume that also
>                               some basic stuff is missing.
>
>                               Also the 3.x kernel is no more working
>                               on the Pegasos II, you will get screen
>                               with grafic trash
>                               right after starting the kernel.
>
>                               <IMG_9965.JPG>
>
>                               Any idea? I tried it in the IRC, but got
>                               no answer. 
>
>                               It would be really fantastic if this
>                               problem could be fixed and the Pegasos
>                               II will work again. 
>
>
>                               Best regards, Robert aka aPEX
>
>
>
>                               PS: I am just a user, no Linux guru,
>                               sorry for this…
>
>
>
>                         -- 
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>
>
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>
>
>
>
>
>
>

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