Re: A few questions about stretch ( testing ) on a PowerMac G5
On 02/05/2017 12:10 AM, Kristen R wrote:
On Feb 4, 2017, at 2:12 PM, dev_user <dev@cor0.com> wrote:
Dear Debian power types :
I managed to install a bare and simple stretch ( testing ) release onto a PowerMac G5 using the DVD ISO image such that my /etc/apt/sources.list says :
deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux testing _Stretch_ - Official Snapshot powerpc DVD Binary-1 20161031-06:51]/ stretch main
The first of many little problems that I hit is that the nouveau driver is just terrible and all I see on the screen is a very very messed up pile of what looks like static. So there is no GUI no graphical login at all that works. I created a file in /etc/modprobe.d/ thus :
root@charon:/etc/apt# cat /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-graphics-drivers.conf
blacklist nouveau
blacklist lbm-nouveau
blacklist nvidia-173
blacklist nvidia-96
blacklist nvidia-current
blacklist nvidia-173-updates
blacklist nvidia-96-updates
alias nvidia nvidia_current_updates
alias nouveau off
alias lbm-nouveau off
This solved the nasty graphics problem after a reboot. I now can hit CTRL-F1 and get a text login. That did not work at all before.
I was able to ssh in to the unit and did change the /etc/network/interfaces file so that I have a static ip and no more dhcp. However I am still stuck with ipv6 and thus any attempt to use a repo mirror just hangs badly for about four minutes or so before reverting to ipv4 which does work. However my /etc/resolv.conf file is wrecked and only has ipv6 entries in it and they don't work :
root@charon:/etc/apt# cat /etc/resolv.conf
nameserver 2607:f798:18:10:0:640:7125:5204
nameserver 2607:f798:18:10:0:640:7125:5198
I have no idea where that comes from but they don't work. I attempt to edit the file but it gets instantly and magically overwritten by some horrible gremlin that changes the file back to ipv6 only. I don't know why.
So question one is how do I edit the /etc/apt/sources.list to get a valid repo site somewhere for packages? Nothing I seem to enter there works at all and I only ever see ( after a lot of hang time ) this message :
root@charon:/etc/apt# cat /etc/apt/sources.list
#
#deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux testing _Stretch_ - Official Snapshot powerpc DVD Binary-1 20161031-06:51]/ stretch main
deb http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian testing main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ testing main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/ stretch/updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ stretch/updates main contrib
root@charon:/etc/apt# apt-get update
0% [Connecting to ftp.ca.debian.org (2607:f748:10:12::deb:1)] [Connecting to security.debian.org (2607:ea00:101:3c0b::1deb:215)]
.
. go for a coffee ... this hangs badly for a while
. watch the clock for ... four or five minutes .. or longer
Hit:1 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian testing InRelease
Hit:2 http://security.debian.org stretch/updates InRelease
Reading package lists... Done
N: Skipping acquire of configured file 'main/binary-powerpc/Packages' as repository 'http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian testing InRelease' doesn't support architecture 'powerpc'
N: Skipping acquire of configured file 'contrib/binary-powerpc/Packages' as repository 'http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian testing InRelease' doesn't support architecture 'powerpc'
So that fails, eventually.
What content do I need in the /etc/apt/sources.list file to get a repo that supports powerpc ?
some basic info here :
root@charon:~# uname -a
Linux charon 4.7.0-1-powerpc64 #1 SMP Debian 4.7.8-1 (2016-10-19) ppc64 GNU/Linux
root@charon:~# cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
cpu : PPC970MP, altivec supported
clock : 2500.000000MHz
revision : 1.1 (pvr 0044 0101)
processor : 1
cpu : PPC970MP, altivec supported
clock : 2500.000000MHz
revision : 1.1 (pvr 0044 0101)
processor : 2
cpu : PPC970MP, altivec supported
clock : 2500.000000MHz
revision : 1.1 (pvr 0044 0101)
processor : 3
cpu : PPC970MP, altivec supported
clock : 2500.000000MHz
revision : 1.1 (pvr 0044 0101)
timebase : 33333333
platform : PowerMac
model : PowerMac11,2
machine : PowerMac11,2
motherboard : PowerMac11,2 MacRISC4 Power Macintosh
detected as : 337 (PowerMac G5 Dual Core)
pmac flags : 00000000
L2 cache : 1024K unified
pmac-generation : NewWorld
root@charon:~#
So ... I am at a loss here.
Dennis
thank you for the reply .
It is a shame but the PowerPC line from Apple has been dropped in Debian.
crying shame .. I agree.
I tend to enjoy having non-x86 gear around and for RISC that means
PowerPC and SPARC. Oh gee ... look .. sparc is dropped too.
So I am going to re-install all over again with :
debian-8.7.1-powerpc-DVD-1.iso
This should be pretty darn stable and with it I can run builds of the
linux kernel or whatever else I am playing with. The PowerMac G5 has
been in a closet for a few years and I just felt it was an awesome
machine and needed to do .. something.
> There was a discussion a while back I loosely followed on the powerpc
> list you can search for. I believe you can run Jessie still and have a
> working system.
Thta is what I shall do.
Your packages will need to be updated from that repository. Other then
> that, the Nouvea issue will not be fixed.
That thing is broken pretty much everywhere and not much to be done
about it. I am fine with the system being a text only remote server.
Dennis
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