rbthomas@kmac:~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo processor : 0 cpu : PPC970FX, altivec supported clock : 2000.000000MHz revision : 3.0 (pvr 003c 0300) processor : 1 cpu : PPC970FX, altivec supported clock : 2000.000000MHz revision : 3.0 (pvr 003c 0300) timebase : 33333333 platform : PowerMac model : PowerMac7,3 machine : PowerMac7,3 motherboard : PowerMac7,3 MacRISC4 Power Macintosh detected as : 336 (PowerMac G5) pmac flags : 00000000 L2 cache : 512K unified pmac-generation : NewWorld
The real problem is that we are running a dead platform. At the very least it is being walked up to the hangmans platform. The world seems to want little endian everywhere and ppc64el on at least POWER8 hardware is a firm requirement for Debian. While it is snazzy to have an old Apple PowerMac G5 running linux we are spitting into the wind here. I figure similar things will happen with RISC-V if that ever gets going. Little endian is the prevailing wind direction there also. There isn't any sort of RISC-V hardware yet. Not anything remotely close to a real "standard" or even "popular". Whatever that means. Anyways, I had to boot this old G5 with the Debian 8.10 install DVD and then manually fiddle with the stuff old yaboot wants. It would be "cool" and fun to get Debian unstable running on it. Why not? It has two dual core PPC970MP processors and 8GB of memory in it. Seems a shame to toss it onto the scrap heap. However plenty of money is pouring into the new and snazzy IBM POWER9 world with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 as a valid and supported commercial grade product. That is the direction that the big "money" wants and the big "money" always wins. Period. Opensource and community be damned. I have been around ya know? So I am a big big fan of risc platforms and would love to see a valid linux distro running on risc platforms such as ppc64 and RISC-V and yes the big massive sparc64 and even little arm. However there is little promise for big endian ppc64 anymore. There isn't even the promise that compilers and debuggers will work for much longer. I follow along on the changelogs at kernel.org and no one cares if ye old PowerMac G5's are running sweetly. Nope. That old cpu called powerpc isn't IBM POWER. A more reasonable direction is a POWER9 platform such as the Talos II from the folks at Raptor Computing Systems or an IBM POWER9 ripping fast server. Anything other than ye old silver Apple PowerMac G5 would be a better choice. However, having said all that, you can boot and run a linux kernel and a userland on a toaster or twenty year old HP Kayak PC if you like. I know that I have. Dennis Clarke[1] https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/fe313521-2e95-46f2-817d-44a4f27eba32/entry/More_FAQs_about_Little_Endian_An_Update?lang=en
[2] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/04/25/oracle_free_solaris_project_stops/
[3] https://github.com/masterzorag/G5_ppc64-linux[4] https://www.serverwatch.com/trends/article.php/3877526/The-Looming-Demise-of-OpenSolaris.htm