Well it sounds like you're getting graphics initialized now, if you are seeing a moving mouse cursor...
For interest, I have found not every desktop environment works well on these old PowerPC systems.
Most of my systems use XFCE, which is working quite well on all of them.
The faster machines can use MATE.
I have (so far) had no luck with anything fancier on the PowerPC systems, KDE, etc.
K
On Aug 23, 2025, at 10:18 AM, Michael Campbell <michael@campbell-tx.net> wrote:
From: Michael Campbell <michael@campbell-tx.net>
Sent: August 23, 2025 1:15:47 PM EDT
To: Jeroen Diederen <jjhdiederen@zonnet.nl>
Subject: Re: Updated Debian Ports installation images 2025-08-21
Thanks for this. It gets me a little further. startx now clears the screen and a mouse cursor appears and is responsive to mouse movements, but KDE never comes up.
I cannot kill X-Windows in any way that I have found online, and have to resort to manually turning the system off via it's power button. Worse still, after doing so and restarting, it comes right up (slowly) back to the same spot. I have effectively lost control of the system.
Do you have any more pointers you might impart? This one helped, but I have a whole new problem now.
Thanks,
Michael
On August 21, 2025 9:35:27 AM EDT, Jeroen Diederen <jjhdiederen@zonnet.nl> wrote:
You might need to do the following. Boot the machine in recovery mode. You then do:
mv /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libglamoregl.so /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libglamoregl.so.bak
Ctrl-d or exit to resume booting.
Michael Campbell schreef op 2025-08-21 20:18:
Hi, thanks for this. I am new to this list; this is my first "post".
I am attempting to install Debian 12 PPC64 on my Power Mac G5 Quad.
The installer runs to completion more or less successfully, although
it did complain about b43 firmware, presumably related to the Apple
WiFi/Bluetooth card I have installed. The result boots to GRUB, and
when I select any non-recovery mode selection from the GRUB menu, it
takes off nicely. Screens worth of startup messages go by, then the
screen clears. I BRIEFLY see a text mode login prompt and then the
screen clears again. That is it. Nothing further happens. I let it sit
that way for ten minutes, but nothing further happens.
I am TOTALLY new to Debian, although I have a fair deal of experience
configuring and installing Arch Linux and the old openSuSE.
Does what I described above suggest anything to any reader?
My system details: my G5 Quad has 16 GB of RAM, a Quadro FX 4500
graphics card, two internal SATA HDDs, one actually an SSD and the
other a 2 TB spinner. It is the spinner that I trying to install
Debian onto. I select Guided, and Whole Disk during install. The Quad
also has a PCIe eSATA card and a FireWire 800 port expansion card. It
is also unique in that I have converted it from liquid cooling to air
cooling, although all the stock Apple fans remain in place and
operative. I have an Apple FW400 iSight camera and a USB microphone
also attached.
I normally run 10.5.9 Sorbet Leopard on it.
Any thoughts on why the existing new install doesn't seem to come up
to a point where it is usable would be most appreciated.
Meantime, I will try it this new installer and see if that changes
things.
Thanks,
Michael
On August 20, 2025 6:31:21 PM EDT, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz
<glaubitz@physik.fu-berlin.de> wrote:
Hello, I just created updated Debian Ports installation images based on kernel 6.12.38. These are using the debian-installer from Trixie. They can be downloaded from here: https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/snapshots/2025-08-21/Please test and report back. Known issues are kernel instabilities on sun4u (sparc64) machines which are currently being investigated. I will write a separate mail on the issue. Adrian -- .''`. John Paul Adrian Glaubitz : :' : Debian Developer `. `' Physicist `- GPG: 62FF 8A75 84E0 2956 9546 0006 7426 3B37 F5B5 F913
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