It never will. Try to read more about OpenFirmware & what filesystems\partition types it supports. Your boot-loader partition have to be preferably HFS.
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Debian Sid Installation Guide (PowerPC)
- Thread starter swamprock
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Thanks for the info. If I switch to using a DVD booting with C instead, would that work? I'm trying to see if I can find an internal DVD drive replacement on Low End Mac.
Has anyone managed to get firefox to display colours properly in debian 11/sid? The problem seems to be an endianness bug since version ~52 (the current ppc64 versions are firefox 86 and firefox-esr 78), it seems this applies to all big endian distros:
bugzilla.mozilla.org
Oddly enough, this only seems to affect photos, but not all of them. Videos play properly though and quite nicely I might add. And funny enough, on OpenSuse, this is much, much less pronounced (version 79) but conversely videos do not play well at all. At least youtube when ads are involved and various other sources (e.g. dailymotion not at all, although it works in debian/sid)
I have tried to build it with various endianness fixes but even the original version doesn't build anymore on ppc64 (at least the available source, version 95)
Otherwise, apart from Software being broken, debian 11/sid is pretty snappy and happily runs on ppc64, at least using a radeon HD 5770
1672395 - [s390x] [big endian?] Some images have wrong colors in Firefox
NEW (nobody) in Core - Graphics. Last updated 2024-08-25.
Oddly enough, this only seems to affect photos, but not all of them. Videos play properly though and quite nicely I might add. And funny enough, on OpenSuse, this is much, much less pronounced (version 79) but conversely videos do not play well at all. At least youtube when ads are involved and various other sources (e.g. dailymotion not at all, although it works in debian/sid)
I have tried to build it with various endianness fixes but even the original version doesn't build anymore on ppc64 (at least the available source, version 95)
Otherwise, apart from Software being broken, debian 11/sid is pretty snappy and happily runs on ppc64, at least using a radeon HD 5770
If the color bug is only affecting certain photos on certain sites, it’s due to an endian issue with .webp pics. Go into about:config (type in address bar) and find image.http.accept, then change the following line:Has anyone managed to get firefox to display colours properly in debian 11/sid? The problem seems to be an endianness bug since version ~52 (the current ppc64 versions are firefox 86 and firefox-esr 78), it seems this applies to all big endian distros:
1672395 - [s390x] [big endian?] Some images have wrong colors in Firefox
NEW (nobody) in Core - Graphics. Last updated 2024-08-25.
Oddly enough, this only seems to affect photos, but not all of them. Videos play properly though and quite nicely I might add. And funny enough, on OpenSuse, this is much, much less pronounced (version 79) but conversely videos do not play well at all. At least youtube when ads are involved and various other sources (e.g. dailymotion not at all, although it works in debian/sid)
I have tried to build it with various endianness fixes but even the original version doesn't build anymore on ppc64 (at least the available source, version 95)
Otherwise, apart from Software being broken, debian 11/sid is pretty snappy and happily runs on ppc64, at least using a radeon HD 5770
Code:
image/webp,image/jxr,image/png,image/*;q=0.8,*/*;q=0.5to this:
Code:
image/jxr,image/png,image/*;q=0.8,*/*;q=0.5That should fix your endian issues. I had the same issue with Arctic Fox a few years ago and this fixed it.
Reference thread- https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...it.2133051/page-2?post=26633586#post-26633586
Thanks, unfortunately no luck at least with FF 78.14 ESR under ppc64 debian. I will try under OpenSuse and on later versions, but I suspect that the issue lies deeper down. I had tried changing to layers.acceleration.force-enabled = true & layers.force-active = true but this didn't work either
Just wanted to linkback to Action Retro's video of installing Sid on a G5...
I experimented with this method for the past several days on my eMac using the most recent Debian 11 NETBOOT image and stumbled upon a very simple way to successfully install GRUB.
After it fails, esc twice to the menu.
Alt+F2
chroot /target
mount -t hfs /dev/sda2 /boot/grub
Alt+F1
Press return key to Install the GRUB boot loader
Now for those of us with ATI graphics, how to pass those kernel commands to GRUB every time?
I tried editing /etc/default/grub to read:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nomodeset"
then update-grub
No dice.
After it fails, esc twice to the menu.
Alt+F2
chroot /target
mount -t hfs /dev/sda2 /boot/grub
Alt+F1
Press return key to Install the GRUB boot loader
Now for those of us with ATI graphics, how to pass those kernel commands to GRUB every time?
I tried editing /etc/default/grub to read:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nomodeset"
then update-grub
No dice.
EDIT: I just realized that @swamprock had already shared Action Retro's video. Hey... cool!
----
I was able to get a snapshot of Debian 11 sid installed on my iMac G3 slot-loader. The snapshot ISO i used was 2022.03.18 (or March 3, 2022).
However, when I got to the point where the GRUB installation failed, I didn't press 'Enter' to continue. Instead, I then proceeded to follow the instructions provided by Action Retro (on YouTube) to download and run a Bash shell script to fix the GRUB installation.
^^This would probably be needed because... well, at least in my case, when I performed my first few installation attempts, without that adding myself to the sudoers file at this point in theSid GRUB installation process, I was actually unable to issue commands that required elevated root privilages, after I rebooted.
After performing all of the above, I now have a functional command line-only Debian Sid installation.
**** Unfortunately, **** no matter what I tried, I was unable to get into the GUI. Trying to run the command 'startx' doesn't work for me, even after I created an Xorg.conf file and installed the Rage 128 (ie. 'r128'; the 'xserver-xorg-video-r128' package) driver. If I can figure out how to set up SSH, I'll try to grab my Xorg.conf file, Xorg.0.log file, and the error output I receive when I try to 'startx', and then post it here... maybe then, someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong.
----
I was able to get a snapshot of Debian 11 sid installed on my iMac G3 slot-loader. The snapshot ISO i used was 2022.03.18 (or March 3, 2022).
- https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/snapshots/2022-03-18/debian-11.0.0-powerpc-NETINST-1.iso
- I burned this image to a USB flash drive. Since I'm on Windows 10/11 (64-bit), i actually just used 'Rufus', to make my life easier.
- To boot my iMac G3 off of the USB drive, i had to figure out which USB port it was inserted in. In my case, it was 'usb0'... while yours may vary (simply change the '0' to 1 or a higher number, depending on how many USB ports you have; one of them is bound to work):
Code:
boot usb0/disk@1:,\\grub.elf
However, when I got to the point where the GRUB installation failed, I didn't press 'Enter' to continue. Instead, I then proceeded to follow the instructions provided by Action Retro (on YouTube) to download and run a Bash shell script to fix the GRUB installation.
INSTRUCTIONS TO INSTALL & FIX BOOTLOADER:
One of two important things to note is that 'grubfix32.sh', in the instructions above, is for 32-bit G3/G4's, while 'grubfix.sh' is for 64-bit G5's.
The second thing is that, before switching back to VT1 (ie. step #6, above), you may want to add your 'normal user' account to the 'sudoers' file ('/etc/sudoers') by running 'visudo'.
For example:
Code:
root ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL
rkmugen.linux ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL^^This would probably be needed because... well, at least in my case, when I performed my first few installation attempts, without that adding myself to the sudoers file at this point in the
After performing all of the above, I now have a functional command line-only Debian Sid installation.
**** Unfortunately, **** no matter what I tried, I was unable to get into the GUI. Trying to run the command 'startx' doesn't work for me, even after I created an Xorg.conf file and installed the Rage 128 (ie. 'r128'; the 'xserver-xorg-video-r128' package) driver. If I can figure out how to set up SSH, I'll try to grab my Xorg.conf file, Xorg.0.log file, and the error output I receive when I try to 'startx', and then post it here... maybe then, someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong.
@rkmugen.linux Thanks for the bootloader fix, that solved my problem of permanently passing kernel commands to GRUB! I was able to install MATE using tasksel.
Edit: Is somebody watching? The new cdimage (dated 03/24/2022) now successfully installs GRUB, but the script doesn't work anymore (borks the system), so now I can't permanently pass nomodeset again. What gives?
Edit: Is somebody watching? The new cdimage (dated 03/24/2022) now successfully installs GRUB, but the script doesn't work anymore (borks the system), so now I can't permanently pass nomodeset again. What gives?
Last edited:
Okay, so I was able to SSH into my iMac G3 and obtain my Xorg.0.log, xorg.conf, and also the re-directed output, from trying to 'startx'. I 'sanitized' them for my protection.
In any case, I noticed a 'backtrace' in my Xorg.0.log and the re-directed output from trying to 'startx', which I've never seen before. Anyone here have any idea what could be the problem? For that matter, has ANYONE been able to get a graphical login and X gui running on their iMac G3 (or Rage 128-equipped Mac), with Debian Sid (10 or 11)?
In any case, I noticed a 'backtrace' in my Xorg.0.log and the re-directed output from trying to 'startx', which I've never seen before. Anyone here have any idea what could be the problem? For that matter, has ANYONE been able to get a graphical login and X gui running on their iMac G3 (or Rage 128-equipped Mac), with Debian Sid (10 or 11)?
Code:
[ 26990.401] (EE) Backtrace:
[ 26990.410] (EE) 0: /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg (OsLookupColor+0x240) [0xb55760]
[ 26990.411] (EE) 1: linux-vdso32.so.1 (?+0x0) [0x102400]
[ 26990.415] (EE) unw_get_proc_name failed: no unwind info found [-10]
[ 26990.418] (EE) 2: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/r128_drv.so (?+0x0) [0xa6bebd48]
[ 26990.422] (EE) unw_get_proc_name failed: no unwind info found [-10]
[ 26990.424] (EE) 3: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/r128_drv.so (?+0x0) [0xa6bebeb8]
[ 26990.429] (EE) unw_get_proc_name failed: no unwind info found [-10]
[ 26990.431] (EE) 4: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/r128_drv.so (?+0x0) [0xa6be822c]
[ 26990.436] (EE) 5: /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg (InitOutput+0x9f4) [0x9d1f74]
[ 26990.443] (EE) 6: /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg (InitFonts+0x230) [0x980020]
[ 26990.448] (EE) 7: /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg (miPolyFillRect+0xe1c) [0x962174]
[ 26990.454] (EE) 8: /lib/powerpc-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (__libc_init_first+0x11c) [0xa760a8dc]
[ 26990.459] (EE) 9: /lib/powerpc-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (__libc_start_main+0x90) [0xa760aa80]
[ 26990.462] (EE) unw_get_proc_info failed: no unwind info found [-10]
[ 26990.464] (EE)
[ 26990.466] (EE) Segmentation fault at address 0x48
[ 26990.468] (EE)
Fatal server error:
[ 26990.471] (EE) Caught signal 11 (Segmentation fault). Server aborting
[ 26990.472] (EE)
[ 26990.473] (EE)
Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support
at http://wiki.x.org
for help.
[ 26990.473] (EE) Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional information.
[ 26990.474] (EE)
[ 26990.510] (EE) Server terminated with error (1). Closing log file.From your logs:
"[ 883.119] (WW) R128(0): Failed to read PCI ROM!
[ 883.124] (WW) R128(0): Video BIOS not found!"
Bad sign.
Else - try to backup your xorg.cong & start X11 without it, will it make some difference in logs?
"[ 883.119] (WW) R128(0): Failed to read PCI ROM!
[ 883.124] (WW) R128(0): Video BIOS not found!"
Bad sign.
Else - try to backup your xorg.cong & start X11 without it, will it make some difference in logs?
You might need a custon edid. See the thread on the ppc Linux fbook group.
m.facebook.com
Edit: You dont need an account to view that group. I dont, and i check it periodically.
Log into Facebook
Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.
m.facebook.com
Edit: You dont need an account to view that group. I dont, and i check it periodically.
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Thank you Tratkazir -- I tried doing just that, but there's no change in the logs. Even the backtrace, in the Xorg.0.log, is exactly identical as the one I previously posted.
You might need a custon edid. See the thread on the ppc Linux fbook group.
Log into Facebook
Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.
Edit: You dont need an account to view that group. I dont, and i check it periodically.
Hmm... a 'custom EDID'.
I took a look at that Facebook post, as you suggested and found myself on this one site (https://github.com/qbancoffee/imac_g3_ivad_board_init) and even this other MacRumors post (https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...r.1712095/page-11?post=28359571#post-28359571), I can't pretend to know or fully understand what that is for, or how it would help my specific situation, if at all. And even then, if it ultimately involves hardware hacks, that's where I'm gonna have to draw the line, since I don't have the tools, space, nor the time/patience to devote to such an endeavor, to either being stuck, further down a rabbit hole, with no way out, or at worst, destroying my iMac G3's internals. I might drive a sports car, and I might know how to change my tires and my motor oil... but I'm no mechanic.
I mean no disrespect to the people who worked hard to develop that EDID stuff when I say this... but imho, if OSX and OS9, and earlier Linux distros were able to get a GUI going on a Rage 128-equipped iMac G3 (accelerated or not), then imho, it really shouldn't require hardware hack to get a GUI going on Debian sid.
- Unless.... does anyone else here have any experience with this "EDID" thing? Is this the 'thing' that's actually needed to get Debian Sid working again on the iMac G3? Or am I completely misunderstanding everything?
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From what i gather, you just download the edid (the .bin file) that's linked in that farcebook post and adjust your xorg.conf.
Cheers
Cheers
Thank you wicknix. Okay, here's what i tried:
- 1. I created the following directory, 'edid', in the path, '/usr/lib/firmware/'
-
Code:
sudo mkdir /usr/lib/firmware/edid/ -
Code:
cd /usr/lib/firmware/edid/
-
- 2. Downloaded the 'edid.bin' (https://github.com/qbancoffee/imac_g3_ivad_board_init/raw/master/edid.bin), created for the iMac G3, from the DOWNLOAD PAGE: (https://github.com/qbancoffee/imac_g3_ivad_board_init/blob/master/edid.bin)
-
Code:
wget https://github.com/qbancoffee/imac_g3_ivad_board_init/raw/master/edid.bin
-
- 3. Then added the kernel command line parameter, 'drm.edid_firmware=edid/edid.bin', to GRUB
-
Code:
sudo -e /etc/default/grub -
Code:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet drm.edid_firmware=edid/edid.bin"- CTRL+X to save
-
- 4. Temporarily renamed my 'xorg.conf' to something else ('xorg.conf.txt')
-
Code:
cd /etc/X11/ -
Code:
su -
Code:
mv xorg.conf xorg.conf.txt
-
- 5. Rebooted
-
Code:
reboot
-
Unless I did something completely wrong, I'm really starting to believe the 'r128' driver itself and every component listed in the 'backtrace', in my posted Xorg.0.log, are most likely the components at fault now.
I installed with success Debian sid (2022-03-28 snapshot) on Mac Mini with no problem, with Mate.
The desktop was really slow, I had to disable compositing in System/Preferences/Appearance/Windows.
The Xorg log mentions "Acceleration enabled" but then also "AIGLX error: dlopen of /usr/lib/powerpc-linux-gnu/dri/r200_dri.so failed". r200 support was dropped in Mesa 22 and the current Mesa version in Debian sid is ... 22.0.2! :-(
Do you know if there is a solution? I had a look to see if it was possible to downgrade to version 21 but it seems that no other version is available in the package repository.
The desktop was really slow, I had to disable compositing in System/Preferences/Appearance/Windows.
The Xorg log mentions "Acceleration enabled" but then also "AIGLX error: dlopen of /usr/lib/powerpc-linux-gnu/dri/r200_dri.so failed". r200 support was dropped in Mesa 22 and the current Mesa version in Debian sid is ... 22.0.2! :-(
Do you know if there is a solution? I had a look to see if it was possible to downgrade to version 21 but it seems that no other version is available in the package repository.
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I'd say consider yourself lucky... i don't even have a working desktop to speak of... just the command line! lol
I degraded to 21.3.8-1 by dpkg installing individual .debs from this page, then apt-mark hold each package so it doesn't upgrade:
debian-ports:/pool-powerpc/main/m/mesa 2022-04-10 17:29:59 - snapshot.debian.org
@rkmugen.linux It seems that you MAC model is not really Linux friendly :-(
@borph Thank you so much! That was exactly the kind of expected answer. I didn't even know if these packages were kept for sid and where.
Did you also do that on a MacMini?
So, to share my results: I have now hardware acceleration enabled (drivers, Xorg) but with glxinfo, the OpenGL renderer string is "llvmpipe" under Mate, while it is "Mesa DRI R200 (RV280 5692) DRI2" under LXDE ... How is it possible to have the renderer depending on the desktop?
Note that as usual, that does not fully work. glxgears rendering is corrupted:
I don't know what could be the reason: a package that I missed to downgrade, the MESA version that is no the best, an Xorg option that is wrong ...
@borph Thank you so much! That was exactly the kind of expected answer. I didn't even know if these packages were kept for sid and where.
Did you also do that on a MacMini?
So, to share my results: I have now hardware acceleration enabled (drivers, Xorg) but with glxinfo, the OpenGL renderer string is "llvmpipe" under Mate, while it is "Mesa DRI R200 (RV280 5692) DRI2" under LXDE ... How is it possible to have the renderer depending on the desktop?
Note that as usual, that does not fully work. glxgears rendering is corrupted:
I don't know what could be the reason: a package that I missed to downgrade, the MESA version that is no the best, an Xorg option that is wrong ...
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Yeah no, I totally agree. Although it used to work just fine with Debian 7.x and 8.x, and the various *buntu's up to 16.04.x........ all of which gave me a working GUI, at the very least.
@code38 I didn't know about them either until the day before you asked, so good timing! Mine worked on an eMac USB 2.0, which has a Radeon 9200 (also RV280/R200 driver). When I downgraded from 22, version 21 wanted libllvm13 instead of 14. Either way I get an LLVM error under MATE, and don't know enough about it to guess why the desktop makes any difference. Glxgears looks like that for me too, but I installed Quake and it looks fine and plays well at 640x480. Cheers!
@rkmugen.linux Searching the Mesa Release Notes, I found r128 support was dropped after version 8.0
So you'll need version 7.11.2 or earlier. Not sure where to find it, the Debian Snapshots don't go back that far. Good luck!
Thanks, following your post , plus ActionRetro vid, I was able to install the same Debian 11 2022.03.18 iso to a Pismo 500Mhz. triple boot Tiger/OS9/Debian, on a SSD.
The thing I did for having a HFS boot partition was selecting the empty space, and do an "automatic partitioning", this make a 245mb HFS boot part for the bootloader, the Ext4 part, and the Swap space. Size of these last two can then be changed if needed.
otherwise, the manual partitioning tool doesn't give the option to make a HFS formated boot partition ("apple_newworld"), or anyway I don't found it.
Then followed the whole install (installed only LXDE, SSH, and Debutils), up to grub installer fails. And I used the grubfix32.sh script to install it.
Let it reboot, and I have Grub. BUT, it doesn't sees the OSX and OS9 partitions, it sees only Debian...
And if I reboot pressing alt key, then the Mac bootloader sees only the OSX and OS9 partitions.
Note: it is my second try with that iso (and many failed debian10 iso before...). the first try, all installation went Ok, but I stupidly pressed alt key on reboot, it went to the Mac bootloader of course, only seing OSX and OS9 parts... I then thought it may be like with Yaboot, just reset PRAM and it will boot in Grub.... Nope :/ No way to boot that first try install, even Grub was indeed installed. It was invisible.
Second try, I've let it reboot and didn't touch anything, got Grub Ok. Now is there a way to make it see the other partitions ?... And I'm a bit worried that if I have to zap the PRAM at some point, that would make the Debian install and disactivate Grub again...
Side note : this Grub bootloader is so slow to load. I do miss Yaboot, was so simple and working fine every time.
EDIT: yeah... had to try, Zapped the PRAM, and grub is gone again, making the Debian part nonbootable :/
Back to square one. Will try through OF maybe...
EDIT 2 : Yaw ! Booting in OF and doing:
Code:
boot hd:9,\grubLXDE works fine
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Try to edit
/etc/default/grub
and change to
GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false
To have Debian visible in the boot picker, you can make a CHRP file (template here: https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/GRUB_on_Open_Firmware_(PowerPC)#CHRP_boot_script) and change the boot line to yours (
boot hd:9,\grub). You then need to copy it to your boot partition (presumably sda9 or hda9) which already looks to have your grub and grub.cfg file.
Make sure you set the attributes correctly after copying, using e.g.
Code:
hattrib -t tbxi :ofboot.bCheers,