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Debian Sid Installation Guide (PowerPC)
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Mine works but it probably has a different GPU.
Forget it, this is an Al PowerBook…
Forget it, this is an Al PowerBook…
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Has anyone here ever got Lubuntu PPC Remix to install nucely on the same drive as Debian? I'm trying to create a demo PowerBook G4 with the following OS installs:
OS9 (OS9 Lives edition)
OSX 10.4
OSX 10.5 Sorbet Leopard
MorphOS
Debian 12
Adelie Linux
Lubuntu
Possibly OpenBSD
Lubuntu installs the Yaboot bootloader and messes up with the Grub installed by Debian and so I want to know how I can either remove Yaboot afterwards OR get Yaboot to boot Debian, Adelie and Lubuntu
OS9 (OS9 Lives edition)
OSX 10.4
OSX 10.5 Sorbet Leopard
MorphOS
Debian 12
Adelie Linux
Lubuntu
Possibly OpenBSD
Lubuntu installs the Yaboot bootloader and messes up with the Grub installed by Debian and so I want to know how I can either remove Yaboot afterwards OR get Yaboot to boot Debian, Adelie and Lubuntu
I'll be creating a video series on how it's done if only to have a record I can watch back if I ever need to remember how t do it again! ;P And will be posting here with a text version too
If anyone here can post how to make Yaboot work with Debian / Adelie then that will be the Holy Grail!FreeBSD should work on G4. They have only broken G5 support.
And why not 10.6 ppc for a demo too?
Hi, I just wanted offer this fix for anyone who's apt package manager was broken "out of the box" after installing Debian 12 Trixie/Sid.
When you run
ERROR
Here's the fix, run these commands as root using
Run these command one at a time.
1.)
2.)
3.)
4.)
5.)
6.)
Now
When you run
apt update do you get this error? (this was the case when installing Debian 12 Trixie/Sid on both my iBook G4 and Mac mini G4 this week)ERROR
dpkg: warning: 'start-stop-daemon' not found in PATH or not executabledpkg: error: 1 expected program not found in PATH or not executableHere's the fix, run these commands as root using
su - (no, su is not good enough, got to be su -)Run these command one at a time.
1.)
echo '#!/bin/true' > /usr/bin/start-stop-daemon2.)
chmod +x /usr/bin/start-stop-daemon 3.)
sudo apt install --reinstall dpkg4.)
rm -f /usr/bin/start-stop-daemon5.)
apt update -y6.)
apt upgrade -yNow
apt should work as normal. Best of luck.
Hello, in these days I’m having issues reinstalling Debian on my iBook G4.
Literally 5 days ago I installed Debian Sid with no issues, it even installed grub and it was working flawlessly. Then 2 days afterwards I wanted to reinstall Debian (do not ask why) and now it magically fails at the package selection screen. Going to alt+f4 shows this error:
What do I do now?
Edit: I also tried without the ftp.ports.debian.org repo and it still fails
Literally 5 days ago I installed Debian Sid with no issues, it even installed grub and it was working flawlessly. Then 2 days afterwards I wanted to reinstall Debian (do not ask why) and now it magically fails at the package selection screen. Going to alt+f4 shows this error:
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable distribution that some required packages have not yet been created or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help solve the problem:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
libgnutils30 : Depends: libnettle8 (>=3.9~) but 3.8.1-2 is to be installed
python3-apt : Depends: libapt-pkg6.0 (>=2.7.11) but 2.6.0 is to be installed
. . .
Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
What do I do now?
Edit: I also tried without the ftp.ports.debian.org repo and it still fails
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In the end I managed to make an hack-ish installation but I still noticed that packages were disappearing or not installable anymore (like xfce4-goodies, nm-tray and gvfs)
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Does anyone know of any tiling window managers that are available in Debian Sid repos with binaries for 32-bit PowerPC (G4)?
XFCE is just too much for my iBook G4. I maxed out the RAM on said iBook G4 but I haven’t upgraded the hard drive to solid state as I am not a sadist, so it still has the factory mechanical IDE PATA 60 GB hard drive.
XFCE is just too much for my iBook G4. I maxed out the RAM on said iBook G4 but I haven’t upgraded the hard drive to solid state as I am not a sadist, so it still has the factory mechanical IDE PATA 60 GB hard drive.
I am aware of JWM, thanks, but I am asking about tiling window managers (xmonad, hyprland, etc.) specifically, not light window managers.
Oh, umm… i3 or dwm would be my next choices along with running tmux.
Also JWM does have some basic tiling capabilities via keybindings.
Also JWM does have some basic tiling capabilities via keybindings.
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So today I was thinking… this forum, I am willing to bet, is where the bulk of desktop PowerPC 32-bit users come from.
Wouldn’t it be great if we had our own Debian Sid based distro for G3 and G4 Macs?
We could even make it really easy and provide images people could use to image an SSD hard drive and just install that in their G3 or G4 Mac.
For example it is pretty easy to upgrade my Mac mini G4 and Aluminium PowerBook G4. We could maintain images for those models where as all someone would need to do is get an IDE SSD or IDE to SATA adapter, download the image and clone it that drive, pop it in their old Mac.
Obviously this wouldn’t be the best idea for some iBooks and other Macs being as replacing the hard disk in those models is akin to brain surgery…
We could decide as a community what the default desktop environment should be… I was thinking WindowMaker to give a NeXTStep feel.
Just seeing what Mac OS X fans have done with Sorbet Leopard and Shuriken gave me the idea for our own community Debian Sid.
I just think it would be easier for newbies is we had a known good Debian Sid image versus newbies having to hack through repo issues and removed drivers on their own.
Wouldn’t it be great if we had our own Debian Sid based distro for G3 and G4 Macs?
We could even make it really easy and provide images people could use to image an SSD hard drive and just install that in their G3 or G4 Mac.
For example it is pretty easy to upgrade my Mac mini G4 and Aluminium PowerBook G4. We could maintain images for those models where as all someone would need to do is get an IDE SSD or IDE to SATA adapter, download the image and clone it that drive, pop it in their old Mac.
Obviously this wouldn’t be the best idea for some iBooks and other Macs being as replacing the hard disk in those models is akin to brain surgery…
We could decide as a community what the default desktop environment should be… I was thinking WindowMaker to give a NeXTStep feel.
Just seeing what Mac OS X fans have done with Sorbet Leopard and Shuriken gave me the idea for our own community Debian Sid.
I just think it would be easier for newbies is we had a known good Debian Sid image versus newbies having to hack through repo issues and removed drivers on their own.
There are fewer and fewer OS that claim to have PPC support ..and some of those are not very strong. I wonder if we may be dependent on our own expertise to continue an up to date OS...and have wondered if we had a thread that spelt out a kinda 'Linux from scratch' sort of thing.
I dont have that expertise to be able to create that..but I do like the idea of us being independent with our own shared experiences.
Ive been messing with FreeBSD on a G4 iBook. Why: well a few weeks ago booted up (Txt only) an old install CD Id made more than a year ago..and was surprised how quick it was to install. And got me wondering about a bare bones OS like Tiny Core or Slitaz for an iBook.
Since discovering Rairii's suggestion of 'probe-usb multi-boot' Ive got FreeBSD on my iBook..installed from USB stick. If that remains consistent - it opens up trying or testing PPC supporting OSs...we can tinker.
Ya know the song: "We can dance, we can dance."
(Yep - showing my age.)
well - we can tinker - LOL.
I dont have that expertise to be able to create that..but I do like the idea of us being independent with our own shared experiences.
Ive been messing with FreeBSD on a G4 iBook. Why: well a few weeks ago booted up (Txt only) an old install CD Id made more than a year ago..and was surprised how quick it was to install. And got me wondering about a bare bones OS like Tiny Core or Slitaz for an iBook.
Since discovering Rairii's suggestion of 'probe-usb multi-boot' Ive got FreeBSD on my iBook..installed from USB stick. If that remains consistent - it opens up trying or testing PPC supporting OSs...we can tinker.
Ya know the song: "We can dance, we can dance."
(Yep - showing my age.)
well - we can tinker - LOL.
Hi, I am attempting install (3x) on a powerbook g3 pismo (1gb ram, 128gb ssd). Everything goes smoothly, just as documented (even the expected GRUB failure), until this point:
When I enter that, I get:
So the next ybin line does nothing, too, obviously.
I exit the terminal and reboot, since that's all there is left to do, but on reboot it opens into open firmware.
I reset pram, don't know if that mattered, and tried a 4th time, same as above, except on reboot I am now in GRUB, rather than open firmware, so that's good, I think. How do I boot Debian?
Any ideas? Thx for the tremendous work that went into this, by the way.
yabootconfig -b /dev/sda2When I enter that, I get:
/bin/sh: 3: yabootconfig: not foundSo the next ybin line does nothing, too, obviously.
I exit the terminal and reboot, since that's all there is left to do, but on reboot it opens into open firmware.
I reset pram, don't know if that mattered, and tried a 4th time, same as above, except on reboot I am now in GRUB, rather than open firmware, so that's good, I think. How do I boot Debian?
Any ideas? Thx for the tremendous work that went into this, by the way.
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Greetings, sorry in advance for the translation, it's from Google hehe, I have a power mac G5, pmg5 2.3 year 2006
I'm trying to install Debian but all attempts have been unsuccessful. Can anyone tell me where I can find a guide and installation, thank you... I'm new to Linux and Mac.
I'm trying to install Debian but all attempts have been unsuccessful. Can anyone tell me where I can find a guide and installation, thank you... I'm new to Linux and Mac.
I would read both of these threads from beginning to end.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/the-powerpc-debian-wiki.2178457/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/debian-sid-installation-guide-powerpc.2146795/
Also, keep in mind Debian SID branch is unstable. I have ran sudo apt update && apt upgrade only to end up breaking my install and rendering my system unusable.
I would check out Fienix and Adélie these would be more stable distributions.
Debian Sid, especially for PowerPC, is a constantly moving target, and this guide definitely needs a lot of updates, as the last one was almost five years ago, via a member who is no longer posting on the forum. I haven't attempted an install in some time, and the iBook G4 I was using while writing the initial guide died years ago. I would refer to the stickied wiki linked in the quoted reply above rather than this guide from here on, but with some caveats, as that one needs a few updates itself.
Pretty loaded question. If you're asking about the whole platform, you're pretty much out of luck for any sort of comparison.
The CPU alone is more interesting. The Espresso is quite similar to the previous consoles' Gekko or Broadway chips, themselves a relative of the PowerPC 750 (the G3), but as it's multicore it's not quite apples-to-nintendos with a G3. Even single-threaded the Espresso has a faster clock than any G3 Apple shipped in a Mac. The fact that the Espresso is a three-core CPU is also a mixed-bag for comparison because no Mac shipped with three-core chips.
You may see similar raw performance out of, say, a high-end dual-proc G4 such as the Apple-shipped dual 1.42s or perhaps a dual 1.8 or 2.0 G5.
There have been recent updates to PowerPC Sid branch... for example the repository links for apt work now without manually changing them, to at least did when I installed Debian 12 Sid on my iBook G4 a couple of months back. Hence I recommend reading both of those threads as you can get fixes to issues one my encounter (like WiFi Drivers for the iBooks G4 and how to install them).
Any new guide anyone writes would rapidly be outdated, hence using those threads as ongoing knowledge base work IMHO.
I have tried to load Debian 12 on a Quicksilver Mac G4 with an Nvidia GeForce4 MX GPU. Once booted I get to a TTY screen and use my username and password to log in. At that point, I must need to do something to get to a GUI desktop. I tried entering “lightdm” and nothing happens. “Startx” doesn’t work and gives me my favorite error about the server isn’t running or some such thing. I’ve never gotten any Debian distro to work on my G4s or my G5 cheese grater. I think it has something to do with the GPU but I’m not sure.
I’ve also tried modifying the boot commands by adding nvidia modprobe=0 or video=ofonly but never get to a GUI.
Gonna keep trying though.
I’ve also tried modifying the boot commands by adding nvidia modprobe=0 or video=ofonly but never get to a GUI.
Gonna keep trying though.