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MintPPC project

MrPilot said:
hello!
What could we PBG4 users look forward to coming from tiger and leopard, in regards to functions? I have never used linux at all...
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wicknix said:
@sparty411 as mentioned, upper bay. :)

Cheers
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@MrPilot better web browsers. Everything else is similar.

Cheers
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Don't forget security. You can't even start to compare the security of 10.4/5 to something modern like Ubuntu.
 
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After the 4.4 Kernel is deprecated, a handful of PowerPC machines are going to be screwed. Would it really be all that insecure to just continue using it, as long as userland stuff was current?
 
DearthnVader said:
I had this same trouble with my G5 Quad, yaboot can't read the ext4 partition.

I had to make a /boot partition and format it ext3.
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Great info, thanks. I tried it this morning without this knowledge and coulndn’t get yaboot to fire up either the 5 or 4 kernel. I will do another test when I have the time with a separate ext3 formatted /boot partition. If that is the solution, it will be of great help to MintPPC for G5.
 
I have been trying to do this with a clean install. I can't get it to create an EXT3 /boot partition as it's either complaining that there is already one ( New world one ), or when I remove the boot flag from that Apple one, it complains it can't mount /boot.

I'm not too familiar with the manual partitioning. @DearthnVader if you can maybe guide us?
 
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MoerBoer said:
I have been trying to do this with a clean install. I can't get it to create an EXT3 /boot partition as it's either complaining that there is already one ( New world one ), or when I remove the boot flag from that Apple one, it complains it can't mount /boot.

I'm not too familiar with the manual partitioning. @DearthnVader if you can maybe guide us?
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can you post the partitioning scheme of your iMac G5 ?
 
@Jeroen Diederen : I've tried more combinations, but here is 2 that both failed.
 

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IMG_0642 is the way I would go as well. Is partition #2 in 642 formatted hfs (bootstrap) ?
edit: didn't look right, it is , I see it in the picture...weird that it doesn't work like this.
Maybe @DearthnVader can shed a light on this.
 
Jeroen Diederen said:
IMG_0642 is the way I would go as well. Is partition #2 in 642 formatted hfs (bootstrap) ?
edit: didn't look right, it is , I see it in the picture...weird that it doesn't work like this.
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Yup, partition #2 is the bootstrap. When trying to proceed, it's complaining that there are two /boot mount points and it can't be like that
 
Where in the installation process does it complain about having two /boot mount points? At the partiitioning step? In the picture you have only the bootstrap given a "b" flag. This would be fine I think.
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Try to set the "b" flag to the /boot partition and leave the bootstrap without a "b" flag. The installer wants to install Grub in /boot, that's why.
You just have to maybe then create an empty hfs partition sdb2 into which you later install yaboot. The installer maybe does not understand why you would create two boot partitions.

I can find another one reporting problems with yaboot and ext4:

Debian PPC Starters Manual - Power Progress Community Projects Wiki

wiki.powerprogress.org wiki.powerprogress.org

On an IBM wiki I find this:
Bootloaders:
There are three bootloaders for PowerLinux available nowadays:

  • yaboot (supports only ext3,reiserfs,xfs as rootfs)
  • GRUB2 (supports broader sets of filesystems including mdraid1 and LVM)
  • petitboot (OPAL/PowerNV)

Depending on what bootloader is in use, you may require a filesystem for /boot which bootloader supports.

- Since GRUB2 supports almost everything, so far only one known case where /boot is needed is mdraid0.
- yaboot needs /boot for most of the cases, since support for rootfs is quite limited

Welcome to Wikis

www.ibm.com www.ibm.com
 
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MoerBoer said:
@Jeroen Diederen : I've tried more combinations, but here is 2 that both failed.
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Sorry, my error, you need separate partitions for Root and Home, it's the root partition that needs to be formatted ext3.

The installer should ask you if you want separate Root and Home partitions, then you will likely need to manually change the root fs to ext3.

I also made my root partition bigger than the default, as running out of space on a root partition is never fun.
 
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DearthnVader said:
Sorry, my error, you need separate partitions for Root and Home, it's the root partition that needs to be formatted ext3.

The installer should ask you if you want separate Root and Home partitions, then you will likely need to manually change the root fs to ext3.

I also made my root partition bigger than the default, as running out of space on a root partition is never fun.
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As long as the kernel resides in an ext3 partition it will probably work, also with /boot and / partition only. I will try all these different combinations to see what works and what not.
Accidentally, I had a look at MintPPC11, how this was done on my G5 iMac, and indeed there I also had /home and / separated.
 
I don't know what it is, but I assume it's yaboot with a bug that can't read ext4, even tho yaboot from Mate 16.04 has no trouble reading ext4 on my DC G5.

The DC and the Quad share the same firmware, so I don't think it has anything to do with the model, I think it's a bug in the version of yaboot we are using.

I did confirm the Open Firmware path is correct, so I know it's not that.
 
I think yaboot in Mate 16.04 is the 32-bits version whereas on your Quad you have a 64-bits userland and therefore 64-bits yaboot. Maybe the 64-bits version can't handle ext4.

update: Ubuntu 16.04 uses 32 bits yaboot1.3.16:

MintPPC on G3,G4 now installs yaboot 1.3.17 32 bits and does not complain about ext4.

Installation instructions – MintPPC

www.u58733p55594.web0093.zxcs-klant.nl
 
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So when trying again with separate partitions, should I try the standard install instructions for yaboot as per your blog @Jeroen Diederen , or should I do the 64-bit ones posted earlier in the thread?
 
Dronecatcher said:
Endless hassles as evidenced in this thread ;)
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For G3, G4 MintPPC works out of the box. Not too dramatic @Dronecatcher.
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MoerBoer said:
So when trying again with separate partitions, should I try the standard install instructions for yaboot as per your blog @Jeroen Diederen , or should I do the 64-bit ones posted earlier in the thread?
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You can folow my advice on my blog but at the partitioning step you have to do a different setup. Create a root partition ext3 (where the kernel will reside) and a home partition (ext3 or ext4). Make a bootstrap partition for yaboot. I guess this should work but I can't do it myself now (@work).
I guess root only ext3 will also work (without /home).
 
Jeroen Diederen said:
For G3, G4 MintPPC works out of the box. Not too dramatic @Dronecatcher.
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You can folow my advice on my blog but at the partitioning step you have to do a different setup. Create a root partition ext3 (where the kernel will reside) and a home partition (ext3 or ext4). Make a bootstrap partition for yaboot. I guess this should work but I can't do it myself now (@work).
I guess root only ext3 will also work (without /home).
Click to expand...

Yup, already did that ( EXT3 for `/` ). It's busy installing. Fingers crossed. Will update soon.
 
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Same issue when trying to install yaboot as before.

I'm going to try rescue mode and do as previous in the thread, once the install is done.

This is how the partitions were set up.
 

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Jeroen Diederen said:
For G3, G4 MintPPC works out of the box. Not too dramatic @Dronecatcher.
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I speak as one who's installed Linux many times on Powerbooks and iBooks - and yes, I can confirm MintPPC was the best years ago for it's bundled script to tie up all the loose ends that a vanilla install of Debian or other distros left you to fathom for yourself.
I'm forever sceptical because performance, even from a skeletal install of Debian wasn't on a par with OSX and software choices were spartan for my interests.
Linux on X86-64 I've always been a fan of...I've yet to try a G5 install beyond running a live CD.
 
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