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The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
Preface
I made the decision to install OpenBSD 6.9, using a 16GB USB (2.0) flash drive, on my iMac G3/600 (slot-loader). Mostly disappointed by the lack of detailed instructions around the web, for how iMac G3 owners (specifically) can boot off of a USB flash drive, especially when I know that any Mac user with a busted optical drive would probably just get rid of their old slot-loading Mac, I just thought I'd share the process I used, which also includes instructions on how to upgrade to OpenBSD 7.0, and then to OpenBSD 7.1, in that order, without the need to burn additional installation images separately to USB flash drives.


Action Retro, on YouTube, uploaded a video a while back, showing his own installation process for installing OpenBSD. But I just think he skipped some otherwise useful details that I would've preferred he'd left in. Additionally, he was lucky enough to still have a functioning optical drive and burned the .iso to CD. Unfortunately for me, and I'm just as sure as for many/any other slot-loading Mac owners out there, I don't have that luxury.


I used 'dd' on my Linux machine to actually burn the .iso image ('install69.iso'), because the iMac's optical drive is dead. I can't explain why 'dd' on Linux results in a USB flash drive that is actually bootable... but, when i tried creating the flash drive on my Windows machine, using either RUFUS or Balena Etcher, using the same OpenBSD .iso image, it didn't work. That is to say that my iMac's Open Firmware can't seem to recognize the resulting flash drive. I'm guessing that this has something to do with the file system in which the .iso image was originally created. This is very strange to me, since I was actually able to use those Windows programs to successfully burn a bootable Debian Sid .iso image. But I digress.

Bottom line: However you choose to burn your downloaded .iso installation image to USB, may still involve multiple tries in getting it to boot, even if you know you've burned it correctly. More on that, later.

Process

First, i inserted the USB flash drive into my Linux machine, then made sure it was unmounted
Code: 
sudo umount /dev/sd*
... where "*" is where the USB flash drive is actually located.

Then to actually burn the .iso image:
Code: 
sudo dd if=/path/to/install##.iso of=/dev/sd* bs=1M
...where "##" is the version number of the OpenBSD install image.


To boot off the flash drive on my iMac G3, I had to boot into Open Firmware:
  1. While powering-on, hold: Command+Option+O+F.
  2. Continue holding until reaching the white screen that contains the message, saying that it is okay to let go of those keys.
  3. Insert the freshly-burned USB flash drive directly into the bottom USB port. In my case, my iMac G3 has only 2 USB ports. Normally, this would be one USB port for the keyboard and one USB port for the mouse (if the USB keyboard didn't have a USB pass-through port included). To make my life simple, what I ended up doing was to get a separate, cheap, external USB hub to connect my mouse and keyboard to the top USB port.
  4. In Open Firmware, i found that the bottom USB port is designated by the system as 'usb0', while the top USB port was designated as 'usb1'.
Once the USB flash drive was inserted in the bottom USB port, i typed the following commands:
Code: 
setenv boot-device hd:,ofwboot
boot usb0/disk:,ofwboot /6.9/macppc/bsd.rd

One thing I should mention is that, if for whatever reason the attempt to boot off the flash drive fails, at least on my iMac G3, I found that I actually have to RESTART the whole computer and reboot back into Open Firmware to try again. It is very annoying, to say the least, but it works. But this is ONLY if I know for a fact that the .ISO image was first verified (via 'signify') and, of course, burned properly.

Once I got to the part of the installation process that says that it was time to 'install the sets'. I had to specify that I wanted to install from the 'disk', rather than 'cd0'. When it asked me if the disk was mounted, i input 'n' for 'no'. This allowed me to specify the flash drive ('sd0') as the device location where the 'sets' for installation were actually located, and thereby continue with the installation. Note that, after specifying the USB flash drive's device location, the path ultimately still ended in '/6.9/macppc/'.

Immediately after post-install, I actually had to reboot, back into the Open Firmware prompt, and tell the system to set the hard drive as the startup device:

Code: 
setenv boot-device hd:,ofwboot
shut-down

Once I powered-on again, I installed the 'nano' text editor, because that's what I'm most familiar with, and I don't really like 'pico'. And then I also added 'wget', just in case I needed to download something off the web, using a direct download link, later on.

Code: 
su
pkg_add nano wget

Then, I used 'nano' to edit the 'doas' configuration file to let me actually use 'doas'.
Code: 
su
nano /etc/doas.conf

Added the line:
Code: 
permit: wheel
... then CTRL+X to exit, and then SAVE.

From this point, I was able to upgrade to OpenBSD 7.0 and then subsequently to 7.1, without having to burn any .iso image for either of them. All I had to do was:
Code: 
doas su
sysupgrade

The above command automatically downloaded everything needed, for upgrading the installation of OpenBSD 6.9 to 7.0. After it restarted (also automatically), I was brought to the log-in prompt. I then repeated the process, one final time, to upgrade to OpenBSD 7.1:
Code: 
doas su
sysupgrade

Conclusion
And that is where I am, at the moment.

I have not installed an xorg.conf file just yet, but I already know that I will eventually need to either create one from scratch, or download it from a website. That's why I chose to install the 'wget' program, earlier on. Once I have the default GUI working (ie. 'xenodm'), I can then try fooling around with another environment like 'XFCE' (hopefully) or at the very least, 'LXQT'.


A parting note about Debian Sid, MintPPC, Linux Adelie, and MESA drivers

I have mostly abandoned my efforts to get any sort of GUI working in Debian Sid, MintPPC (which is essentially Debian Sid, plus custom-ported Linux Mint packages), and even Linux Adelie. The Rage 128 ('r128') driver (at least in those operating systems) seems to require an older version of 'MESA' to be installed (and 'pinned'), and I can't be bothered to fool around with that, let alone look for where to download it. I just really wish that a working version of MESA could be created ('forked'), specifically to retain existing functionality of the Rage 128, and I suppose for other drivers that had their support similarly-dropped. I KNOW that I saw a Google search result that showed, someone else actually recommended doing just that (ie. forking MESA for older GPUs), but I can't find the link for it anymore.
 
Last edited:
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^ TO MODERATOR: I'm sorry -- i tried to edit my post, above, to remove the 'indent' tags, but it won't let me.

Edit: Okay, I was able to fix my post.
 
Last edited:
Being completely new to OpenBSD, this is kind of embarrassing, but is there a primer on how to get Arctic Fox installed on OpenBSD, after cloning the GitHub Repository? The section on the GitHub repo (https://github.com/wicknix/Arctic-Fox) that appears to tell you, at least on first glance, how to build that browser on OpenBSD... well, it literally says:

  • To Build on OpenBSD
    • latest clang tried (8.0) needs -O0 or it will generate a crashing binary (x86-64 only)
    • x86 does not hang on sputnik javascript tests while on all other systems it does!
    • add LDFLAGS="-Wl,-z,wxneeded" to relax memory checks
    • add TAR=gtar
Click to expand...

.... but those are tips -- not actual instructions that I can use, nor even pretend to know how to use. And so, that's where I am right now, and I'm just taking a break from going in circles. I see that the above repo is owned by @wicknix. But if anyone else has something a bit more concrete and digestible that I can go on, I'd absolutely appreciate it.

That aside, I FINALLY managed to get a GUI going, ie. the default 'xenodm', and all I really want to do is just share my xorg.conf file on here (without having to re-type the whole thing), you know.... just to help other people who may own an iMac G3 slot-loader, and who may want to give OpenBSD a proper spin. Unfortunately, I'm just realizing now that the only two browsers I know of that run, ie. 'dillo' and 'netsurf', don't actually work with MacRumors. More precisely, 'dillo' just refuses to render the site, while 'netsurf' is just not able to render the 'reply' box on this forum thread, for me to actually type up my reply... and that's even after enabling JavaScript and refreshing the page. Anyone else have any ideas?
 
Okay, I managed to use my Windows machine to 'SSH' into my iMac.

From the Windows PC, click on the Start menu (ie. the one with the Windows icon). Type 'cmd' and press 'Enter'.
Code: 
ssh yourusernameontheimac@192.168.XX.XX
...where you use the name of the account you set up on your local Mac/iMac. And the 'XX.XX', are the last digits of your Mac/iMac's IP address, on your local network. Then simply agree to any alert messages that pop up.

Once connected and logged in, I used 'nano' (which I installed previously) to open up my xorg.conf, and used my mouse to select all the lines I wanted and copy-pasted them directly into this reply box, bit by bit.

Less than ideal, but it works.

Code: 
#Action Retro's working xorg.conf for r128 based Macs (at least for OpenBSD 7.0)
#modified by rkmugen, for r128 based SLOT-loader iMac G3's.  Confirmed to work for OpenBSD 7.1.

Section "Files"
 ModulePath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules"
 FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
 FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TTF/"
 FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/OTF"
 FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
 FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
 FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
EndSection

Section "Module"
 Load  "dbe"
 Load  "dri"
 Load  "extmod"
 Load  "glx"
 Load  "freetype"
EndSection


###  rkmugen:  I added the BusID, changed the driver to 'r128',
###  set NoAccel to 'false', set UseFBDev to 'off',
###  and set ForcePCImode to 'true'.
Section "Device"
    Identifier    "Configured Video Device"
        BusID   "PCI:0:16:0"
    Driver        "r128"
    Option      "NoAccel"       "false"
    Option      "UseFBDev"      "off"
    Option        "ForcePCIMode"    "True"
    Option      "Display"       "CRT"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier    "Configured Monitor"
    HorizSync    58-62
    VertRefresh    75-117
EndSection

###  rkmugen:  I changed the Depth to 24 because who wants to
###  work in 16-bit color, i mean come on.
Section "Screen"
    Identifier    "Default Screen"
    Monitor        "Configured Monitor"
    Device        "Configured Video Device"
#    DefaultDepth    16
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth 24
                Modes "1024x768"
        EndSubSection
    Option      "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier "Default Layout"
        Screen "Default Screen"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
    Mode 0666
EndSection


And then, like an hour and a pizza later, it hit me -- I figured out that I could use 'scp' on my Windows 11 machine to copy over the snapshot I took using the 'xwd' command on my iMac. Fyi, I installed GIMP 2.10 on my iMac and converted the snapshot to .JPG beforehand.

As you can see below, I installed 'neofetch' to display the specs of my setup and installed 'feh' to get a decent background image/wallpaper going. I'm not gonna lie... this was more trouble than I think should be required to get even the most basic GUI running. You really are building EVERYTHING from the ground, up -- anything below the 'ground' is practically 'developer' territory. But at the end of it, at least I can get SOME worthwhile functionality working again on this old iMac.

snapped.jpg



Someday, I hope to get Arctic Fox installed on this thing. Maybe I'm just being naiive, but I can't understand why it simply can't be hosted on the OpenBSD's own repository.
 
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I can’t get it to boot on my 17” AlBook (1.5GHz)
I set auto-boot and boot-device which open firmware says ‘ok’. Upon rebooting I’m greeted with a flashing ? Folder.

manually attempting to boot ‘boot hd:,ofwboot’ returns in can’t open.
B7DA008B-8CDE-4CBF-9F0D-E02572E9E4A1.jpeg

Obviously the CD boots fine and the install completes successfully. I’ve also read through some of this which doesn’t have anything useful to fixing this… Any ideas?
 

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rkmugen.linux said:
Okay, I managed to use my Windows machine to 'SSH' into my iMac.

From the Windows PC, click on the Start menu (ie. the one with the Windows icon). Type 'cmd' and press 'Enter'.
Code: 
ssh yourusernameontheimac@192.168.XX.XX
...where you use the name of the account you set up on your local Mac/iMac. And the 'XX.XX', are the last digits of your Mac/iMac's IP address, on your local network. Then simply agree to any alert messages that pop up.

Once connected and logged in, I used 'nano' (which I installed previously) to open up my xorg.conf, and used my mouse to select all the lines I wanted and copy-pasted them directly into this reply box, bit by bit.

Less than ideal, but it works.

Code: 
#Action Retro's working xorg.conf for r128 based Macs (at least for OpenBSD 7.0)
#modified by rkmugen, for r128 based SLOT-loader iMac G3's.  Confirmed to work for OpenBSD 7.1.

Section "Files"
 ModulePath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules"
 FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
 FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TTF/"
 FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/OTF"
 FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
 FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
 FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
EndSection

Section "Module"
 Load  "dbe"
 Load  "dri"
 Load  "extmod"
 Load  "glx"
 Load  "freetype"
EndSection


###  rkmugen:  I added the BusID, changed the driver to 'r128',
###  set NoAccel to 'false', set UseFBDev to 'off',
###  and set ForcePCImode to 'true'.
Section "Device"
    Identifier    "Configured Video Device"
        BusID   "PCI:0:16:0"
    Driver        "r128"
    Option      "NoAccel"       "false"
    Option      "UseFBDev"      "off"
    Option        "ForcePCIMode"    "True"
    Option      "Display"       "CRT"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier    "Configured Monitor"
    HorizSync    58-62
    VertRefresh    75-117
EndSection

###  rkmugen:  I changed the Depth to 24 because who wants to
###  work in 16-bit color, i mean come on.
Section "Screen"
    Identifier    "Default Screen"
    Monitor        "Configured Monitor"
    Device        "Configured Video Device"
#    DefaultDepth    16
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth 24
                Modes "1024x768"
        EndSubSection
    Option      "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier "Default Layout"
        Screen "Default Screen"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
    Mode 0666
EndSection


And then, like an hour and a pizza later, it hit me -- I figured out that I could use 'scp' on my Windows 11 machine to copy over the snapshot I took using the 'xwd' command on my iMac. Fyi, I installed GIMP 2.10 on my iMac and converted the snapshot to .JPG beforehand.

As you can see below, I installed 'neofetch' to display the specs of my setup and installed 'feh' to get a decent background image/wallpaper going. I'm not gonna lie... this was more trouble than I think should be required to get even the most basic GUI running. You really are building EVERYTHING from the ground, up -- anything below the 'ground' is practically 'developer' territory. But at the end of it, at least I can get SOME worthwhile functionality working again on this old iMac.

View attachment 2007643


Someday, I hope to get Arctic Fox installed on this thing. Maybe I'm just being naiive, but I can't understand why it simply can't be hosted on the OpenBSD's own repository.
Click to expand...
should i do a downgrade for work this xorg.conf? i'm on openbsd 7.2 so...
 
a xorg.conf configuration for imac g3 2001? has the ATI Radeon 128 pro, i try everything but nothing work.. help please.
 
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OP was last edited nearly three years ago, does anyone know if GeForce cards (especially the 7800 GS) are better supported these days? I'd love to have an OpenGL 2.0 accelerated desktop if possible.​
 
z970 said:
CLI + GUI GPUs

ATi Rage 128

ATi Radeon 7500

ATi Radeon 9000

ATi Radeon 9200

ATi Radeon 9600

ATi Radeon 9700

ATi Radeon 9800

nVidia GeForce FX 5200

CLI Only GPUs

nVidia GeForce 6600
Click to expand...

Wait, so no GUI on Late 2005 PowerMacs?

And with better GPUs not even CLI??

UPD. GUI is supported, though on a PowerPC OpenBSD seems to be very unstable if not unusable. At least 7.4 release.
 
Last edited:
rkmugen.linux said:
MESA drivers

I have mostly abandoned my efforts to get any sort of GUI working in Debian Sid, MintPPC (which is essentially Debian Sid, plus custom-ported Linux Mint packages), and even Linux Adelie. The Rage 128 ('r128') driver (at least in those operating systems) seems to require an older version of 'MESA' to be installed (and 'pinned'), and I can't be bothered to fool around with that, let alone look for where to download it. I just really wish that a working version of MESA could be created ('forked'), specifically to retain existing functionality of the Rage 128, and I suppose for other drivers that had their support similarly-dropped. I KNOW that I saw a Google search result that showed, someone else actually recommended doing just that (ie. forking MESA for older GPUs), but I can't find the link for it anymore.
Click to expand...

The best thing would be to submit a PR to restore the support in Mesa upstream. If upstream does not care to fix anything, then do the same for the package manager of your preference.
 
Project Alice said:
I can’t get it to boot on my 17” AlBook (1.5GHz)
I set auto-boot and boot-device which open firmware says ‘ok’. Upon rebooting I’m greeted with a flashing ? Folder.

manually attempting to boot ‘boot hd:,ofwboot’ returns in can’t open.
View attachment 2026964

Obviously the CD boots fine and the install completes successfully. I’ve also read through some of this which doesn’t have anything useful to fixing this… Any ideas?
Click to expand...

1. Unfortunately, the whole thing looks like it might work or might not depending on unknown factors.

2. I was able to get it working so far on a PowerBook, where ofwboot and bsd.rd were ditto-ed into macOS root on the 1st partition. And I use boot hd:,ofwboot /bsd from OF.
 
z970 said:
Surf
Install: pkg_add surf
Requirements: G3, 512mb RAM
Notes: Lightweight WebKit-based browser that is started from a terminal by entering 'surf' followed by the desired website. Consult 'man surf' for more details.

Qute Browser
Install: pkg_add qutebrowser
Requirements: G4, 512mb RAM
Notes: Qt-based browser. Works best with LXQt or KDE. Consult 'man qutebrowser' for more details.

Otter Browser
Install: pkg_add otter-browser
Requirements: G4, 512mb RAM
Notes: Opera derivative, not unlike Vivaldi. Utilizes WebKit rendering engine. Consult 'man otter-browser' for more details.
Click to expand...

Hmm, neither of these are available now -_-
 
barracuda156 said:
1. Unfortunately, the whole thing looks like it might work or might not depending on unknown factors.

2. I was able to get it working so far on a PowerBook, where ofwboot and bsd.rd were ditto-ed into macOS root on the 1st partition. And I use boot hd:,ofwboot /bsd from OF.
Click to expand...

Project Alice said:
I can’t get it to boot on my 17” AlBook (1.5GHz)
I set auto-boot and boot-device which open firmware says ‘ok’. Upon rebooting I’m greeted with a flashing ? Folder.

manually attempting to boot ‘boot hd:,ofwboot’ returns in can’t open.
View attachment 2026964

Obviously the CD boots fine and the install completes successfully. I’ve also read through some of this which doesn’t have anything useful to fixing this… Any ideas?
Click to expand...
I used boot hd13:,ofwboot /bsd from OF the last time I installed on my many-partitioned TiBook, I just kept trying numbers, an hour ago after a fresh install it turned out to be boot hd6:,ofwboot /bsd as I'd used a different partition.
 
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sqeeezy said:
I used boot hd13:,ofwboot /bsd from OF the last time I installed on my many-partitioned TiBook, I just kept trying numbers, an hour ago after a fresh install it turned out to be boot hd6:,ofwboot /bsd as I'd used a different partition.
Click to expand...
MISTAKE it is actually now boot hd:6,ofwboot NOT boot hd6:,ofwboot sorry
 
Just wanted to report on some success with OpenBSD and an iBook Clamshell SE.

First, I discovered that OpenBSD 6.8 is the last version that the r128 Xorg driver works for out of the box. Only a basic Xorg.conf file is needed to set resolution modes (example below).

Second, I discovered that OpenBSD 7.0 runs fine with the r128 driver copied over from the 6.8 base. That's just one file: /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/r128_drv.so. So we can run a late-2021 graphical OS on this finicky ancient hardware! It's very smooth and responsive in my experience -- much better than using wsfb on Linux for example.

Third, 7.1 and maybe 7.2 also work if you unpack the X archives from 7.0 on top of the install: xbase70.tgz, xfont70.tgz, xserv70.tgz, xshare70.tgz. I haven't opted for this route myself, so I don't know how stable/secure it is.

With OpenBSD versions beyond that, I started running into ABI major version errors. The r128 driver seems to have stopped working when upstream bumped to version 6.12.0 in 2018. I've submitted a bug report, but I hold no particular hope of it being fixed. I also don't have the computing facilities to try compiling the pre-6.12.0 driver in to a new (e.g. OpenBSD 7.5) xenocara.

Hope this helps someone else out there!

Code: 
# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
# For iBook G3 Clamshell (Powerbook2,1 and 2,2) running OpenBSD
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)

Section "Device"
   Identifier   "ATI Technologies Inc Rage 128"
   Driver      "r128"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
   Identifier   "Generic Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
   Identifier   "Default Screen"
   Device      "ATI Technologies Inc Rage 128"
   Monitor      "Generic Monitor"
   DefaultDepth   16
   SubSection "Display"
      Depth      1
      Modes      "800x600"  "640x480"
   EndSubSection
   SubSection "Display"
      Depth      4
      Modes      "800x600"  "640x480"
   EndSubSection
   SubSection "Display"
      Depth      8
      Modes      "800x600"  "640x480"
   EndSubSection
   SubSection "Display"
      Depth      15
      Modes      "800x600"  "640x480"
   EndSubSection
   SubSection "Display"
      Depth      16
      Modes      "800x600"  "640x480"
   EndSubSection
   SubSection "Display"
      Depth      24
      Modes      "800x600"  "640x480"
   EndSubSection
EndSection
 
Last edited:
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tweedy7736 said:
Just wanted to report on some success with OpenBSD and an iBook Clamshell SE.

First, I discovered that OpenBSD 6.8 is the last version that the r128 Xorg driver works for out of the box. Only a basic Xorg.conf file is needed to set resolution modes (example below).

Second, I discovered that OpenBSD 7.0 runs fine with the r128 driver copied over from the 6.8 base. That's just one file: /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/r128_drv.so. So we can run a late-2021 graphical OS on this finicky ancient hardware! It's very smooth and responsive in my experience -- much better than using wsfb on Linux for example.

Third, 7.1 and maybe 7.2 also work if you unpack the X archives from 7.0 on top of the install: xbase70.tgz, xfont70.tgz, xserv70.tgz, xshare70.tgz. I haven't opted for this route myself, so I don't know how stable/secure it is.

With OpenBSD versions beyond that, I started running into ABI major version errors. The r128 driver seems to have stopped working when upstream bumped to version 6.12.0 in 2018. I've submitted a bug report, but I hold no particular hope of it being fixed. I also don't have the computing facilities to try compiling the pre-6.12.0 driver in to a new (e.g. OpenBSD 7.5) xenocara.

Hope this helps someone else out there!

Code: 
# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
# For iBook G3 Clamshell (Powerbook2,1 and 2,2) running OpenBSD
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)

Section "Device"
   Identifier   "ATI Technologies Inc Rage 128"
   Driver      "r128"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
   Identifier   "Generic Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
   Identifier   "Default Screen"
   Device      "ATI Technologies Inc Rage 128"
   Monitor      "Generic Monitor"
   DefaultDepth   16
   SubSection "Display"
      Depth      1
      Modes      "800x600"  "640x480"
   EndSubSection
   SubSection "Display"
      Depth      4
      Modes      "800x600"  "640x480"
   EndSubSection
   SubSection "Display"
      Depth      8
      Modes      "800x600"  "640x480"
   EndSubSection
   SubSection "Display"
      Depth      15
      Modes      "800x600"  "640x480"
   EndSubSection
   SubSection "Display"
      Depth      16
      Modes      "800x600"  "640x480"
   EndSubSection
   SubSection "Display"
      Depth      24
      Modes      "800x600"  "640x480"
   EndSubSection
EndSection
Click to expand...
Fantastic found! I encountered display issue when booting OpenBSD on iBook G3 (ATI Video card); I have to disable the video driver; I will try to install 6.8 later. BTW, is there anyway to install OpenBSD from USB? The CD drive is dead, OS 9 image works from USB, but not the OpenBSD, I am stuck at OS9.
 
I should have known I was in trouble when I went to install OpenBSD 7.6 and the first thing I tried failed: pkg_add doas, package not found.

I have successfully installed OpenBSD on a 450Mhz G4 with an Nvidia GeForce4 MX card and 1.25GB RAM on its own 20GB hard drive. The G4 does not support attaching an Apple Cinema or Studio Display so I am using the DVI port. OpenBSD boots to the xenodm and I can log in and use the fvwm system. I am using sudo and nano as my editor.

I want to install MATE as my DE. I’ve watched two videos on how to do it but neither method worked. One issue is a lot of the MATE components “can’t be found”. Things like mate session, mate-panel, mate-screensaver, mate-menus all report they can’t be found or installed.

Lightdm, sddm and slim, can’t be found or are no longer available.

Some of the instructions conflict with each other. For example, this wiki says .xinitrc should have an “exec mate” instruction, others state it should be “exec mate-session”. Also modifications to rc.local, rc.local.conf need to be made. The modifications vary from site to site.

I even ran into a problem installing engrampa stating wd0a and wd0h ran out of room!

More work needs to be done. I may try to undo what I’ve done so far, maybe even install a clean OS. Another thing I might try is a different DE. Perhaps XFCE4.

I will also re-read this wiki to see if anyone has had any luck installing MATE or other DE.

Love this forum!
MacMav855
 
A complete list of every package for OpenBSD powerpc can be extrapolated from the package mirror at:

https://cdn.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/7.6/packages/powerpc/

Looking around here, you probably want to install just mate and also configure xenodm to start the MATE session. You should be able to do similar with the xfce package. lightdm, sddm, and slim are actually not in the repository though-- again try xenodm (it should come with your X fileset when installing OpenBSD), but if you want something Linux-familiar, gdm looks to be available.

If you continue to get errors about packages not found, check your mirror configuration.

As for your disk space issue, try double checking your disk label configuration. OpenBSD's installer only allocates about 4GB to /usr by default. If you need a lot of applications, this is not gonna be enough and you'll have to reconfigure the disklabel to do so. It is much easier to do this when installing OpenBSD rather than trying to go back and fix it later.
 
Doq said:
A complete list of every package for OpenBSD powerpc can be extrapolated from the package mirror at:

https://cdn.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/7.6/packages/powerpc/

Looking around here, you probably want to install just mate and also configure xenodm to start the MATE session. You should be able to do similar with the xfce package. lightdm, sddm, and slim are actually not in the repository though-- again try xenodm (it should come with your X fileset when installing OpenBSD), but if you want something Linux-familiar, gdm looks to be available.

If you continue to get errors about packages not found, check your mirror configuration.

As for your disk space issue, try double checking your disk label configuration. OpenBSD's installer only allocates about 4GB to /usr by default. If you need a lot of applications, this is not gonna be enough and you'll have to reconfigure the disklabel to do so. It is much easier to do this when installing OpenBSD rather than trying to go back and fix it later.
Click to expand...
I will do that! Thanks for the feedback. I’ve gotten pretty good at installing the distro, so I will probably reload it and increase the size of the /usr partition. I did load xenodm so I will take that approach to getting Mate to load.

In my first attempt to load Mate I did use the wiki-suggested pkg_add mate and I’ll need to check again but I seem to remember some Mate items not being found but I’ll watch it more closely.

Finally, should I use Xterm from the fvdm screen to perform the pkd_add activities or Ctr-F# and go there to edit files and add packages? I’d log in as root to do the pkg_add activities.

I’m transposing a few instructions using sudo instead of doas and nano instead of picco(?). Hopefully this isn’t an issue.

Thanks again for the reply!
MacMav855
 
MacMaverick855 said:
Finally, should I use Xterm from the fvdm screen to perform the pkd_add activities or Ctr-F# and go there to edit files and add packages? I’d log in as root to do the pkg_add activities.

I’m transposing a few instructions using sudo instead of doas and nano instead of picco(?). Hopefully this isn’t an issue.
Click to expand...
A terminal is a terminal, no matter how it's presented. Either option should work for you.
 
Trying to load the MATE desktop using “pkg_add mate” resulted in numerous components not being found. Anyone know why this would be or how to resolve it?

IMG_1815.jpeg
 
Looks like a chain of nested dependency failures leading back to the marco package, which looks to not be present on package repos.

Your only real guaranteed option here is compile from source.
 
Doq said:
Looks like a chain of nested dependency failures leading back to the marco package, which looks to not be present on package repos.

Your only real guaranteed option here is compile from source.
Click to expand...
Well that’s a bummer and slightly above my pay grade. For those of you following along in your hymnal, this occurs when installing OpenBSD 7.6. Which is likely why the videos installing 6.6 and 7.0 worked when installing the MATE desktop. I’m hoping the dependency issue is what is causing MATE not t launch after (partial?) installation.
 
MacMaverick855 said:
Well that’s a bummer and slightly above my pay grade. For those of you following along in your hymnal, this occurs when installing OpenBSD 7.6. Which is likely why the videos installing 6.6 and 7.0 worked when installing the MATE desktop. I’m hoping the dependency issue is what is causing MATE not t launch after (partial?) installation.
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You can also try the Ports tree (openbsd.org) which may make things easier.

I'll take a look on my OpenBSD install to see if it's possible. It'll be a while before I get any results-- my system is on 7.4 and needs a couple of sysupgrades.
 
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