Trying to install Adelie Linux 1.0-beta5 on a G4 MDD, installation stops at configuring my hard drive.

[Bedaso]

Hello, I'm not sure if this is the best place to ask but since I see quite a handful of Linux posts regarding Adelie, Debian, MintPPC, and others I thought I'd ask here beyond the Adelie IRC in hopes of shedding some light on this error I'm getting, since the Adelie subreddit is very empty.

When I go to install the Adelie operating system via the graphical interface, I choose the recommended settings and it goes smooth until it starts to configure my disk where a red exclamation point next to it appears and the installer stops saying something is wrong with my disk. I tried following a post from the subreddit 3 years ago after googling some errors in the log, and it said something about manually formatting the disks and or running the installer as su, the first ended in the same result, and the latter ended in the installer failing to save the installation script citing a permission error.

If anyone here knows enough about Linux and or Adelie, is there anything I can do, or should I just give up and wait in the IRC? It happens in both the LXQT and KDE media I have. I know it's a bit impatient to ask this but I'd like some ideas to try in the mean time, or in the rare case they don't know what to do, I had that happen a long time ago when I first used Adelie and launching into the DE hardlocked my G4 because of my GPU.

I saved the script from the LXQT error if you need a read on what happens: https://pastebin.com/VcREr67K

As I finish writing this, I remember reading somewhere today it may be an internal clock issue (ergo CMOS), though I don't know how it would affect the partitions.

I apologize If I left anything out on accident, I can try to add further information if anything is asked for.

 

[Andy1248]

I have a similar experience. Last night was trying to get it installed. The live part loked very good. I tried to follow the youtube video:

I too would like to know if anyone has managed to get this installed on a powerbook g4.

 

[saxfun]

Watch carefully the partitioning and formatting!

But at the end you cannot install the GUI software, even the text mode install is corrupted. you have to download a different .iso file: adelie-inst-ppc-1.0-beta5-20240426. (size 488,3mb) that is gonna work!

 

[Doq]

I was able to just send it on my PMG5 and it worked 99% without issue, save for not seeing GRUB on the boot picker.

My immediate first thought with OP's problem was that the disk might be bad.

---

e~

Okay, I went and did another installation on the Twelve and I ran into the OP's issue. Fortunately I know the disk structure that Adélie expects so here is a quick and dirty instruction on how to prepare a disk for Adélie Linux. No specific download required, I did this with the LXQt livecd on the Twelve and the same probably would've applied to the KDE livecd I used on the G5 if I needed to. Yes, you can even install a desktop right from the installer.

I am assuming that you are just going to install Adélie solo, though I wouldn't doubt that with a few tweaks a dual boot configuration is possible.

Of course, replace sda with your actual disk identifier if it is different. sda is correct in a majority of cases, but if you're installing Adelie to, say, a second hard drive, it may be sdb or something else; be sure to check to be absolutely certain.

Spoiler: Adélie disk configuration (and bonus install tip)

in mac-fdisk:

## create new partition map
i

## create 100MB NWBB (you can't use mac-fdisk's b function as it creates a NWBB that's far too small)
C
2p
100M
boot
Apple_Bootstrap

## create 1GB swap partition (probably optional)
C
3p
1G
swap
Apple_UNIX_SVR2

## fill the rest of the disk with /
c
4p
4p
root

## write and quit
w
y
q

in shell, format new partitions

# mkfs.hfs /dev/sda2
# mkswap /dev/sda3
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda4

Finally, in the Adélie installer, select the option to use existing partition. On the next screen select /dev/sda4 as / and /dev/sda2 as /boot/grub and finish the installer wizard as you like.

After installation completes, try rebooting and seeing if GRUB appears. If it doesn't (mine did not, both G5 and G4), boot back into livecd and follow these commands in shell:

# mount /dev/sda4 /target
# mount -B /dev       /target/dev
# mount -t proc  none /target/proc
# mount -t sysfs none /target/sys
# chroot /target

# mount /dev/sda2 /boot/grub
(if mount fails here, try again after # mkdir -p /boot/grub)
# curl -o /boot/grub/ofboot.b https://distfiles.adelielinux.org/source/grub-ofboot.b
(if you do not have curl, you can add it with # apk add curl)
# grub-macbless /boot/grub/grub

Reboot again, and if GRUB still doesn't appear, you will need to invoke GRUB manually in Open Firmware with boot hd:2,\ofboot.b

 

[Bedaso]

Hey, sorry, I'm very late. I talked to the devs a day after writing this post and forgot to edit in that I was told they broke the graphical installer for PowerMacs. You can run an update that'll fix it for G5s but as of writing the original post they were working on G3's/G4's. Thank you Doq for helping me out, I'll see if this works on my G5 as I've been using it the most as of writing my reply.

I've been having some weird voodoo issues with my G5 I might detail in another post since it's a bit off topic here, it might prevent me from installing on said G5 anyways even if they were to fix it.

 

[Bedaso]

I've stopped using my G4 for now, but I'm having weird drive issues on Adelie as well on my G5, I'd like to ask in their IRC but it seems to be down as of now.

A third of it seems to have been because of my RAM which I fixed, another third of it might be chipset issues as told from a friend of mine, and the last third might just because of Adelie. I'm not sure if I should detail it all here as this post is originally for my G4, however the issue still persists on different hardware.

If you're reading this Doq, I will add I tried manually formatting the drives in terminal and I didn't get past the first command on either my HDD or SSD because "i" will make the drive only have 4 blocks instead of the max amount, which I suspect is because of Adelie, something I didn't exactly notice on the Void CD I have. When I tried installing it, I was able to format the whole drive without any hitch, likewise if I use the Adelie KDE graphical editor - however that doesn't have enough features to use for PowerPC macs if I'm not mistaken (I couldn't find enough information for a manual format on this so I cannot be 100% certain.)

Additionally, if I were to install Adelie or format my drive using the GUI after this, it'll both fail. However if I restart my Mac, and try either both Adelie will properly install and I can format my drive if I want to - despite this it seems that Adelie doesn't move ANY files to any drive. Which seems to be drive issues akin to what I saw on the G4.

The aforementioned update I ran on my G4 and it actually updated, but didn't work as it was for a G5, not a G4. However I forgot the actual command to run in the terminal, and I can't check the IRC history on my laptop
as their IRC is down. 😭

 

[Doq]

If you're reading this Doq, I will add I tried manually formatting the drives in terminal and I didn't get past the first command on either my HDD or SSD because "i" will make the drive only have 4 blocks instead of the max amount, which I suspect is because of Adelie, something I didn't exactly notice on the Void CD I have.

That shouldn't be happening.

The i command initialises a new partition map for the disk, overwriting all existing maps, and should take over the entire disk (because you can't have multiple partition maps (naturally) on a disk).

I would suspect the disk before suspecting the tool in this case, especially as mac-fdisk isn't really updated beyond bugfixes anymore (if even that).

 

[Bedaso]

That shouldn't be happening.

The i command initialises a new partition map for the disk, overwriting all existing maps, and should take over the entire disk (because you can't have multiple partition maps (naturally) on a disk).

I would suspect the disk before suspecting the tool in this case, especially as mac-fdisk isn't really updated beyond bugfixes anymore (if even that).

Which is strange, Mac OS is fine, Mac OS partitions read fine in mac-fdisk, graphical partition editor initializes a partition map just fine after a restart if I don't do it from a fresh boot, but not here. Very painful to see.

Not sure what I can do, swapping a drive out? Both the SSD and HDD exhibit this behavior.

 

[MacMaverick855]

A bit late to the party, but I too am having issues installing the Adelie Beta on my G5 cheese grater. I’m installing it on its own 250GB HD and have used both the graphical and text (mac-fdisk) methods of formatting the drive with no luck. I am not sure if grub is installing. The Adelie Disk does not show up when holding down the Option (alt) key on startup, the grub menu does not appear after a reboot from the install. I’ve tried to boot using Open Firmware but that hasn’t worked either.

Any suggestions on how to get the G5 to see Grub or boot the Adelie install?

 

[MacMaverick855]

OK, here’s a new development: Should it matter that the Nvidia GeForce4 MX card I have is an AGP card? I’m having GPU issues with my Quicksilver G4 installing Adelie (and other distros such as Fienix, Debian, etc) I need a command line entry that will help whatever system I’m trying to install give me a GUI!. The best I can do right now is get to a text only mode in Adelie but if I try to use horizon-ui I get a message that the system “cannot open display”. Something about qt platform needs an application or extension xcb. In order to get to the text mode/cli in either Fienix or Adelie is to enter nouveau.modeset=0 when booting from yaboot in Fienix and Grub in Adelie.

Thanks,
MacMaverick855