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Chimera Linux

q66_

q66_

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 11, 2019
79
172
Brno, Czech Republic
my project of the last ~2 years and what i've been focusing on after leaving voidlinux:

Chimera Linux

Chimera Linux
chimera-linux.org chimera-linux.org

an early iso image for ppc64 is now available: https://repo.chimera-linux.org/live/testing/chimera-linux-ppc64-LIVE-20230620-gnome.iso

floss.social

Chimera Linux (@chimera_linux@floss.social)

Attached: 1 image first experimental big endian #powerpc #ppc64 iso is available: https://repo.chimera-linux.org/live/testing/chimera-linux-ppc64-LIVE-20230620-gnome.iso here is it running from usb on my 2005 #powermac g5 keep in mind it's a tier 3 architecture, so don't expect perfection
floss.social floss.social

at very least it boots/works on my machine, expect all of the usual big endian nits though, and probably a ton of other additional jank currently not present on the tier1 architectures

i might get around to launching a 32-bit port eventually (a few months) as well, but for now some toolchain issues got in the way

pmac.png
 
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I whish my G5 quad works so i would test this with a decently modern gpu, instead i have to use my agp one, how well would a geforce 6800 gt work with this distro?
 
ITzTravelInTime said:
I whish my G5 quad works so i would test this with a decently modern gpu, instead i have to use my agp one, how well would a geforce 6800 gt work with this distro?
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dunno, the 6600le that is in the gpu slot on mine fails to modeset (no display) which i've been experiencing since at least early 5.x kernels on other systems, so hard to say (maybe my card is just bad though)
 
do keep in mind that installing it is going to be tricky right now considering 1) there is no documentation on how to do so, so you have to be familiar with how the boot process of a power mac works, and adapt 2) there is no native tool to deal with APM partition tables or legacy HFS filesystems, both of which are needed to set up a bootloader; `parted` can deal with APM, but one has to install it first, and it's a little bit clunky especially for creation of the bootstrap partition, and for HFS there is currently nothing; i'll add `mac-fdisk` and `hfsutils` in the coming days/weeks
 
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IMG_3186.jpeg
Just attempted to boot via open firmware the live image from a usb drive (formatted using the dd command in terminal) and got this far. Using a powermac 11,2 with 16GB ram and Radeon X1900 G5 edition. Used ‘\boot\grub\powerpc.elf’ as the boot file path. It loaded into grub then attempted to boot before crashing into open firmware.
 
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Just posting to send my love and support. At this point, my Mac Mini M1 has made me post less and less on vintage hardware. Still, I love the work and want to be supportive. I may give Chimera a try.
 
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IMG_2236.jpeg
If you add 32 bit I would write you a check right now for 1 billion dollars(just don’t cash the check😂.
 
q66_ said:
blahaj.social

nina (@q66@blahaj.social)

Attached: 4 images here clang-compiled (incl llvm_ias and whatnot) linux/musl, running on 32-bit ppc for the first time ever booting this was very funny because the usb stick does not appear in the OF device tree when put in the laptop's usb port, but does appear if you plug it into an old...
blahaj.social blahaj.social
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Just out of curiosity, are you planning on supporting Apple Silicon Macs in the future? I like the idea of having an OS that would be common for all my PPC, Intel, and AS Macs.
 
I've written this below in my "Attempts to install Linux etc..." thread, but I just found this thread so I might as well put it here - not a successful Chimera Live 32-bit PPC install as you can see. Great work nonetheless, and thanks so much for taking the time and effort to build for 32-bit PPC ! 👍 :)

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I actually just downloaded latest Chimera live 32-bit ppc (file : "chimera-linux-ppc-LIVE-20250214-gnome.iso") and dd'ed on usb stick, boot picker does show a happy gnu icon with full OS name below it so clicked on it, showed a "Welcome to GRUB!" screen, took several minutes before anything else happens... then the grub menu showed up but for only a few seconds before auto going to "Booting Chimera Linux 6.13.etc", didn't have the time to pick another item in the (short) list, and... goes ahead with the install, get to the login screen, but :

the keyboard isn't very responsive, the fans get on, I sense there's some process going in the background that prevents typed keys to appear on the screen, which flashes like every 5s or so, I see that I have to wait after a "flash" in order to type the next letter, so finally able to enter "root" as the login, however since the password is hidden I don't know which keys are taken in and which are not (as if not typed in at all) and so unable to login unfortunately, always get "login incorrect"...

(note: I had posted here a previous attempt which gave same symptoms plus a garbled screen, but I realized I had an external monitor + wireless mouse + keyboard connected thru a hub, so I disconnected the whole bunch and the screen doesn't get garbled anymore - however other symptoms still effective)
 
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I've finally been able to login to root (kinda miracle, it regularly stops reading keys I enter (stops for an unknown amount of time) until it resumes reading a couple keys and stops again), got the # prompt, did an ls .. and stuff, but then what ? Can I launch a DE, and how ? I went to the Chimera installation page but can't find any explanation on what to do next...🤔

(btw I don't intend to install it for now, just use it as a live session, see if/how it works with my laptop, the desktop etc...)

Update : after a while, fans go back to "normal" spinning/noise, typed keys are less ignored so getting somewhat easier to enter commands, I guess the eventual process that seemed to run initially has stopped.
 
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