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Chimera Linux

q66_

q66_

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 11, 2019
78
167
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 🔜 fosdem (@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.
 
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