Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Tankerthebuberz

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 3, 2023
116
76
Well, since packages haven't been touched since last year, and after a failed attempt to contact Casey in the last few months, I believe Fienix Linux has reached end-of-life... unless someone knows differently?
 
Packages? It’s based on Debian. They will always be up to date as long as Debian PPC exists. Just add in the debian repositories and update. He does port or build custom packages now and then however, and may not update those with every new release. He also just posted to the Fienix news blog 2 weeks ago, and is active on the x5000 forums, so i doubt it’s EOL.

 
@wicknix well from what I’ve found you can’t just change repositories…the problem comes in when you add Debian repositories it try’s to update packages that are broken in mainline Debian like libreoffice which has been broken since last year along with gimp and vlc….most the common applications included fienix are broken in mainline Debian sid from what I’ve found….im using the repositories that were given to me by the guy from Germany who is maintaining the Debian port….so unless I’m doing something wrong just changing repositories and running an update without things breaking is not an option if you want the default packages installed with fienix in that case misewell not even touch fienix and just download netinstall and go that route as there would be less headaches with holding packages back and all that other mess and form what I’ve seen some of the packages he is using are no longer used in mainline Debian……that’s what I was trying to get at by saying eol. I did a fresh install for the first time since last year and changed over the repositories and noticed most of Casey’s included applications break…so unless I run the holdback for those packages it causes more issues then it’s worth
 
@wicknix I think there’s some confusion I’m using his install image…..which has all this stuff preinstalled and uses his own sources and not Debian ports…..I’m not using netinstall…Unless I’m doing something wrong…I usually would just install using his image and use Debian sources from Sid after completed by editing sources but when I did it this time it broke the companion app to enable acceleration and software suite, it updated libreoffice from Sid repository and then uninstalled it because the package is broken and and has been since sept of last year along with vlc…I mean if I’m doing something wrong and there’s a solution out there I wouldn’t mind taking any feedback but there’s a few of us that have used it and had the same issues…that’s why I posted here because it’s not just me…I have corrected the issues by uninstalling the companion app along with all his xorg(which are older) and doing everything manually but the point I was trying to make is your better off if it’s been discontinued to just use the netinstall unless I’m wrong….but I had to do way more work then if I would’ve just did a netinstall…
 
Last edited:
Huh. I guess it didn’t have an impact on me adding the debian sources, but i don’t use stock Feinix either. I had removed MATE and all the Feinix “labeled” packages and went with IceWM. Then i went from there and built the system i wanted. I really only installed it because i wanted Yaboot instead of grub, and i needed a modern-ish base to build SeaLion with. That said, he is just 1 guy doing this on the side by himself. It’s a huge undertaking. Why not just use the system the way it was meant to be used? So a few packages are a year old. Not really a big deal. Do his patched versions of what’s broken in SID work? AFAIK, yes. If it ain't broke dont fix it. ;-)

Really the only packages that should be updated regularly would be the web browsers. A 1 year old version of LibreOffice or GIMP isn’t going to kill anybody. Just look at Ubuntu LTS releases… They don’t update everything. Only security updates and browser updates. The packages that came with said LTS remain the same for stability.

Cheers
 
Last edited:
@wicknix I just appreciate you responding and your feedback on this . I was just worried that I was doing something wrong…grub is slowwwwwww..I prefer yaboot all the way. Thank you for everything you do!!!! ….and a side question - did you happen to figure out how to fix the kde 5 graphics issues?
 
I didn't know kde had issues. I don't use it, and i dont follow the mailing lists. I'm an IceWM guy. Not a fan of other DE's or WM's. The DE's (xfce/mate/kde/etc) are too heavy for PPC's anyway. Even on my x86 machines with better specs, i still run IceWM. It's what i like, and it fits my flow.

Cheers
 
Well, since packages haven't been touched since last year, and after a failed attempt to contact Casey in the last few months, I believe Fienix Linux has reached end-of-life... unless someone knows differently?
It's been a long time since you posted this. There is a known issue with the Fienix packages. Specifically with the ones in Evo testing. Currently my system is not downloading sources like it should and just stops. So I have packages held back. Trying update packages results in error.

Casey is aware and packages are being rebuilt. He is assisting me on the X5000 forums. :)
 
I didn't know kde had issues. I don't use it, and i dont follow the mailing lists. I'm an IceWM guy. Not a fan of other DE's or WM's. The DE's (xfce/mate/kde/etc) are too heavy for PPC's anyway. Even on my x86 machines with better specs, i still run IceWM. It's what i like, and it fits my flow.

Cheers
Hi. I have an R7 250 which is even slower since it lacks 3d so desktop is sluggish. However it's fine with an older gnome shell used in Ubuntu. But Mate just makes it worse. I don't know if it's PPC or the version I have but Mate just crashes on load. It seems to change depending on kernel but it's buggy. In the past on any platform I have found some programs just crash because a file was missing. Doesn't look very robust programming! It gets annoying trying to use menu when it keeps snapping it away because it crashed again.

Anyway my Fienix is stock standard. Well up to a point. I am loath to "pollute" it with Debian sources because I have already broken a previous Fienix. I broke a previous Fienix by doing an update and upgrade using only Fienix repos. So I kept it clean. But the update wrecked the system and it needed replacing. I can only imagine what wreckage would occur if I succumbed to temptation and added some Debian sources to fix my packages. :p
 
quick unrelated Fienix question:

Earlier this year I installed Fienix in a G5 DC and Neofetch reported a 32 bits Linux kernel. I wanted a 64 bits distro so I replaced it with Void.

About one month ago Actionretro made a video installing Fienix in a G5 Imac and it reported 64 bits.

I could not find an explanation why I ended up with a 32 bits fienix inside my G5 DC. Does anyone have a clue of what might have happened?
 
I could not find an explanation why I ended up with a 32 bits fienix inside my G5 DC. Does anyone have a clue of what might have happened?
There's one explanation I can think of when coming across the same mismatch with a 64-bit CPU. I have noticed Fienix running in 32-bit user space apart from the kernel. So, the kernel can be 64-bit, but the user space of the core Fienix software will be running in 32-bit.

In your case, both are 32-bit. So either the wrong kernel has been installed, which is still compatible, or your boot loader is booting the wrong kernel. I don't recall what boot loader Fienix uses to boot. I don't run it on a Mac myself.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.