G5 Linux Status

[skinniezinho]

Hello all,
It has been sometime that I didn't play with PPC, having done it in the past, specially with Powermac G4 and more recently PB G4 12 and sorbet leopard.
I have a 17 Studio CRT that I bought years ago, that I never tested...with a friend we even tried to build this adapter but it shuts down my pb g4 when I plug it.
So I am thinkering of the idea of getting a Powermac g5, to also have the crt running, but to play with.
My question is, what is the current status of linux on these g5s nowadays? I have been watching some youtube videos, and posts here, specially for adelie linux, and it doesn't seem hyper stable, but I may have understood it wrong.

Let me know, for those have adelie or other linux distro running on the g5, specially with adc screens.
Also if emulators for psx, master system, mame work ok.

Have a great day

 

[barracuda156]

Hello all,
It has been sometime that I didn't play with PPC, having done it in the past, specially with Powermac G4 and more recently PB G4 12 and sorbet leopard.
I have a 17 Studio CRT that I bought years ago, that I never tested...with a friend we even tried to build this adapter but it shuts down my pb g4 when I plug it.
So I am thinkering of the idea of getting a Powermac g5, to also have the crt running, but to play with.
My question is, what is the current status of linux on these g5s nowadays? I have been watching some youtube videos, and posts here, specially for adelie linux, and it doesn't seem hyper stable, but I may have understood it wrong.

Let me know, for those have adelie or other linux distro running on the g5, specially with adc screens.
Also if emulators for psx, master system, mame work ok.

Have a great day

Cannot say for Linux, but OpenBSD works on PowerPC. FreeBSD seems pretty broken at the moment, at least its ppc64 port.

P. S. Depending on what you need, you may be better off with 10.5.8.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Debian 12 ppc64 was released 7-12-2024. I kind of ran it on ADC in the sense that I had a a1047 powermacg5 connected to an ADC 23” Apple Acrylic Cinema m8536 Display via a m8661 dvi to adc adapter.

 

[panzerkiller]

Neither Linux nor BSD is good choice for PM G5, due to the lack of popularity of G5. I spent a few months and ends up with OpenBSD, but it is 32bit and use 3Gb ram max. So I gave up and sold the PM G5.

 

[barracuda156]

Neither Linux nor BSD is good choice for PM G5, due to the lack of popularity of G5. I spent a few months and ends up with OpenBSD, but it is 32bit and use 3Gb ram max. So I gave up and sold the PM G5.

macOS works fine and can use 16 GB RAM

 

[Doq]

Neither Linux nor BSD is good choice for PM G5, due to the lack of popularity of G5. I spent a few months and ends up with OpenBSD, but it is 32bit and use 3Gb ram max. So I gave up and sold the PM G5.

Adélie Linux worked for me and has a PPC64 build that will run on a G5 no problem. The only issue I have with Adélie on my G5 is that idle power draw is slightly higher (but is also common across Linux as a whole IIRC). Installation is also far more straightforward than trying to finagle a specific Debian sid snapshot.

 

[AdamBuker]

Depending on what you are wanting to do with it, you might give Fienix or Chimera a try

 

[haramia]

What desktop environment have you found is a good fit for a G5? Does LXQt or MATE work on Debian 12?

 

[Doq]

You can probably run any desktop of choice on a G5. I have Plasma 5 installed on my G5 and it works incredibly well.

 

[mac57mac57]

Adélie Linux worked for me and has a PPC64 build that will run on a G5 no problem

@Doq, this is exciting! I have been looking for a good Linux for my PM G5. Are you aware of any major issues with Adelie Linux on a PM G5? I am guessing that it is a Debian derivative?

 

[Doq]

I am guessing that it is a Debian derivative?

It isn't. Adélie is its own independent distribution with its own team and package sets.

Are you aware of any major issues with Adelie Linux on a PM G5?

There is a nonzero chance you won't be able to use the disk partitioner in the installer. I was able to on my G5, but if you can't I've written up a quick and dirty guide on using fdisk to create the right partition layout.

 

[mac57mac57]

Thanks @Doq - I will give this a try.