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iMac G5 Linux boot issue

rabidz7

rabidz7

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 24, 2012
1,205
3
Ohio
Right after installing linux the iMac G5 does not boot, it shows the lubuntu boot screen and then goes to a black error screen.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1368931107.032956.jpg

Please help me.
I did not know that PowerPC linux was so atrociously terrible.
Every computer that I have tried PPC linux on fails! On an AMD64, ubuntu installs perfectly.

I am not hating on linux, I use it all the time on AMD64, I am just saying that it has never worked for me on PPC64.
I love AMD64 linux, and would love PPC64 linux, if it worked.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
rabidz7 said:
I did not know that PowerPC linux was so atrociously terrible.
Every computer that I have tried PPC linux on fails! On an AMD64, ubuntu installs perfectly.
Click to expand...

Just forget it, I myself tried many times on different PPC Macs, never succeeded.
And, for what, Leopard is by far better than any Linux distro for PPC.
 
rabidz7 said:
Please help me.
I did not know that PowerPC linux was so atrociously terrible.
Every computer that I have tried PPC linux on fails! On an AMD64, ubuntu installs perfectly.
Click to expand...

Whoa stop, hold everything. You never knew it was so much trouble? Is this the same OS that you got Mountain Lion running inside of a QEMU VM on? But that didn't fail, at least not publicly. You had that machine, a PowerMac G5, up and running for at least a week compiling QEMU, testing QEMU, forcing Mountain Lion onto it, and then waiting for it to boot in to 10.8.
 
Intell said:
Whoa stop, hold everything. You never knew it was so much trouble? Is this the same OS that you got Mountain Lion running inside of a QEMU VM on? But that didn't fail, at least not publicly. You had that machine, a PowerMac G5, up and running for at least a week compiling QEMU, testing QEMU, forcing Mountain Lion onto it, and then waiting for it to boot in to 10.8.
Click to expand...

That is completely unrelated to the current discussion.

Do not drag the negative past into the future.
 
All history aside; why did you want to boot Linux in the first place? OS X 10.5 and 4 are at least supported by some developers. PowerPC Linux have close to none.
 
AlbertEinstein said:
All history aside; why did you want to boot Linux in the first place? OS X 10.5 and 4 are at least supported by some developers. PowerPC Linux have close to none.
Click to expand...

I have no 10.4 or 10.5 cd, I only have 10.5 usbs which are missing, and my old 10.4 dvd got attacked by the dog.
I tried to burn a 10.5 DVD, but my MBP optical drive is broken.
I burned the linux DVD on an AMD PC I built, but I don't have the xDMGs on the PC.
 
I runned without issues Leopard and Debian Squeeze in dual boot on my G5. I formatted the drive in OS X before installing Debian and Yaboot. Well, in all cases, PowerPC Linux isn't really supported but some distro are stable.

Try another distro. I don't think Ubuntu really support PowerPC systems... I heard the v12.10 doesn't work while the 12.04 works.
 
AFAIK Lubuntu 12.04 is really the only recent Lubuntu version that works with PPC systems with 13.04 coming in a close second.
Lubuntu 12.10 is out of the question.
 
Are you trying to run a graphics environment that uses 3D acceleration, and is your video card compatible with the open source nouveau driver enough to provide 3D acceleration and adequate stability?

Support isn't that great on PPC Ubuntu, since it's completely unofficial, try using Gentoo or something instead. Gentoo at least has a few maintainers, but you do need to know a fair bit about Linux to install and use it properly because you need to compile everything using portage and configure your own kernel. You also might need to install Gentoo from an Ubuntu liveCD since Gentoo needs special configuration to use AirPort, and internet is required for a Gentoo install.
 
AlbertEinstein said:
All history aside; why did you want to boot Linux in the first place? OS X 10.5 and 4 are at least supported by some developers. PowerPC Linux have close to none.
Click to expand...
What purpose does this question serve? He obviously has some reason for wanting to boot Linux - and so be it. Your statement is also false.

You are correct in that Linux PPC has very few dedicated developers, but Linux as a whole probably has the most thriving development ecosystem there is. Given that most of the underlying subsystems in x86 Linux exist in PPC Linux, the only thing which stops the millions of available packages working on PPC is code which makes certain hardware assumptions (endian-ness, word sizes etc.). Such problems are usually fixed very quickly by package maintainers.

With OSX, we are limited, not by the fact that we are using PPC (well, yes we are, but indirectly), but the fact that most modern applications use newer APIs which aren't available on Leopard.


In response to OP:
nouveau / DRM are part of the graphics subsystem - I believe there is a boot option which may need setting which remedies the problem you are having:
WORKAROUND 1: (no xorg.conf)
Disable hardware acceleration/rendering (3d support) by:
a. append nouveau.noaccel=1 to yaboot command
or
b. edit /etc/modprobe.d/nouveau.conf to include
options nouveau noaccel=1

Major downside to workaround 1 is it breaks video playback. (DVD,
Minituve, Flashvideoreplacer.)

WORKAROUND 2: (no xorg.conf)
Change display mode using xrandr and then change it back. I.E. I am using
DVI-I-2 at 1280x1024:
xrandr --output DVI-I-2 --mode 1024x768 --panning 1024x768
followed by
xrandr --output DVI-I-2 --mode 1280x1024 --panning 1280x1024

This resolves the issue. No idea why the --panning option seems to have
affect.

WORKAROUND 3:
Create xorg.conf that disables disconnected outputs (so xrandr -q shows
only one output instead of connected plus two disconnected) AND add
"Virtual" entry under display subsection that is square. xorg.conf attached.

If Virtual is set to actual display size (1280 1024), no change in display
corruption. When set to square of my H size (1280 1280), display corruption
is not there.

Speculation: Problem is related to video memory utilized by "off screen"
elements.
Click to expand...

This bug looks at have crept in recently - hopefully it will be fixed soon.

See: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=668828
 
Last edited:
Won't that turn off his graphics acceleration and decrease performance significantly? Is there any way for him to enable graphics acceleration safely?
 
Wildy said:
What purpose does this question serve? He obviously has some reason for wanting to boot Linux - and so be it. Your statement is also false.

You are correct in that Linux PPC has very few dedicated developers, but Linux as a whole probably has the most thriving development ecosystem there is. Given that most of the underlying subsystems in x86 Linux exist in PPC Linux, the only thing which stops the millions of available packages working on PPC is code which makes certain hardware assumptions (endian-ness, word sizes etc.). Such problems are usually fixed very quickly by package maintainers.

With OSX, we are limited, not by the fact that we are using PPC (well, yes we are, but indirectly), but the fact that most modern applications use newer APIs which aren't available on Leopard.


In response to OP:
nouveau / DRM are part of the graphics subsystem - I believe there is a boot option which may need setting which remedies the problem you are having:


This bug looks at have crept in recently - hopefully it will be fixed soon.

See: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=668828
Click to expand...

I don't think you know how big of a troll the OP is - he regularly makes outlandish claims, and messes up nice discussions, and gets nasty when someone asks "why", in an attempt to see what the END GOAL he is looking for.

Apparantly his OS X dvd's got "attacked by the dog", and his Mountain Lion QEMU port didn't work out so well :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
spyguy10709 said:
I don't think you know how big of a troll the OP is - he regularly makes outlandish claims, and messes up nice discussions, and gets nasty when someone asks "why", in an attempt to see what the END GOAL he is looking for.

Apparantly his OS X dvd's got "attacked by the dog", and his Mountain Lion QEMU port didn't work out so well :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Without sounding pretentious, I know his history perfectly; but to be honest, I couldn't care less. I can guarantee he won't be the only person to have this particular problem, and if we help him, then we help a hundred other people who have the same problem and stumble across this thread.

----------
TorCoolguy said:
Won't that turn off his graphics acceleration and decrease performance significantly? Is there any way for him to enable graphics acceleration safely?
Click to expand...

Hardware acceleration will be de-activated. I have updated the post to include two other possible methods.

Other than that, you'll have to wait for a bugfix.
 
In all honesty, if you intend to run PPC / Linux, I *highly* suggest using Gentoo.

Then any software in any portage tree will be compiled FOR your architecture. Works much better, imho.
 
If you don't want to have to compile everything, the next best thing is Debian. The next best thing up from that is Mint (I sometimes exchange emails with one of the developers - seems like a very dedicated project).

How is Gentoo? I've always wanted to try it out, but never got round to it...
 
It's very excruchiating at times, you really have to be persistant to succeed in an install. It took me a day and a half in total (compilng at all) to make the entire system and XFCE on a eMac G4 800MHz. It runs pretty well, but at least on a subGHz machine, it isn't entirely worth it in my opinion. I would believe on a faster machine it would be better, but i'm not sure because I have been too lazy to run Gentoo on my PowerMac G5.

Just my thoughts.
 
Why do people always assume that their ability to install and use an OS would speak for how good it actually is or not? To quote the infamous zenmaster, "Any OS is only ever going to be as capable as the person using it. If the user has limited abilities then so will the OS."
 
Well, Gentoo is the exception to that rule because there is a gauge on how well you install and use it. You can make a Gentoo install that barely works as well as Windows or you can make one that is extremely efficient and small. Maintaining it also has an impact on how well it actually performs.
 
Also, does a bluetooth apple keyboard and mouse work in a yaboot prompt? I tried to use the keyboard and it did not work; the letters did not show up on the screen as I typed.
 
rabidz7 said:
Also, does a bluetooth apple keyboard and mouse work in a yaboot prompt? I tried to use the keyboard and it did not work; the letters did not show up on the screen as I typed.
Click to expand...

I respect you for admiting that you were lieing

I also don't think there are drivers for that os
 
rabidz7 said:
Also, does a bluetooth apple keyboard and mouse work in a yaboot prompt? I tried to use the keyboard and it did not work; the letters did not show up on the screen as I typed.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't have thought so - you'll probably need a wired keyboard.
 
teller said:
Why do people always assume that their ability to install and use an OS would speak for how good it actually is or not? To quote the infamous zenmaster, "Any OS is only ever going to be as capable as the person using it. If the user has limited abilities then so will the OS."
Click to expand...

Yeah, well, that's true about virtually every human invention. If not wanting to be bothered with fixing bugs, implementing OS upgrades, and mastering the requisite steps for successfully executing code is a limiting factor, then I'm out.:rolleyes:
 
Linux haters of the world...

...unite and take over. To paraphrase Morrissey.

I use PPC Linux, it can be a.....challenge, but it affords a user a completely modern and up to date system/software. OS X, either 10.4 or 10.5 hasn't been updated in donkey's years....AND NEVER WILL BE. PPC Linux is, however, not anywhere near as "complete" as x86 Linux, and takes a lot of patience, forum reading and some mastery of the command line to be comfortable with. What I've learned:

Mainstream Ubuntu is completely out of the question with anything but a fast G4 or G5. Likely you are better off with something else.

MintPPC is extremely user friendly, but the iMac G5 is particularly hard beast to get it installed on. It is however very good with portables, and older Powermacs.
Forum is helpful, developer is helpful, OS 911 is helpful.

Lubuntu PPC has many fans, and I am using it right now. Its pretty user friendly and definitely the OS of choice for G4 towers.

I've never Gentoo'd, but...I'd like to someday.

DescentOS is a newer distro with a PowerPC build that is based off of Debian. It has a very slick user interface. I don't have a Powermac fast enough for it (I think it would also need a fast G4 or G5 to be usable). I would be VERY interested to hear if anyone can get it installed, and how it works for them.

Wasn't above poster Wildy working on a Crunchbang! based mac distro? I'd love to hear how that is coming along...
 
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