PowerMac G5 Debian problems

[Morc]

Hi guys. I can't seem to install any version of debian properly on my PowerMac G5 2.3GHz Dual Core with a Radeon 9700.
I tried Debian 8 which installs but yaboot refuses to go to the second stage boot, Debian 10 which does install but after booting i'm just left on a black screen
Debian Sid doesn't even boot (OpenFirmware pops and says something about memory access)
Debian Sid remix installs too but also only a black screen...

I tried video=ofonly and also radeon.agpmode=-1 but no changes anywhere..


EDIT: small update, i was messing with other monitor which also didn't show a thing, i also tried running xrandr --size 800x600 which also did nothing. Then i shut it off and i put back 1GB RAM to it that it came with when i bought it 2 years ago. I started booting linux and i'm now on the login finally. The problem now is only to find out if it was the RAM(not likely i think) or the xrandr command

EDIT2: it's weird, xrandr isn't in the system

 

[Jeroen Diederen]

The problem with Debian is that it does not let you install non-free firmware. Some platform-dependent stuff like b43-firmware cutter is not even available for PowerPC anymore...I have those things in the MintPPC repository. I am not sure whether the latest kernel runs well on your machine.

 

[Morc]

The problem with Debian is that it does not let you install non-free firmware. Some platform-dependent stuff like b43-firmware cutter is not even available for PowerPC anymore...I have those things in the MintPPC repository. I am not sure whether the latest kernel runs well on your machine.

It's a bit weird because i installed non-free and then updated it to bullseye and everything(that i tried) seems to be working just fine

 

[MacMaverick855]

Attempt to install Debian 10 on Mac Powerpc64 G5, dual core, 4gigs RAM, separate 200 GB HD, Radeon 9600 GPU

On a recommendation from member “wicknix” and following the Debian 10 Sid install instructions by member “swamprock” to the letter, I was only able to get to a Grub boot screen with two choices, Launch Debian and Advanced options. Chosing the Debian boot resulted in a black screen, no access to a terminal screen. So, I tried adding “Radeon.modeset=0” or “-1” to the linux line of the boot loader and the most I got was a flashing cursor. I was able to get to a terminal screen and access “journalctl -b” which resulted in the following errors: ( Keep in mind the swamprock install instructions included downloading non free linux firmware which I assumed would include drivers for my Radeon 9600 GPU and wireless card BCM4306 rev 3.)

Driver ‘hvc_console’ was unable to register with bus_type ‘vio’ because the bus was not initialized

i2c i2c-3: i2c-powermac: modalias failure on /u3@0,f8000000/i2c@f8001000/cereal@1c0

[drm:.radeon_init [radeon]] *ERROR* No UMS support in radeon module!

Platform regulatory.0: firmware failed to load regulatory.db (-2)

Then a whole lot of b43 firmware errors failure to load b43/ucode5.fw (-2)
with recommendations to go to a wireless wiki page for downloading the firmware

Later screens show lightdm service failures and errors getting a user list from freedesktop.Accounts
and
lightdm.service failed with result ‘exit code’

lightdm.service: Start request repeated too quickly
Failed to start Light Display Manager

These errors are scattered throughout the journalctl -b output.

One of the final instructions from swamprock was to got to a PowerPC Linux wiki to download desktop environments, window managers, etc since his original instructions were for a base Debian 10 install. I did that and all of the installs seemed to go smoothly.

I followed swamprock’s instructions and ran into a small problem, where shortly after the install CD ejects, I expected to boot to a screen where I would get to log in using my user name and password but as I mentioned before, I was presented with the Grub boot screen and two choices. Chosing the Debian boot option resulted in a black screen. Advanced options allowed me to edit the boot loader but non of the edits to the line starting with “linux” resulted in access to a login screen.

Thoughts?

MacMav