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PowerPC Challenge - COVID-19 2020

Lastic said:
How is the situation with packages/ports nowadays and web browsers on OpenBSD ?
Click to expand...

Seems pretty decent, probably better than it was a year or two ago when there were no javascript-capable browsers. otter-browser is stable and handles javascript sites without much trouble. It's reasonably light for a full featured browser. I mainly use Netsurf and lynx because they are blazing fast. Dillo works and is very fast too, but its renderings are a bit rough.

There are enough packages available that besides the web browser I really don't have to change my workflow from my Intel laptops because I'm using the same tools, so claws-mail for email, xpdf for viewing PDFs, wordgrinder for writing documents, mplayer for audio. All the network admin and pentesting stuff is the same (nmap, arp-scan, arping, etc).
 
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Lastic said:
So destiny struck, yesterday my Retina 2012 15" MBp had to get a PRAM reset and a Single User boot to clean up files since fsck couldn't repair due to the disk being full (18 Gb free).
After removing some more files (60 Gb free) today it decided not to boot , OS X loads and then at the end hangs and shuts down. Single User fsck keeps repairing,finding issues,repairing , Internet Recovery cannot repair the disk.

Thus my 13" 2010 MBP that I use as a work laptop has backup duties now .

I will have to use my PowerPC's now :)

mpv is doing a good job on Debian 10 on the G4 to playback videos so far but now I'm going to install Debian onto the G5.
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear about your MBP o_O
 
@Lastic Are you connecting to the Sid repositories during install?

Try installing the base system without Ethernet plugged in, so that it won't use the latest kernel and instead boot off the stock 4.16. The G5 does not like Linux 5.x.
 
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z970mp said:
@Lastic Are you connecting to the Sid repositories during install?

Try installing the base system without Ethernet plugged in, so that it won't use the latest kernel and instead boot off the stock 4.16. The G5 does not like Linux 5.x.
Click to expand...

Doesn't connect to the repositories since I skipped the network repositories .
Thus the only software it could install was the base system from the CDROM.
I used the debianpp64 netinst link from your previous post http://saimei.ftp.acc.umu.se/cdimage/ports/10.0/ppc64/iso-cd/debian-10.0-ppc64-NETINST-1.iso.

Could it be linked due to the fact is the 2nd partition after Leopard, I also noticed Yaboot didn't detect Leopard like the 32bit PPC Debian 10 Yaboot did.

I remember from the past that I had to do the whole Live CD boot to bless my harddisk partition in order to get the yaboot.conf in order.

Code: 
krachtpatser:~ uz3r$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     Apple_partition_scheme                        *223.6 Gi   disk0
   1:        Apple_partition_map                         31.5 Ki    disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS PowerMac G5 SSD         141.5 Gi   disk0s3
   3:            Apple_Bootstrap                         977.0 Ki   disk0s2
   4:            Apple_UNIX_SVR2                         70.5 Gi    disk0s4
   5:            Apple_UNIX_SVR2                         11.4 Gi    disk0s5

In the meanwhile I'm installing an x86_64 Debian 10 via qemu on Leopard :) at some point I will be able to start my course using docker and node.js
 
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Lastic said:
Doesn't connect to the repositories since I skipped the network repositories .
Thus the only software it could install was the base system from the CDROM.
I used the debianpp64 netinst link from your previous post http://saimei.ftp.acc.umu.se/cdimage/ports/10.0/ppc64/iso-cd/debian-10.0-ppc64-NETINST-1.iso.

Could it be linked due to the fact is the 2nd partition after Leopard, I also noticed Yaboot didn't detect Leopard like the 32bit PPC Debian 10 Yaboot did.

I remember from the past that I had to do the whole Live CD boot to bless my harddisk partition in order to get the yaboot.conf in order.

Code: 
krachtpatser:~ uz3r$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     Apple_partition_scheme                        *223.6 Gi   disk0
   1:        Apple_partition_map                         31.5 Ki    disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS PowerMac G5 SSD         141.5 Gi   disk0s3
   3:            Apple_Bootstrap                         977.0 Ki   disk0s2
   4:            Apple_UNIX_SVR2                         70.5 Gi    disk0s4
   5:            Apple_UNIX_SVR2                         11.4 Gi    disk0s5

In the meanwhile I'm installing an x86_64 Debian 10 via qemu on Leopard :) at some point I will be able to start my course using docker and node.js
Click to expand...

Very strange, I remember successfully booting the ppc64 Debian 10 image and subsequently getting into the OS many times...

See if you can try again, dedicating another spare drive to Linux. Ensure that one is the only installed HD.

Maybe ppc64 Yaboot doesn't take kindly to sharing a drive with OS X...
 
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wicknix said:
If yaboot isn't detecting it, make sure the Linux drive is the one in the top drive bay. Linux doesn't like to boot from the lower bay for some reason.

Cheers
Click to expand...
z970mp said:
Very strange, I remember successfully booting the ppc64 Debian 10 image and subsequently getting into the OS many times...

See if you can try again, dedicating another spare drive to Linux. Ensure that one is the only installed HD.

Maybe ppc64 Yaboot doesn't take kindly to sharing a drive with OS X...
Click to expand...

I only got one SSD in that Powermac in the top bay and yes both Leopard and Linux are one the same drive , I don't have a spare one, that I know off , will have to search for one.
 
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Found a possible solution :) Took my 2nd PowerMac G5 out of storage which has a harddisk and a Leopard install I don't need so currently installing Debian 10 on the 2nd PowerMac G5.

But helas same issue ??? this one has nothing else on it but Debian 10 , harddisk in top bay.
 
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556fmjoe said:
Seems pretty decent, probably better than it was a year or two ago when there were no javascript-capable browsers. otter-browser is stable and handles javascript sites without much trouble. It's reasonably light for a full featured browser. I mainly use Netsurf and lynx because they are blazing fast. Dillo works and is very fast too, but its renderings are a bit rough.

There are enough packages available that besides the web browser I really don't have to change my workflow from my Intel laptops because I'm using the same tools, so claws-mail for email, xpdf for viewing PDFs, wordgrinder for writing documents, mplayer for audio. All the network admin and pentesting stuff is the same (nmap, arp-scan, arping, etc).
Click to expand...

Just 3 major things held me back to keep an OpenBSD install on my PPC's
  1. video playback , I sometimes need to be able to check course materials
  2. likewise for video playback on websites , I can live without Youtube but preferably not
  3. qemu to emulate lightweight debian boxes
Has that improved in 6.6 ?
 
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Lastic said:
Just 3 major things held me back to keep an OpenBSD install on my PPC's
  1. video playback , I sometimes need to be able to check course materials
  2. likewise for video playback on websites , I can live without Youtube but preferably not
  3. qemu to emulate lightweight debian boxes
Has that improved in 6.6 ?
Click to expand...

Not really. Video playback is fine through mplayer or VLC, but not through a browser. You could youtube-dl your video, play it, and delete it if you want, but that gets to be a hassle and obviously won't work for non-youtube videos.

qemu is available as a package. I have not tried it though.
 
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@Lastic Here's another idea: install Debian 10 again, but partition the disk manually in accordance with the Wiki's Manual Partitioning guide.

I've actually solved several boot problems, namely on G5s, just that way.
 
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556fmjoe said:
Not really. Video playback is fine through mplayer or VLC, but not through a browser. You could youtube-dl your video, play it, and delete it if you want, but that gets to be a hassle and obviously won't work for non-youtube videos.

qemu is available as a package. I have not tried it though.
Click to expand...

I do see that OpenBSD 6.6 has qemu 4.01 , Qt5 and GNS3 , those are interesting compared to the previous OS versions.
Also they got
smtube-19.6.0.tgz 26-Oct-2019 14:18 513307

which is the -although older and meanwhile deprecated version - of what I currently use on Leopard.

Well no better way to find out than to burn an ISO and get it installed ... tomorrow
 
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Lastic said:
I do see that OpenBSD 6.6 has qemu 4.01 , Qt5 and GNS3 , those are interesting compared to the previous OS versions.
Also they got
smtube-19.6.0.tgz 26-Oct-2019 14:18 513307

which is the -although older and meanwhile deprecated version - of what I currently use on Leopard.

Well no better way to find out than to burn an ISO and get it installed ... tomorrow
Click to expand...

smtube segfaults for me, and I have never been able to get GNS3 working well, though I have not tried in a while. Are going to try it on your G5?
 
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556fmjoe said:
smtube segfaults for me, and I have never been able to get GNS3 working well, though I have not tried in a while. Are going to try it on your G5?
Click to expand...

Aha , it was the same last time I tried qemu also I think.
I never understood why they build packages that segfault ?

There is no ppc64 support on OpenBSD if I'm correct so no G5, I was thinking to install it on an iBook or Powerbook .
 
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Lastic said:
Aha , it was the same last time I tried qemu also I think.
I never understood why they build packages that segfault ?

There is no ppc64 support on OpenBSD if I'm correct so no G5, I was thinking to install it on an iBook or Powerbook .
Click to expand...


The macppc iso will work on a G5, but it will just work in 32 bit mode.

See the supported hardware here:

OpenBSD/macppc

the OpenBSD/macppc page
www.openbsd.org

Install instructions:

Regarding segfaulting packages, often times this will be the case on less common architectures because they get less testing. You might be literally the only one running qemu on a PPC with OpenBSD. The other reason is that the combination of an architecture that the developers of that package probably never use and the aggressive memory safety features in OpenBSD will often crash programs that are not well tested under these circumstances.
 
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556fmjoe said:
The macppc iso will work on a G5, but it will just work in 32 bit mode.

See the supported hardware here:

OpenBSD/macppc

the OpenBSD/macppc page
www.openbsd.org

Install instructions:

Regarding segfaulting packages, often times this will be the case on less common architectures because they get less testing. You might be literally the only one running qemu on a PPC with OpenBSD. The other reason is that the combination of an architecture that the developers of that package probably never use and the aggressive memory safety features in OpenBSD will often crash programs that are not well tested under these circumstances.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the clarification , I was aware that a 32bit install would be possible on the G5 but I need software on the G5 that OpenBSD unfortunately doesn't have.

Regarding qemu , yes , I'm an odd fish in the pond I guess.
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z970mp said:
@Lastic Here's another idea: install Debian 10 again, but partition the disk manually in accordance with the Wiki's Manual Partitioning guide.

I've actually solved several boot problems, namely on G5s, just that way.
Click to expand...

That did the trick, got booted on the G5, installed lightdm, installed Mate, rebooted an now I don't get a graphical display just flashes , guess that's due to the Nvidia Geforce 6600 I got installed ?

G5 Nvidia.png


EDIT in the meanwhile I tried this trick to copy the firmware rom and have it loaded but to no avail.

G5: (And G4) Nouveau Modesetting Bug and Fix Explained

Liberating the greatest computer architecture ever created.
powerpcliberation.blogspot.com powerpcliberation.blogspot.com

@wicknix @z970mp thanks for all your time in helping me , should I just stop with Debian 10 and try Debian Sid or Debian Sid remix ?
 
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So uh... My OS 9 partition on my Power Mac became unbootable suddenly. Looks like I might have to make it invisible to the Tiger partition again (or just do the same thing because I enjoy being able to use files from both OSes in the other and wait for it to cause issues again. I have backups anyway).

EDIT: Turns out the OS 9 system folder had gotten un-blessed somehow :confused:
 
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wicknix said:
@Lastic If you want pure 64-bit, i'd try your luck with void-ppc ( https://voidlinux-ppc.org/ ). It doesn't boot on either of my G5's, but some people have had luck. Debian 64-bit is a complete broken mess. So i'm not surprised with your issues. 32-bit (any linux) is really the way to go for now, but that doesn't work for what you are trying to accomplish.

Cheers
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm ready to throw in the towel also.

I just finished installing Debian Sid remix this afternoon and there I have no issues with Mate, the DE works on the Nvidia 6600 in my G5.

But nodejs for ex. isn't available in the repos (it was on Debian 10 Buster) and when I tried to use the stable sid repo's the GPG keychain error keeps popping up altough I did install your keychain fix.

Installed ArticFox, Midori,NetSurf , I click them and only Netsurf actually opens but whenever I go to an URL it crashes.

I also discovered after a lot of searching that docker-ce is only available for Linux 64bit ppc64el which are the POWER8 and higher machines and running a qemu vm on Linux to run docker-ce will be too slow and unusable.

My work MBp is currently cloning the non-booting MBp's data to an external disk so the only usable
machines to start on my DevOps course are the 2012 13" non-retina work MBp and my -currently Win10- Lenovo Thinkpad X220.

I can still use my G5 on OS X for browsing , Youtube, and watching series and all other stuff except not for the course I need to start following.

Is this due to PPC's not being usable, h*ll no , my needs just have shifted currently .

Anyhow, @wicknix @z970mp I still applaud your patience (and all others who contribute) and work in delivering the Linux Wiki/HowTo/Remix/Browsers.
 
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Lastic said:
But nodejs for ex. isn't available in the repos (it was on Debian 10 Buster) and when I tried to use the stable sid repo's the GPG keychain error keeps popping up altough I did install your keychain fix.
Click to expand...

What was the Buster repos you used? What about the stable Sid repos, and did you add [trusted=yes] in between deb and http in your repo entries?

This was on ppc64? What does your sources.list look like?
 
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z970mp said:
What was the Buster repos you used? What about the stable Sid repos? Did you add [trusted=yes] in between deb and http in your repo entries?

This was all on ppc64, right?

What does your sources.list look like?
Click to expand...

on Debian 10 Buster PPC64 I used these as according to the wiki

deb [trusted=yes] http://snapshot.debian.org/archive/debian-ports/20190707T221412Z/ sid main

this gave me the oppurtunity to install nodejs

Now on Debian Sid Remix PPC64 (I guess I chose 64bit install) I followed the Install.txt and missed the [trusted=yes] which I have now added

deb [trusted=yes] http://snapshot.debian.org/archive/debian-ports/20190707T221412Z/ sid main

But unlike on Buster which had the same repo there is no install candidate for nodejs.
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It’s starting to look like an infirmary here.

MBp Retina 15" Disk failure doesn't boot anymore since Thursday.


575E6B67-9CDB-47DF-8709-1F4EBEA2FDDC.jpeg

Powerbook G4 used for replying to this thread .

FAC4514E-CF75-44CE-9F3F-B6DCF3640669.jpeg

MBp 13" non-retina 2012 re-cloning the 15"s backup from it's internal (now full) drive to external drive to put back onto the MBp 15" afterwards.

DEDFE6BF-87FF-48BD-AF62-ECA1F013A318.jpeg

GPD MicroPC with the failed factory-battery but due to my screwdriver not having arrived yet , can't replace the battery thus cloning it's Win10 partition to USB stick.

4729A764-D881-41D0-8786-20749C6D3C74.jpeg

Lenovo Thinkpad Win10 with a broken .NET install , charging ,awaiting to receive the Win10 GPD clone for Atari 8bit development + new to be installed Fedora for the DevOps Course.

41AA5CBD-A21E-4A05-9D60-61BF13113168.jpeg

PowerMac G5 booted in Debian Sid Remix being troubleshooted
but since I can't open any working browser have to run back to the Powerbook G4 .

25D99CB6-F58F-4E23-9DBB-0D652CFDED19.jpeg
 
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