[WIP] Fedora 25 Server on Powermac G5

[Lastic]

So my first day of the challenge has been a fruitfull one.

Inspired by this thread by the Amiga PPC guys

http://forum.hyperion-entertainment.biz/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3524

, I decided to give this a try and succeeded after 9 hours of trial and error.

First I would like to state that I only installed Fedora 25 Server on my G5 and have no idea how to dual-boot.
Second I could not SSH into my system so I typed all instructions in manually whilst reading them from another screen.
Third this procedure is not for the faint-hearted , nothing will explode but you have to dedicate some time to complete it.

This is the procedure that I followed :

http://linuxhacker.ru/d/?q=node/360

Some things upfront which I had to do differently.

1. The author had a non-working DVD , mine works so I burned the CD-ISO and booted from CD.
   I got the Fedora 25 Server netinstall iso from a Dutch mirror here :
   
   http://ftp.nluug.nl/os/Linux/distr/...64/iso/Fedora-Server-netinst-ppc64-25-1.2.iso
2. As soon as the installer starts (graphical screen with Language choice) , press
   Ctrl+Alt+Fn+F2 , you will have a command-shell and type : modprobe i2c-powermac
   
   Then press Ctrl+Alt+Fn+F6 to return to the graphical installation screen
   
   This will avoid that the fans start spinning up and creating a jet-plane sound , I only figured this out after 2 hours of planes taking off in my living-room.
   
3. I could not like the author start SSH or VNC so I couldn't copy paste his config, I read it from another screen and typed it over manually.
4. The author chose manual partitioning , I didn't , I chose Automatic partitioning
5. The author chose a Minimal install , this doesn't exist in Fedora 25, Fedora 25 Server is a text based server install

My adapted procedure :

So I chose my language, selected Automatic partition, waited for the mirror to be found and then clicked on Begin installation .
You will be at a screen where you can set the root password , don't, just wait for the yaboot error .

Press Ctrl+Alt+Fn+F2 and go to a shell.
Now follow the procedure , here is my version :

mkdir /etc/yum.repos.d
cat <<EOF >/etc/yum.repos.d/fedora.repo
[fedora]
name=Fedora 25 - ppc64
failovermethod=priority
baseurl=http://ftp.nluug.nl/os/Linux/distr/fedora-secondary/releases/25/Server/ppc64/os/
enabled=1
#metadata_expire=7d
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-25-ppc64
skip_if_unavailable=False
EOF

dnf --releasever=25 --nogpgcheck --installroot /mnt/sysimage/ groupinstall -y 'Fedora Server Edition'

chroot /mnt/sysimage
dnf clean all
dnf install -y kernel grub2 hfsutils lvm2

cat > /etc/default/grub <<EOF
GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR="$(sed 's, release .*$,,g' /etc/system-release)"
GRUB_DEFAULT=saved
GRUB_DISABLE_SUBMENU=true
GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT="console"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="rd.lvm.lv=powermac_ssd/swap rd.lvm.lv=powermac_ssd/root $([ -x /usr/sbin/rhcrashkernel-param ] && /usr/sbin/rhcrashkernel-param || nomodeset"
The smiley has to be a colon and a round bracket off course
nomodeset doesn't work with my Radeon videocard
GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY="true"
EOF

grub2-mkconfig >/etc/grub2.cfg

cat >/tmp/grub_modules <<EOF
moddep.lst bitmap.mod datehook.mod gzio.mod lsmmap.mod all_video.mod reboot.mod terminal.mod bitmap_scale.mod datetime.mod halt.mod memdisk.mod regexp.mod test.mod blocklist.mod echo.mod help.mod memrw.mod relocator.mod trig.mod boot.mod elf.mod hexdump.mod minicmd.mod scsi.mod true.mod bufio.mod ext2.mod hfs.mod msdospart.mod search.mod video.mod cat.mod fat.mod hfsplus.mod normal.mod search_fs_file.mod video_fb.mod cmp.mod font.mod ieee1275_fb.mod part_apple.mod search_fs_uuid.mod videoinfo.mod configfile.mod fshelp.mod linux.mod part_msdos.mod search_label.mod cpio.mod gettext.mod loadenv.mod parttool.mod setjmp.mod crypto.mod gfxmenu.mod loopback.mod probe.mod sleep.mod date.mod gfxterm.mod ls.mod read.mod suspend.mod kernel.img
EOF

mkdir /tmp/grub-modules
cd /tmp/grub-modules
for i in `cat /tmp/grub_modules` ; do cp /usr/lib/grub/powerpc-ieee1275/$i . ; done

I did blkid /dev/sda3 to get the UUID needed hereunder

cat > ../grub.cfg <<EOF
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root a732e5bd-e4a8-4ffb-a0fe-f49fca582cc4
set prefix=($root)/grub2
configfile /grub2/grub.cfg
EOF

grub2-mkimage -c ../grub.cfg -p /grub2 -O powerpc-ieee1275 -o ../grub.img *.mod

Set your root password using passwd

# Fan control fixup
cat >/etc/modprobe.d/windfarm_powermac.conf <<EOF
# For Powermac11,2 but likely for any kind of windfarm modules
install windfarm_pm112 /sbin/modprobe i2c_powermac ; /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install windfarm_pm112

dnf update

Then reboot into Open Firmware using Cmd+Option+O+F

I followed these instructions
https://github.com/masterzorag/G5_ppc64-linux

but I had to do boot hd:,grub.img

Now GRUB2 will start and then your Fedora 25 Server will start and you have a console.

For some reason , the Server version needs IPv6, I tried to disable it but haven't succeeded yet thus so far it's Ethernet cable is plugged in directly to my ISP modem since they provide IPv6 addresses already.
Otherwise it will stay stuck during boot at IPv6 ADDRESREQUEST

dnf grouplist will show you all DesktopManagers that you can install , I installed Mate via

(dnf groupinstall "MATE Desktop")

{3-JUL-2017}
what worked for me is dnf group install mate-desktop
then echo "exec /usr/bin/mate-session" >>~./xinitrc
First time you can start it with startx after a reboot lightdm will start automatically.

 

[Lastic]

So I'm guessing it doesn't like my video-card.

I tried Mate, Cinnamon and then LXDE.

LXDE starts but the colors are weird.

In this screenshot Terminal looks OK but on the real screen it's unreadable.

Unfortunately switching from a Radeon to Nvidia didn't help.

 

[Lastic]

Day 3 of the challenge

Having a better previous Ubuntu experience with my Radeon videocard, I installed that one again.

I thought of erasing this install and using the image from the Hyperion Forum but I realized they used a manual yaboot
whereas mine uses GRUB2 as by the procedure posted in the 1st post.

I uninstalled all DesktopManagers,reinstalled mate-desktop , booted GRUB without the nomodeset option and I got Mate to start.

This screenshot is accurate, the colors you see here is what I get on my screen

But video is super slow so it looks like the CPU is doing everything not the GPU, colors are still off a bit but at least now I can do things in GUI.

So to be continued, next up check mesa, ColorDepths and hopefully get 2D (3D?) acceleration.
Also correct the IPv6 needed issue and figure out how the Server version can have all the Workstation repositories so I can install vlc and other desktop utilities.

But so far happy with my progress in the past 3 days of thinkering.