Debian PPC Starters Manual: Difference between revisions
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== Introduction == | == Introduction == | ||
Why would you want to contribute to Debian PowerPC (ppc/pp64)<br> | |||
"- FREE Software and DFSF<br>" | "- FREE Software and DFSF<br>" | ||
"- PowerPC is a RISC architecture (more on that later)<br>" | "- PowerPC is a RISC architecture (more on that later)<br>" |
Revision as of 02:23, 17 May 2017
Get inspiration and information from http://www.debian.org/doc/maint-guide/
keep this guide simple, in the form of:
Title / Why would you want to do that / tasks and commands to do it
Introduction
Why would you want to contribute to Debian PowerPC (ppc/pp64)
"- FREE Software and DFSF
"
"- PowerPC is a RISC architecture (more on that later)
"
"- All the existing G3, G4, and G5 Mac Machines
"
"- All the existing Freescale/NXP Boards/Amigas/etc.
"
"- Diversity, free, and choice
"
"- A learning opportunity for non-x86 architecture and Linxu
"
"- The PowerPC Notebook Project
"
"- Saving the world! :-)"
The Debian Bug submission / testing / integration process
Simple description (graphical diagram) of content from https://wiki.debian.org/HowtoUseBTS
Installation of Debian powerpc
First things first: check if your computer is present in the supported list:
Now that you are ready to install Debian powerpc, you still have two more questions to answer:
- Which Installation Media do you want to use?
- USB stick: Very convenient - but not really straightforward. Becomes easy when you get the hang of it.
- CD : The easiest - if you still have some CD-R / CD-RW around, and your CD writer is still working :-)
- hard drive : Cannot see any real advantage over using USB stick - but you can do this if you want to.
- debootstrap : Very easy - almost magical - if you already have a running Debian installation on your target machine.
- Which Target Partitioning Scheme to use?
- Debian alone on target disk - with one or several partitions - the most straightforward.
- Debian sharing the disk with other OSes (MacOSX or others) - you will need to partition your disk, and move things around. Can be (is) worth it.
- Debian alone on an external "firewire" disk - Haven't tested this. Could be interesting if you want to keep your internal disk as is, or if your internal disk is dead, and you do not have a replacement or you do not want to open your machine.
The rest of this section will describe an installation using a USB stick, on a supported machine - in my case, a venerable G4 PowerBook Aluminum. Debian is alone on the disk.
(I also have an iMac G5 MacOSX / Debian stable / Debian unstable installation - where unstable was installed using debootstrap)
Download ISO image
Normally, I would install Debian stable first, then upgrade to Debian unstable. But we are not in a normal situation anymore, so we'll install unstable directly.
For G4 and earlier (32-bits disk image):
- ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/sid/main/installer-powerpc/current/images/powerpc/netboot/mini.iso
For G5 and later (64-bits disk image):
The one I used is from the 04/07/2017 (7th of April 2017).
Write ISO image on USB stick
If you wanted to write the boot image on CD-ROM (CD-R or CD-RW) you would use a software like brasero
.
For the USB stick, the easiest (only) way to do this is using the dd
command (on linux or MacOSX).
One thing to know about the dd
command is that you need to be careful when using it - do not use it as root - unless you know what you're doing.
Now the thing is, we need to use it as root to write the ISO image on the stick...
First, cd
to the directory containing the disk image.
Then you need to get the device name for your USB stick. Plug it in and type:
Linux:
lsblk
MacOSX:
diskutil list
Or you can just list the mounted filesystems:
df
On my computer the USB stick is /dev/sdb
. There is a partition on it, and it is mounted on /dev/sdb1
.
Second, you need to unmount the mounted partition:
sudo umount /dev/sdb1
Finally, write the image:
sudo dd if=mini.iso of=/dev/sdb
Boot on USB stick
If you were using a CD-ROM, you would just boot while holding the c
button.
To boot on the USB stick, you'll need to invoke Open Firmware (equivalent of BIOS / EFI).
WARNING: This is command line wizardry!
Here goes:
Plug the USB stick then Boot your computer - while pressing on the <Command> + <Option> + o + f
buttons.
If you're not using an apple keyboard, you'll need to use <Windows> + <Alt> + o + f
.
(if you're using a G5 machine - get earplugs or something - and do not do this at night in your room - the fans will run at maximum speed - and that's very noisy).
First you need to identify your USB stick (in Open Firmware terminology - and this depends on your computer and the USB port you're using):
dev / ls
Scroll down (<Space>
) until you get something like:
/usb@1b
/disk@1
Now we know our USB stick is on usb@1b
and is known as disk@1
.
We still need to find the alias of usb@1b
:
devalias
You need to look for the usb0, usb1 etc... corresponding to usb@1b
:
On my computer it was usb1
.
Finally, boot your computer using:
boot usb1/disk@1:2,\\yaboot
(This means we are booting on partition 2
of disk@1
which is connected on usb1
.)
You're ready to start the installation if you get the yaboot prompt:
Welcome to yaboot version 1.3.17
Enter "help" to get some basic usage information
boot:
Base Installation
You need to be somehow familiar with the Debian Installer to consider it easy...
It is not difficult, really, but it might get intimidating if you're doing this for the first time...
To cut this short:
- - plug in your ethernet cable (wireless networking will not work during installation).
- - follow the installer steps - selecting the default options (if you're going to use the full disk - no manual partitioning).
To give you a better idea, here is an overview of the main steps - with some comments where appropriate:
Starting with the yaboot prompt, type expert or install:
boot: expert
You'll get to the "familiar" red / grey / blue Debian installer main menu:
Choose language
Access software for a blind person using a braille display
Configure the keyboard
Detect network hardware
Configure the network
Choose a mirror of the Debian archive
Download installer components
- ...
All goes smoothly until you start Choose a mirror of the Debian archive
.
It seems the installer is still looking for stretch
- and as you know, err, it has been killed.
So, after selecting your mirror, you'll get a warning telling you:
The specified (default) Debian version (stretch) is not available from the selected mirror. It is possible to continue and select a different release for your installation, but normally you should go back and select a different mirror that does support the correct version.
Go back and try a different mirror?
You should select No
This will allow you later to choose sid (unstable)
.
Then, after completing Download installer components
, you get back the Debian installer main menu, with some additional steps to execute:
Set up users and passwords
- - disable root login (I do this for security - and use
sudo
orRoot Terminal for administration
)
- - disable root login (I do this for security - and use
configure the clock
Detect disks
Partition disks
- - use the Guided partitioning +
ext3
filesystem (I've had issues with yaboot andext4
).
- - use the Guided partitioning +
Install the base system
- - I have used the
linux-image-powerpc kernel
+targeted initrd
.
- - I have used the
Configure the package manager
- - do not use
non-free
andcontrib
software. We'll later usecontrib
for wireless - but in a controlled way.
- - do not use
Select and install software
- - please do configure the
popularity-contest
package. This will help Debian powerpc by showing the community people are still using it! - - You'd also want to install
LXDE
- it is great!
- - please do configure the
Install yaboot on a hard disk
Continue without a boot loader
Finish the installation
- - this will allow you to reboot into your new system!
Additional Components
Here are some additional components and applications to improve your Debian powerpc experience:
- compositing (buffering to improve display).
sudo apt-get install compton
- Preferences -> Default applications for LXSession
- Core applications -> Composite Manager:
compton
- Autostart -> + Add
compton
- Core applications -> Composite Manager:
- cpu frequency scaling (I like to keep my computer as silent as possible).
sudo apt-get install cpufrequtils
- To get list of available cpufreq governors + statistics:
cpufreq-info
- To dynamically set CPU speed at max performance:
sudo cpufreq-set -g performance
- To dynamically set CPU at half-speed:
sudo cpufreq-set -g powersave
- To dynamically set CPU in adaptive speed:
sudo cpufreq-set -g ondemand
- To set CPU at half-speed - persistent after reboot:
sudo vi /etc/default/cpufrequtils
GOVERNOR="powersave"
- To set CPU in adaptive speed - persistent after reboot:
sudo vi /etc/default/cpufrequtils
GOVERNOR="ondemand"
- links2: a mega-fast web browser (graphic and command line) - firefox ESR is already installed - but it is (much) slower.
sudo apt-get install links2
- wireless networking - you'll need to use the
contrib
repository - and download a non-free binary. Skip this if you want to keep a [DFSG] compliant installation. - First remove wicd and replace it with network-manager (wireless did not work at all with wicd for me...):
sudo apt-get remove wicd
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo apt-get install network-manager network-manager-gnome
- Then edit apt sources.list to add
contrib
:sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list
- duplicate the 2 lines ending with
sid main
- and replacesid main
bysid contrib
- Install the driver (b43):
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer
- Then edit back apt sources.list to remove
contrib
:sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list
- delete the 2 lines ending with
sid contrib
sudo apt-get update
- apple buttons
- sound setup
- gfx acceleration - without changing the ROM of ATI card
- gfx acceleration - changing the ROM of ATI card to use the free ROM (non-compatible with MacOS)
When things go wrong (and they will...)
A word to the wise: We're using unstable.
It is unstable.
Debian GNU/Linux Installation Guide (powerpc).
Debian powerpc port FAQ.
Debian powerpc mailing list.
Debian powerpc IRC channel (#debianppc) on OFTC IRC network.
Ubuntu PowerPC Known Issues.
Installation of tools
tools used for development, debugging etc...
popcon: show Debian community that powerpc is still actively used!
this can help bringing back Debian powerpc as a release architecture
Getting source code and Compiling it
...
Patches
Making Patches, sharing and applying them
Packages
Creating Debian packages - Conditions and rules to follow for packages to be included in Debian
Creating ISO Images
...
Debugging and Profiling
...
64bits / 32bits
...
Kernel modification/reconfiguration/recompilation
...
Altivec - the PowerPC secret weapon
...
Drivers
...