How to install Xfce Desktop on ArchLinux ArchPOWER ppc64
As I wrote yesterday, the new ArchPOWER Linux for PowerPC 64 works like charme and with big thanks to (Kernel/Linux)-Hacker René Rebe, Firefox is working on POWER-Architecture (and much more) again after years. So you can use a modern Browser if you want.
But in the last post, I only described how you get your base system up and running while booting from usb pen drive. But you want more :-) A GUI I bet. So if you have a running instance, or when you are still in the live environment of the booted usb pen drive, you can chroot into the freshly installed ARCH Linux and can perfom different tasks. E.g. install a GUI. While the Powermac is not the fastest machine in 2025 anymore and a lot of packages are not available for ppc64, XFCe is a good idea for a good looking and modern desktop environment. My mac has the stock nVidia Geforce 6600GS graphicsboard so we need the driver for this to have 2d-acceleration. This is important, otherwise the gui is not useful because it is too slow.
Xfce Desktop Installation
Xfce is a free and open-source desktop environment for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. Xfce aims to be fast and lightweight while still visually appealing and easy to use. The desktop environment is designed to embody the traditional Unix philosophy of modularity and re-usability, as well as adherence to standards; specifically, those defined at freedesktop.org.
1. X Window System und Display Manager
# Xorg installieren
pacman -S xorg xorg-xinit xorg-server
# Display Manager (Anmeldungsbildschirm)
pacman -S lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter
# Xfce Desktop
pacman -S xfce4 xfce4-goodies
# Optional: Weitere nützliche Programme
pacman -S firefox file-roller gvfs gvfs-afc gvfs-gphoto2 gvfs-mtp
2. NVIDIA driver for 6600GS
# Open Source Nouveau Treiber (empfohlen für PowerPC)
pacman -S xf86-video-nouveau
# ODER versuche den legacy NVIDIA Treiber (doesn't work)
# pacman -S xf86-video-nv
3. Services aktivieren
# Display Manager aktivieren
systemctl enable lightdm
# Network Manager (falls nicht schon aktiviert)
systemctl enable NetworkManager
Konfiguration nach der Installation
1. Starte den Display Manager
# Nach dem Reboot startet LightDM automatisch
systemctl start lightdm
# ODER starte Xfce manuell ohne Display Manager
startxfce4
That's all what I have done to my system, it works out of the box. Take care you change from wayland to not wayland in the login gui.
Here you will find my first post about how to install ArchPOWER from USB Stick to a PowermacG5.
Bye, Jan