Long time not seen...
Dear friends of PowerPC Linux, Unix and especially the Powermac G5, I've not written since quite a time. The reason was my other Webproject [¹] which I managed to melt with another Website and beside that, move it into a Docker Container and run it and adopt everything and so on and on and on... you know - from stick to wood like someone says. :-)
But what I want to say is that I am using Arch POWER ppc64 Linux now for quite some time every day and while I am listening to Navidrome streamed MP3 [²] in my TerminalDrome Client or do some Webstuff with Firefox or sending Mails via Calws-Mail, I am absolutely happy and it never crashed or something like that. It works so well.
So when you want to use a Powermac G5 these days, I recommend Arch Linux as the best distro outside whith the fewest hazzle to get things working.
Speed of light - NVMe SSD in a Powermac G5
I told you the other day that my PowermacG5 owns an NVMe-SSD-Adapter as a PCI-Express Card with a 1 TB NVME-SSD. That runs great, here is the Benchmark:
[arch@ARCHLINUX ~]$ sudo pacman -S hdparm
Abhängigkeiten werden aufgelöst …
Nach in Konflikt stehenden Paketen wird gesucht …
Pakete (1) hdparm-9.65-2
Gesamtgröße des Downloads: 0,10 MiB
Gesamtgröße der installierten Pakete: 0,24 MiB
:: Installation fortsetzen? [J/n]
:: Pakete werden empfangen …
hdparm-9.65-2-po... 101,0 KiB 394 KiB/s 00:00 [######################] 100%
(1/1) Schlüssel im Schlüsselbund werden geprüft [######################] 100%
(1/1) Paket-Integrität wird überprüft [######################] 100%
(1/1) Paket-Dateien werden geladen [######################] 100%
(1/1) Auf Dateikonflikte wird geprüft [######################] 100%
(1/1) Verfügbarer Festplattenspeicher wird erm... [######################] 100%
:: Paketänderungen werden verarbeitet …
(1/1) Installiert wird hdparm [######################] 100%
:: Post-transaction-Hooks werden gestartet …
(1/1) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...
[arch@ARCHLINUX ~]$ sudo hdparm -Tt /dev/nvme0n1
/dev/nvme0n1:
Timing cached reads: 2258 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1129.63 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 1384 MB in 3.00 seconds = 461.12 MB/sec
Yes, 1129 MB/Sec, bäm!, this is what PCIE 1.0 4.0 Slot can do. :-) Nicenstein, in a 2005 Computer.
ArchPOWER Linux for PPC64(/32)
My bigfat Powermac G5 Workstation running ArchPOWER 64 while compiling Claws-Mail under XCFE and running TerminalDrome
Because of a friendly comment by Powerlinux user Matias, I am willing to try out ArchPOWER Linux for PPC (Link) again. ArchPOWER is an unofficial Port of ARCH Linux for the PowerPC Architecture: It supports: powerpc64le (>=POWER8), powerpc (>=604), powerpc64 (>=POWER4+/G5 & PS3) and espresso (WiiU SMP).
Matias wrote that Firefox is also able to run on Powermac like on T2/Linux, thanks to René Rebes Patches. I bet Firefox actually is able to run on a lot of PPC Distros outside - I am happy about that. Thank you man.
T2/Linux 25.10 "Never Obsolete" is there - It runs Firefox 143.0.1 on PowerPC
Master-Hacker René Rebe has published his newest version of T2/Linux, an SDE Linux with the most CPU Architechture support in the world. It is also the most active and most actual Linux Distro as you can see on distro watch and other sites.
I installed this new version on my Powermac G5 Workstation and it works like charme.
Here you can find the direct download for ppc, ppc64 or ppc64/32*
I installed the 64/32 Bit Variante, because it is optimized for the 970 Processor which works in the Powermac G5.
*64-bit OS kernel, 32-bit user-space
[Update]. I just installed the 64-Bit Version of the PPC64 variant and what shall I say? Firefox works, so I created a screenshot directly under my Powermac to show what crazy René has done for the comunity of PPC Enthusiast. Unbelievable. And I just played this Video of Townes on my other Weblog in the Browser on my PowermacG5.
My Powermac G5 with real Firefox 143.0.1 (ppc64)
This is freaking fantastic guys! DAMN!
Ressources
- T2 25.10 Never Obsolte at t2linux.com
- Media in SHOCK about this Linux distro - Renes Stream about!
- T2 Download Portal for 25.10
- T2 Main Website
- Quick Build in seven-1 easy steps
- Getting started w/ a fresh T2 install
- Rene Rebes Medium Blog
Tags: powermacg5, ppc, ppc64, t2linux, linux, download, firefox
New Version 0.2.2 of TerminalDrome
I just finished the work on TerminalDrome 0.2.2 and I am really proud of it, because I don't know nothing about Rust programming language but the Terminal NaviDrome Client is running very well :-)
TerminalDrome started, Cover Art, no artist or album chosen
TerminalDrome 0.2.0 is available
I am proud to announce the release of TerminalDrome 0.2.0 as a feature-rich stable version to the public. It is still alpha but it works on a daily basis here on my Powermac G5 or the Mac Mini M4.
TerminalDrome Splash Screen
There are compiled binaries available for arm64, ppc64 and armhf. But TerminalDrome will build on every Linux with Rust and Cargo.
New Release of TerminalDrome on Github
Since I recently discovered how relaxing programming can be, I've been tinkering with my Navidrome-compatible terminal client called TerminalDrome almost every day.
I've now integrated a new feature, which I've moved to Main:
A simple search function:
- Press slash / and the search will open.
- Enter the search term, press Enter, and you'll see the search results in the right panel.
- It's neither alphabetically sorted nor otherwise organized.
- Additionally, there's a feature in the leftmost panel where you can jump directly to the beginning of the respective artist by pressing a letter of your choice. So if I press D, I'll land on D.A.F., or Q on Queens Of The Stone Age—you get it?
My TerminalDrome CLient in Search Mode
I'm very proud.
TerminalDrome is written in Rust and can be downloaded and compiled using the following command. You'll need the Rust toolchain and mpv.
git clone https://github.com/thafaker/termnavi.git TerminalDrome
cd TerminalDrome
cargo build && cargo run
I've also explained this on my Github repo.
TerminalDrome (left) near btop (right) on my Debian 13 Sid PowerPC Powermac G5
Tags: ppc64, navidrome, rust, terminal, powermacg5, linux, termnavi, terminaldrome
TerminalDrome is evolving
My little Terminal Navidrome Project TerminalDrome is evolving and works a little bit better from day to day. So, what is working?
- safes the state of the panes to come back later
- in pane 4 it shows the elapsed time and a small bar is going to 100%
- it plays the songs of an album from 1 to last
What does not work:
- it won't changes the now playing bar when a new song is playing
This is a screenshot of my real Powermac G5 running TerminalDrome in the wild.
Ressources
Tags: ppc64, navidrome, rust, terminal, powermacg5, linux, termnavi, terminaldrome
TermNavi is renamed in TerminalDrome
Because there's already a Terminal Navidrome client called NaviTerm, and I don't really like my name TermNavi, I decided to rename my software TerminalDrome. Of course, that sounds completely stupid, but at least it's better than a copy.
I think my software will soon become famous.
Oh, and it doesn't even work properly yet. :-)
Ressources
Tags: ppc64, navidrome, rust, terminal, powermacg5, linux, termnavi, terminaldrome
TermNavi Terminal Navidrome Client ppc64
So the other day I tried to connect to my Navidrome MP3 Streaming Server, I call it "Spotify at Home", via Webinterface to listen to some music, but there were no way to do this. The Webbrowsers available are too old. Sad.
So I decided to programm a really small Navidrome Terminal Client called TermNavi (yes I know... need better name) to listen to my MP3. And what shall I say? The first implementation is ready. I tested and successfully compiled on aarch64 (my MacMini M4) and the legendary Powermac G5 with ARCH Linux or Debian Sid ppc64.
So this it is:
- MVP for playback
- Rust for pgramming
- Ratatui für the Terminal UI (TUI)
- a Powermac G5 with PPC Linux
Really happy, it is my first rust project.
known bugs
- State handling is missing
- UI Rendering for more selections
- scroll logic is worst
And as a now cool hacker guy, I pushed everything in my github repo. But don't expect too much, I am a worst programmer, I often do not understand what is going on and I have everything in one file, the main.rs :-)
Ressources
Tags: ppc64, navidrome, rust, terminal, powermacg5, linux, terminaldrome
Hello ArchPOWER Linux for PPC64
In a nice comment from Matias, he told me he is using ArchPOWER Linux, an unofficial Build of Arch Linux for PowerPC, PPC64, PPC and PPCle for the Power8 Architecture etc. pp.; If I remember correctly, I stumbled across this Linux Distro while I researched for the best Linux for my Powermac G5, but maybe because I was at the beginning of my Linux journey on these machines, I found it to heavy or something else told me not to try. I don't know but it is not important anymore, because I installed ArchPOWER Linux current on my NVMe-SSD in the Powermac, multi-booting with T2 Linux, Debian 12 SID, Adelie Linux and Fienix Linux. :-)
How do I run update-grub from another Partition or a LiveCD?
As you know my Setup, I will shortly explain again. In my Powermac G5 there is an SATA-SSD as a replacement for the old spinning Apple HDD. On this SSD I installed Mac OX 10.5 and also Debian SID for PPC, to get the Partition-Scheme and GRUB installed.
I also built in a NVMe-SSD with 1 TB because the Powermac11,2 has PCI-Express Slots like it is standard nowadays. The OpenFirmware in the Powermac doesn't know what an NVMe-SSD is and therefore can't recognize it or boot it. Also Mac OS X 10.5 doesn't see the device. The technic is too young and there are no drivers, that is the reason for that.
But lucklily, Linux has the drivers for that. And that's the reason for my Setup. Boot Grub from SSD because that can the Powermac. Than load the things you need for NVMe and boot the linux off the NVMe-SSD.
I have 4 Linux on that NVMe-SSD and that works great. But it is a problem to update the Grub Bootloader everytime there is a new kernerl or something other changed. Long story short, here I will tell (me) you, how to update grub via chroot.
Release: T2 Linux 25.4 "It Only Does Everything"
A lot of crazy things happen right now. A few minutes ago I reported about the living sign of Fienix Linux after the APT Repo down and now I see there is a new version of latest and greatest T2 Linux (ver. 25.4) from Rene Rebe.
With a total of 17 pre-compiled base install ISOs for various Glibc, Musl and uClibc combinations are available for 12 CPU ISAs: Alpha, ARM(64), HPPA64, IA64, MIPS64, PowerPC(64), RISCV64, SPARC64, i586, x86-64. On most architectures the release still boots with as little as 512MB of RAM or even less, and ISO downloads are less than 2GB for base Wayland desktop with Firefox.
T2 runs well on my Powermac G5, as I stated here for detail.
Ressources
- T2/SDE 25.4 announcement
- T2 Download Portal for 25.4
- T2 Linux for direct download for PPC64/32 (64-bit OS kernel, 32-bit user-space)
- T2 Main Website
- Quick Build in seven-1 easy steps
- Getting started w/ a fresh T2 install
- Rene Rebes Medium Blog
Tags: t2linux, powermacg5, linux, ppc64
Update to Fienix Linux
As I wrote in a few articles before, I am a big fan of Fienix Linux because it works absolutely amazing on my Powermac G5, it can even render complex and modern Websites like my other Weblog (Ghost CMS) and all the big and modern new Websites.
However, as I continued to use Fienix, I found out that I couldn't install any updates or other software packages. After some research, I discovered that the Fienix APT Repo was down. I asked at the corresponding youtube channel and even at the Website, but there was no answer.
Today, almost by chance, I discovered the official article on the Fienix website. The developer writes:
The Fienix software repository was "unreconciled" due to an unexpected interruption to an update process. Unfortunately, a backup did not exist. Effort to reconcile the repository were unsuccessful. This caused package unavailability, broken packages and broken updates.
He can't fix it in Version 6 so he hopes to get it fixed with Version 7, what is months ago. His solution as follows:
If you have installed all the packages you want/need, you don't need to do anything. Browser updates are generally posted to the "Linux on PowerPC" Facebook group, Hyperion forums, and elsewhere. You can also get packages from Debian, or switch over to Debian completely.
At this point I find it really good that the website, the project and Fienix Linux itself is not dead, it's has a broken APT Repo and need to be fixed, but the developer is willing to continue. That gives me hope for my Powermac G5.
Keep up the great work
(via)
Backslash, German iMac Keyboard and OpenFirmware
I had problems typing the backslash "\" and bar "|" on my iMac keyboard when in the OpenFirmware user interface.
A picture of my iMac G3 while in Open Firmware
Fienix Linux seems to be dead
I find it quite sad because I only recently got to know Fienix Linux, even though it has been around for a long time. And I think it's absolutely great because it works better than any other Linux on the Powermac G5 that I've tried so far:
- Graphics acceleration
- modern web browser
But unfortunately the package sources are dead, this Linux is based on Debian SID and uses APT. The Fienix source server is unreachable and there is no alternative.
I tried to contact the developer, I know that Fienix Linux is a one-man project and therefore there are few resources available, but I haven't received any response.
So it's not really possible to reinstall packages, I also can't install a development environment to compile myself and so it remains nice, but not very expandable and usable.
Fienix Linux for PPC Computers
The other day I stumbled across Fienix Linux. It is a Distribution maintained by one man, Casey Cullen. It is based on debian, but with focus on powerpc first. I just tried to install it on my Powermac G5. And it works great!
Fienix Linux 6.0.1 on my Powermac G5, on real Hardware.