This Is Apfelhammer!

So yesterday I found out that with the PPC64 Version Firefox is working and this is a dealbreaker, a gamechanger. Because of a modern Browser, you can use this old computer nearly productive. I can webmail (even Googlemail), I can spotify, I can Youtube. I can do a lot of modern things only because the browser is working.

My Powermac G5 Desktop with XFCE 4 and some Terminal Windows.

On the other side I configure the system to my need. I installed my TerminalDrome Navidrome Client, I compile a lot of software and try to figure things out. I am looking for a lightwight Texteditor like Mousepad, but I can't get it to work.

Meanwhile I try to crosscompile on my MacMini M4 for PPC64 but this also doesn't work like expected. A lot of high hangig fruits.

So long, Jan

Tags: t2linux, ppc64, firefox

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

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.

Read more...

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

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

• TerminalDrome Github Repo

Tags: ppc64, navidrome, rust, terminal, powermacg5, linux, termnavi, 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

• TerminalDrome Github Repo

Tags: ppc64, navidrome, rust, terminal, powermacg5, linux, termnavi, terminaldrome

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

• TermNavi Github Repo

Tags: ppc64, navidrome, rust, terminal, powermacg5, linux, terminaldrome

Due to the lack of a good graphical email client [^1] for my Arch POWER Linux Distro (Arch Linux for PowerPC), I tried several things and ended up with claws-mail. But it is not installable or not existing in the repos of pacman for powerpc. So I dcided to compile it by myself.

Claws-Mail 4.3.1 just compiled successfully on my Powermac G5.

claws-mail first window, first start

Claws Mail is an email client (and news reader), based on GTK+, featuring:

• Quick response
• Graceful, and sophisticated interface
• Easy configuration, intuitive operation
• Abundant features
• Extensibility
• Robustness and stability

todays screenshot of my inbox on claws-mail on my powermac g5

Okay, it is an really not beautiful email client, but it works great and we should not forget my ancient hardware from 2005 :-)

[^1]: I think there is no one. Not only one.

Ressources

• Latest Claws Mail Releases

Tags: archlinux, powermacg5, email, ppc, ppc64

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

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)

Tags: powermacg5, linux, ppc64, eolie, browser, fienix

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.

Tags: powermacg5, linux, ppc64, eolie, browser, fienix

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.

Read more...

Since I own the Powermac G5 and play around with it, I want to install a modern Browser and therefor, I want to run Firefox on it. But it is not possible. I tried different Linux Distros like Debian 12 PPC64, T2/Linux by Rene Rebe and even some special builts of ARCH for PPC64 - but I had no luck. No one had luck and even the Debian Mailinglist said it is not possible to built Firefox for PPC64 at this time. I even wrote about that.

And now, the other day, I tried Adelie Linux PPC64 and et voila: I fucking could start Firefox and tested some Websites like youtube.com and it worked. So I made a screenshot because I could not believe myself. I totally hope I can use Firefox sooner than later on the other Distros too.

Firefox 128 ESR running on top of LXQT Adelie Linux Powerpc 64 Powermac G5

Sincerely, Jan

Tags: powermacg5, firefox, ppc64, linux