# FreeBSD PowerPC 9.0 available



## sossego (Apr 20, 2010)

http://people.freebsd.org/~nwhitehorn/FreeBSD-9.0-20100418-SNAP-powerpc/

Directions: http://people.freebsd.org/~nwhitehorn/ppcinstall.txt
There's a livefs.iso also.

ï¿½e Hell's yeah!


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## sossego (Apr 21, 2010)

If the default howto doesn't work:

Use a debian install disk and create the number of partitions that you want. For some reason, the geometry from the install disk is greater than what is seen from freebsd. To compensate for such add 200k to what would be the hfs boot sector. This will be listed as "New World boot partition".
Remove the media and reboot with the FreeBSD media. Go ahead and skip to the fixit shell.
From tty4:

```
gpart show adX
gpart modify i2 -t freebsd ad0
<it will commit>
gpart modify -i3 -t freebsd-swap ad0
<continue this until all are set.>
```
Go to sysinstall's disk label and choose the distribution.
You only have cd media that will work.
Set it up, the user, root password, services. You know the deal.
Skip the ports. Enable the interface. Reboot.


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## sossego (Apr 21, 2010)

If the default dd command doesn't work:
Email yourself the boot1.hfs file from the install media.
Download and burn yourself the debian or ubuntu ppc live image. Boot into the live Desktop.
now, go into your mail where you sent yourself the file and download it to the temporary environment.
Open a terminal.


```
$sudo -s
# fdisk /dev/(usually hdc)
:p
<look at partition types. Apple bootstrap will be here.>
:q!
#cd Desktop
if=/path/to/Desktop of=/dev/hdX2
```


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## sossego (Apr 21, 2010)

You'll need to add yourself to the wheel group before you can use su.
login first as root, edit /etc/group, then logout.

You must run the following command as su.

```
/usr/libexec/locate.updatedb
```

(Mods, admins, I'd like this thread to be merged as a single post after the announcment.)


You should be able to use this modified howto when the next release comes out.

If you are using an older release, then use the .deb file for the gpart for ubuntu.

http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/g/gpart/


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## sossego (Apr 21, 2010)

Added commands.

```
# mkdir $USER/cdromX
```
Insert disc1. I had trouble mounting the livefs.

```
mount -t cd9660 /dev/acdX $USER/cdrom
cd $USER/cdrom/9*
cd manpages
sh install.sh
```

There's some kernel crashing here; but, you will still have a working environment. It could also be my hardware.


If the install went better for you than me, still, do the following.
Add ports from the cdrom.


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## sossego (Apr 21, 2010)

Does this look right? I feel like I'm screwing up somewhere.


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## sossego (Apr 22, 2010)

You must install pciutils. X11-drivers/xorg meta package. Cannot include openchrome in the build.
There is no xinit file.
Fbdevhw.so does not exist.

Xorg fails to find scree. This is only on the G3 seeing that it is what I have.


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## sossego (Apr 23, 2010)

```
sysctl hw.ofwfb.relax_mmap=1
```



> And then set the UseFBDev option in xorg.conf to Off.



I'm using this thread as both a log and a status report. 
Since I have only one PowerPC box, I've switched back to 8.0 to see if the build error was due to me or to the testing release. Xorg should be built modularly. You can use the meta port as a guide and switch ttys for each package.


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## sossego (May 2, 2010)

I am back to the 9.0 SNAPSHOT. 
Xorg problems solved somewhat. It is a firmware issue.
Libxul will build but only from the experimental branch at the gecko svn.
Firefox 3.6 will build. The experimental branch of gecko has this one.
You will need to do the following.

```
$su:
Password:
# cd /usr/ports/www/libxul
#rm -rf *
#svn co https://trillian.chruetertee.ch/svn/freebsd-gecko/branches/experimental/www/libxul-devel/
# cd libxul-devel
# make -j 2 && make install && make clean
```

For firefox

```
$su:
Password:
# cd /usr/ports/www/firefox
# rm -rf *
# svn co https://trillian.chruetertee.ch/svn/freebsd-gecko/trunk/www/firefox/
# cd firefox
# make -j 2 && make install && make clean
```

 The mozilla site recommends:


> *  512MB RAM with lots of available swap space. For static and XULRunner builds, 1GB RAM minimum. Additional RAM will significantly decrease build time.
> * For debug builds: at least 2 GB free disk space (2.5 GB recommended)
> * For optimized builds: at least 600 MB free disk space (1 GB recommended)
> Processor: PowerPC G4 or later, PowerPC G5 or Intel CPUs recommended. Mozilla can now be built for either type of processor, or as a universal binary for both types



This was done with the following: 400 MHz G3/750,386M RAM, 1G swap. There was a period of one hour out of the eight or nine it took to build- I fell asleep waiting- that the G3 was unresponsive due to the fact the processor was too busy. Rarely was the memory empty and the swap use did not exceed 5%. 

In the xorg.conf file that was generated, add 
	
	



```
Option "UseFBDev" "False"
```
 to the server layout section.

Due to a firmware issue, you can only switch ttyXs before starting an xsession. Currently only the path of /usr/local/bin/startx works.


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## sossego (May 2, 2010)

There is something that I forgot to mention.
Edit the cflags in make config to optimize builds for your processor. The default settings are geared towards x86 and amd64 cpu-types. 
If you are using the same processor, the following flags will optimize builds.

```
CFLAGS= -mcpu=750 -Os -pipe -fno-strict-aliasing
```

Even though libxul-devel will build, do not make any ports dependent on the libxul found in the ports tree. You will need to edit files to use the new library.


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