# Wanting to revive a graphite G4 powermac



## Butterfly (Jun 2, 2022)

Hi all,
I bought a PowerMac...though...the "power" somewhat illudes me. My Z400 is punchier than this. Of course...OSX is still on there.
FreeBSD is required.
I tried hard to access the bootmenu, and failed.
I quess, I need to install the PowerPC flavor...possible 32 bit...dunnow if that thing is 64 bit...yet...
Any help on getting that done is very appreciated...
Thanks so much in advance
Melissa


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## covacat (Jun 2, 2022)

g4 is 32 bit


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## Butterfly (Jun 2, 2022)

covacat said:


> g4 is 32 bit


Aha! Nice to know. But it's not an Intel based system, I suppose...
Thanks a ton so far


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## covacat (Jun 3, 2022)

powerpc arch
i had an ibook g4 (latest model 1.42ghz) and an imac (the lamp model / also latest version)
i booted netbsd once on the ibook, never tried freebsd.
also they were bootp capable
probably you'll have better luck with netbsd


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## Butterfly (Jun 3, 2022)

covacat said:


> g4 is 32 bit


Thanks, this means: 32 bit for PowerPC...wich me luck


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## covacat (Jun 3, 2022)

take a look at https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/...-problems-with-booting-release-install.21021/
some of the posters seem to be active so you may contact them


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## msplsh (Jun 3, 2022)

I'll try again on mine but last time I tried to update to something recent, I got this.

powerpc: Kernel panic on install


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## grahamperrin@ (Jun 5, 2022)

<https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/b...39&query_format=advanced&rep_platform=powerpc>

Butterfly which version of FreeBSD will you try? 13.1-RELEASE?


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## Butterfly (Jun 5, 2022)

grahamperrin said:


> <https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/b...39&query_format=advanced&rep_platform=powerpc>
> 
> Butterfly which version of FreeBSD will you try? 13.1-RELEASE?


Hi, well...yes...I suppose THAT is the up-to-date one...
Still have to get down to understanding the release scheme....sorry...
I already have the release...for PowerPC. I noticed that the onboard battery was depleted (still is...) and needs to be replaced. I read that it's not possible (or extremely hard/unlikely) to bring up the boot manager on a Mac if that battery is depleted...
I struck me as frustrating to not be able to call that up.
It seems that these macs are 32 bit...
It was a server, though...well, that was what it was sold as...but...whatever it was...it's dead now...

(thank you all so much for reaching out...)
Edit : I read that 13.0 is better suited, I'll ry that one instead...as soon as the battery gets here...


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## Butterfly (Jun 13, 2022)

I have decided to kill the mac. There is a new battery in there, yet I still cannot reach the boot setup. I burned an ISO with 13.0 for the power pc and it does not get seen.
Mac is hostile...in many ways...
I'll strip the thing, and ritually set fire to the remains...
Melissa


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## msplsh (Jun 13, 2022)

Oh no, it worked just fine for me! (which is a welcome improvement)  I tried 13.1 on my 400Mhz sawtooth.


Download FreeBSD-13.1-RELEASE-powerpc-dvd1.iso
Download CHECKSUM.SHA256-FreeBSD-13.1-RELEASE-powerpc
Run `openssl dgst -sha256 FreeBSD-13.1-RELEASE-powerpc-dvd1.iso`
Compare to make sure
Burn the image to the disk properly ( I just right clicked on it in macOS and chose burn to disc). Or you could use `dvdrecord -v -v -dao -fs=8m -data FreeBSD-13.1-RELEASE-powerpc-dvd1.iso`
Hope the disc burnt ok (or have the burning software verify before finishing)
Make sure the optical drive is a DVD reader and can read burnt DVDs (not ancient)
Hold down the "Option" key while booting to get to the firmware boot selection screen
Make sure there's a mouse attached and choose the thing that looks like a disc before clicking the arrow
Have FreeBSD boot to the installer!


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## Butterfly (Jun 14, 2022)

msplsh said:


> Oh no, it worked just fine for me! (which is a welcome improvement)  I tried 13.1 on my 400Mhz sawtooth.
> 
> 
> Download FreeBSD-13.1-RELEASE-powerpc-dvd1.iso
> ...


*Thanks*...the word "properly" came standing out...possibly, I was somewhat sloppy, there...  
Retrying to revive the mac...
(though...the "_power_" bit still illudes he on that one )


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