Updated install instructions

[johnfante]

@xeno74 and others!

First: A great thank you for all your work for linux on the X5000

Second: A thought/idea/suggestions!

Since there are new users coming to the X5000 all the time (not in great numbers but there is movement ) it could be beneficial with a stickypost in the top of the Linux section with updated install instructions. What is the recommended hardware for an optimal setup with dual screen etc., how do you install to the latest version from scratch etc. It would make things a lot easier for newcomers (and the rest of us who did it long time ago and destroyed our install somehow ... ).

Just a suggestions!

[xeno74]

Your idea is great but I don’t know how to start. We have so many distributions (Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE, SliTaz, Debian, MATE PowerPC Remix, Live DVD distributions, Live USB distributions, PPC64 and PPC32 distributions, several versions of the distributions etc etc). Actually I have to write for all distributions installation instructions. This is too much for me. I need help from others.

But there are some installation instructions in the distributions threads in this forum. You can try these and write your experiences or new instructions here. We would help you as good as we can.

[johnfante]

Your idea is great but I don’t know how to start. We have so many distributions (Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE, SliTaz, Debian, MATE PowerPC Remix, Live DVD distributions, Live USB distributions, PPC64 and PPC32 distributions, several versions of the distributions etc etc). Actually I have to write for all distributions installation instructions. This is too much for me. I need help from others.

But there are some installation instructions in the distributions threads in this forum. You can try these and write your experiences or new instructions here. We would help you as good as we can.

The many choices is one of the strengths of Linux but also a drawback for all newbies

I will start a basic "install for newbies" thread for the latest version of Ubuntu. Please bear over with my mistakes and and chip in as much as you can. I will maybe send you a draft on PM to avoid to much damage ....

[xeno74]

I will start a basic "install for newbies" thread for the latest version of Ubuntu. Please bear over with my mistakes and and chip in as much as you can. I will maybe send you a draft on PM to avoid to much damage ....

Fantastic!

Just for info:

Canonical removed the PowerPC architecture last year. Consequently Canonical will not releasing new PowerPC images and updates for new distributions like 17.10, 18.04, and 18.10. Ubuntu MATE 16.04 will continue to support 32-bit PowerPC until 2019 and Canonical will offer security updates for the version 16.04 until 2021. The latest LTS release is 16.04.5. Fortunately we have a fork of the last ubuntu MATE (17.04), which I have updated and released as the MATE PowerPC Remix 2017. The latest version is 0.9. For this version there are some updates available.

• VLC 2.2.2 without AltiVec for the X5000: *** Download ***
• New ViewTube with Greasemonkey version 3.11: *** Download ***
• Mesa 18.2.2: *** Download ***
• OS/2 window border theme for MATE: *** Download ***
• Many many new kernels

Installation instructions for creating a MATE PowerPC Remix 0.9 USB stick

Download Links:

MATE_PowerPC_Remix_2017_0.9.img.tar.bz2 (Google Drive)

MATE_PowerPC_Remix_2017_0.9.img.tar.bz2 (Xenosoft.de)

Download Size: 5.1 GB

MD5 Checksum: e877ac30f7d001cd2ab6cab8e824520e

You only need to copy the image with 'dd' to a partition on your USB flash drive.

Create two partitions on your USB flash drive. A small FAT16 boot partition and a big partition without a file system. Copy the dtb file and the Linux kernel to the first small FAT16 boot partition. After that copy the MATE PowerPC Remix img with 'dd' to the second big partition.

For example the partition /dev/sdd2 on a USB flash drive:

Code: Select all

sudo dd if=MATE_PowerPC_Remix_2017_0.9.img of=/dev/sdd2

You can boot it with the following commands (for example from /dev/sdd2):

Code: Select all

setenv bootargs root=/dev/sdd2 rootdelay=5

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fatload usb 0:1 1000000 uImage-4.19

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fatload usb 0:1 2000000 cyrus.dtb

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bootm 1000000 - 2000000

If it doesn't boot then try "usb start" and "usb reset".

[johnfante]

Thank you very much

I have two disk installed in my system. One connected to the internal controller and one connected to a SII3114. I normally have my linux on the HDD connected to my SII3114. Worked fine so far.

However, when I try to boot the new image from USB I get an kernel pacic saying that it can not find root. In other words I am pointing to the wrong place with my bootargs root command.

If I have two drives, DVD and a USB connected to my system them:

setenv bootargs root=/dev/sdd2 rootdelay=5

should for the second partition on the USB in my case be:

setenv bootargs root=/dev/sdc2 rootdelay=5

Or?

I also get an kernel panic with:

setenv bootargs root=/dev/sdd2 rootdelay=5

[xeno74]

I normally have my linux on the HDD connected to my SII3114. Worked fine so far.

Please boot your installed Linux and connect the USB stick. After that you can see with the command lsblk the correct block device name.

[johnfante]

Ok. I will try to get a 16.04 install up and running then. Thank you