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Posted: **Sat Feb 27, 2021 12:46 pm**

@All

Is there any PPC Linux which more or less up2date and can be booted from HDD without USB now on x5000? I mean, ok to install from USB, but just later to boot normally just from HDD?

Also, is there any Linux distro that already has a working PPC RadeonHD or Radeon RX driver? Or at least the one which supports Radeon1950 XT? (2d, 3d, etc) ?

Posted: **Sat Feb 27, 2021 3:12 pm**

kas1e wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 12:46 pm Is there any PPC Linux which more or less up2date and can be booted from HDD without USB now on x5000? I mean, ok to install from USB, but just later to boot normally just from HDD?

All available PPC Linux distros can be booted directly from HDD (Sata disk connected to the onboard conroller). You just need to have also a FAT32 partition on that disk and put the needed kernel files there. The actual distros are stored in EXT(2/3/4) partitions, and you can have several of them on the same disk. With U-boot variables/scripts you can choose which one is used. But you cannot use the same disk for booting AmigaOS.

Other possibility is to have a FAT partition for kernel on the Boot SD (viewtopic.php?f=58&t=3707). That should make it possible to use a separate SATA controller card and a disk connected to it for distro partitions, if there is the needed driver for that card in the kernel.

MintPPC and Fienix (both debian based) are currently the best choises. Most other distros (like Ubuntu and Fedora) are not anymore developed further for PPC, so you can only use older versions.

Also, is there any Linux distro that already has a working PPC RadeonHD or Radeon RX driver? Or at least the one which supports Radeon1950 XT? (2d, 3d, etc) ?

I suppose Christian and other users here can give up-to-date information about the graphics support and current limitations...?

Posted: **Sat Feb 27, 2021 4:04 pm**

kas1e wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 12:46 pm Also, is there any Linux distro that already has a working PPC RadeonHD or Radeon RX driver? Or at least the one which supports Radeon1950 XT? (2d, 3d, etc) ?

Video playback and hardware 3D acceleration work well with RadeonHD 4xxx, 5xxx, and 6xxx graphics cards if you use the latest Linux distributions (MintPPC and Fienix). Some new Radeon graphics cards work as well but without hardware 3D acceleration and without a good video playback.

The best graphics card for Linux PPC is the Radeon HD 6990. I use Radeon HD 6970 graphics cards in my AmigaOnes.

Posted: **Sat Feb 27, 2021 4:57 pm**

@All
I mostly need it for test PPC builds of the stuff I port/do, to be sure when issues are endian related, and when issues related to the amigaos4 ports themselves.

So that means I need up2date GCC in it, and all stuff be working correctly and without glitches, with support of DMA transfers, local networks, etc.

What is better in that case, MintPPC or Fienix?

@Roland

But you cannot use the same disk for booting AmigaOS.

Right, that what I mean! So, just need it separate SSD. That no problems, as I need PPC-Linux just for not very often tests.

@Xeno74

Some new Radeon graphics cards work as well but without hardware 3D acceleration and without a good video playback.

You mean RadeonRX works too now in accelerated 2D at least? I tried for now to install Fienix (https://fienixppc.blogspot.com/p/image.html), and while it loads up all the stuff for a minute, then show me a white cursor and nothing else happens: that on Radeon HD 270. But maybe the kernel in that image is too old?

I then tried with RadeonHD 1950XT : also take too bootup for about a minute with loading all the services ,etc, then switch to the new video mode and this time it show up the login fine , i type "root" and it loaded up after few 10-15 seconds. Through firstly it also show me that "halted" white cursor, so maybe with RadeonHD i need to wait a bit more ?

Also, how much of time it take up for you guys to load up from usb-flash "fienix" distro ? It seems like 2-3 minutes for me. And everything slooooow. Probably because from USB.. Now need to find how to intall it on HDD. Did it have some kind of installer ? Or how to do so ?

PS. I see there is mintPPC 32 bit and 64bit ones (i need a 32bit one for tests) but is Fienix 32bit by default or 64bit?

Posted: **Sat Feb 27, 2021 6:46 pm**

kas1e wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 4:57 pm You mean RadeonRX works too now in accelerated 2D at least?

Polaris graphics cards aren't supported.

kas1e wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 4:57 pm What about RadeonHD 1950XT, is it supported fine?

Do you mean the Radeon X1950XT? If yes, it works but it has only OpenGL 2.1 support. I use an ATi Radeon X1950 PRO Extreme for MorphOS and Linux in my X5000/20.

kas1e wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 4:57 pm PS. I see there is mintPPC 32 bit and 64bit ones (i need a 32bit one for tests) but is Fienix 32bit by default or 64bit?

MintPPC and Fienix use a 32-bit userland + 64-bit kernel on the X5000 and X1000.

Downloads:

MintPPC32-X5000.tar.gz (md5sum: b31c1c1ca1fcf5d4cdf110c4bce11654)

The password for both 'root' and 'mintppc' is 'mintppc'.

-----
fienix-soar_3.0-2020608-net.img.tar.gz

Default username and password:
Username: fienix
Password: fienixPW
Root Password: rootAdminPW

kas1e wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 4:57 pm EDIT: Oh, and i forgot about how to install it all It's not enough to just copy the mint32/fienix image to USB-stick and boot from it? It needs some special preparation to have different partitions with the independent kernels for x5000 downloaded separately, etc, etc?

I have found some instructions in this forum.

And there are installation instructions on the Fienix website as well.

Link: fienixppc.blogspot.com

I have also found installation instructions for MintPPC in this forum. Additionally you need a FAT16 partition for the kernels and dtb for MintPPC.

Link: MintPPC installation

Posted: **Sat Feb 27, 2021 8:45 pm**

@xeno74

Instructions for Installing Fienix 3.0-20200426 on a Hard Disk

Thanks ! Will try this out ! Through if i understand correctly it needs 2 usb flash : one from which boot, and another one with copy of image to copy to hdd ?

Also is "initrd-5.5-rc7-X1000_X5000.tar.gz" are still correct one, or you have newer one ?

Posted: **Sat Feb 27, 2021 8:55 pm**

kas1e wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 8:45 pm Thanks ! Will try this out ! Through if i understand correctly it needs 2 usb flash : one from which boot, and another one with copy of image to copy to hdd ?

You can also download the img and copy with 'dd' from a booted Fienix USB stick to an HDD/SSD.

kas1e wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 8:45 pm Also is "initrd-5.5-rc7-X1000_X5000.tar.gz" are still correct one, or you have newer one ?

Yes, I have. You can try the latest stable kernel 5.11 with this initrd.

Posted: **Sat Feb 27, 2021 9:00 pm**

kas1e wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 4:57 pm So that means I need up2date GCC in it, and all stuff be working correctly and without glitches, with support of DMA transfers, local networks, etc.

What is better in that case, MintPPC or Fienix?

IMHO, it is best to have both at hands! For MintPPC there may be newer versions of programs and updates appear faster, but the keeper of this distro (Jeroen Deederen) is not familiar with AmigaOne. Thus he may not be able to help with problems specific for X5000. The keeper of Fienix (Casey) has a X5000 and is present here, so there is better possibility to get help for specific problems.

PS. I see there is mintPPC 32 bit and 64bit ones (i need a 32bit one for tests) but is Fienix 32bit by default or 64bit?

The 64bit version of MintPPC does not seem to work with X5000. It may need Altivec, or then there is some other issue...

Posted: **Sat Feb 27, 2021 10:24 pm**

@xeno74

You can also download the img and copy with 'dd' from a booted Fienix USB stick to an HDD/SSD.

You mean boot from one single flash, then download the file from the network to what place ?:) I mean, I attach HDD, which had no partitions, etc.

Or you mean that I should partition it before to some partitions to which download file?

I also read your instructions, and not very well understand the part about copy "the initial ramdisk (uInitrd-5.5) to the first partition of your hard disk (FIENIX-BOOT)": after "dd" the big .img file, it creates for me 2 partitions on my /dev/sda : /dev/sda1 as FIENIX-BOOT1, and /dev/sda2 as /media/root/FIENIX-DISK. Checking the "FIENIX-BOOT1" i can see there already placed uInitrd file. Should I just copy there uInitrd-5.5 from your site like it, without renaming it? Or I should replace the original uInitrd?

Basically all what i do to boot from HDD, it's just "dd" command as you wrote, and then copy nothing, just reboot, and then:

setenv bootargs root=LABEL=FIENIX-DISK rootdelay=5
fatload sata 0:1 1000000 uImage-5.7
fatload sata 0:1 1c00000 cyrus-p5020.dtb
fatload sata 0:1 2000000 uInitrd
bootm 1000000 2000000 1c00000

I.e. the same as if I boot from USB, just replaced usb 0:1 on sata 0:1.

But now have some problem:

When I tried to run "resized2fs /dev/sda2" to resize the partition (as it by default 4.8G, and 3.8 of which already busy), I have in the output:
"The filesystem is already 128000 (4k) blocks long. Nothing to do!"

At the moment tried also that way:

fdisk /dev/sda2
"p" to see partitions,
"d" to delete partition 2 (yes, delete!),
then "n" to create partition 2 again, with the same first block as the old partition 2, and the new last block (so as to have a bigger size)
"p" again to check the partition table
and if all ok "w" to write.

Then reboot, but damn, it still 4.8 GB and not as I save

Also, is quite annoying all the time to write all those 5 long commands to boot Linux: is it possible to save them in uboot in some kind of script, which I can then run by one command like "run linux" or something?

Posted: **Sun Feb 28, 2021 10:02 am**

kas1e wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 10:24 pm You mean boot from one single flash, then download the file from the network to what place ?:) I mean, I attach HDD, which had no partitions, etc.

After the booting of the Fienix USB stick you can test Fienix. You can also test the internet connection. If it works, then you can download the img again and save it in the partition of your booted Fienix USB stick.

Download the img for example with Windows, macOS, Linux etc ...
Copy the img to the USB stick for example with Windows, macOS, Linux etc ...
If you want to use a new kernel, then you can copy it with the initrd and the dtb file to the FIENIX-BOOT partition from Windows, macOS, Linux etc ... You can also try to use the existing dtb and initrd with the new kernel.
Boot Fienix from the USB stick
Test it and if everything works and you like it then activate the internet connection
Download the img again and save it in the file system of your USB stick
Copy the img with 'dd' to the HDD/SDD
If you want to use a new kernel, then you can copy it with the initrd and the dtb file to the FIENIX-BOOT partition of your HDD/SDD. You can also try to use the existing dtb and initrd with the new kernel.

kas1e wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 10:24 pm Checking the "FIENIX-BOOT1" i can see there already placed uInitrd file. Should I just copy there uInitrd-5.5 from your site like it, without renaming it? Or I should replace the original uInitrd?

If you have any problems with the existing initrd then you can replace it with the uinitrd-5.5.

kas1e wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 10:24 pm Basically all what i do to boot from HDD, it's just "dd" command as you wrote, and then copy nothing, just reboot, and then:

setenv bootargs root=LABEL=FIENIX-DISK rootdelay=5
fatload sata 0:1 1000000 uImage-5.7
fatload sata 0:1 1c00000 cyrus-p5020.dtb
fatload sata 0:1 2000000 uInitrd
bootm 1000000 2000000 1c00000

You don't need "rootdelay" anymore if you boot from an HDD/SDD. I use sata 1:1 for booting my Linux systems.

You can also boot without an initrd if you know the block partition device name of your FIENIX-DISK root partition for example: setenv bootargs root=/dev/sda2.

kas1e wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 10:24 pm When I tried to run "resized2fs /dev/sda2" to resize the partition (as it by default 4.8G, and 3.8 of which already busy), I have in the output:
"The filesystem is already 128000 (4k) blocks long. Nothing to do!"

You tried to use the MintPPC installation instructions for Fienix.

The Fienix image has two partitions. A small FAT partition and a big ext4 root partition. You can expand the file system "FIENIX-DISK" (big ext4 root partition) with "GParted" from the Fienix USB stick to the total size of the HDD/SDD.

If you don't have GParted in Fienix then install it with a click on Menu, Administration, Synaptic. It will be located in Menu, System Tools, GParted.

GParted "sees" partitions whether they are mounted or not. You do not have to mount a partition to resize it; and in fact you cannot resize a partition if it is mounted.

The MintPPC img has only the root partition. You have to create a small FAT16 partition for the kernels, initrds and dtb file and after that a big ext4 root partition. Then you copy the MintPPC img to the big ext4 root partition. The img is normally smaller then the root partiton so you need to expand the file system with resize2fs to the total size of the partition.
If you have an existing boot partition with kernels, dtb, and maybe initrds then you don't need another boot partition for MintPPC. You only need one small FAT16 boot partition with kernels, dtb, and maybe initrds for all Linux systems.

kas1e wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 10:24 pm Also, is quite annoying all the time to write all those 5 long commands to boot Linux: is it possible to save them in uboot in some kind of script, which I can then run by one command like "run linux" or something?

You can set up the button "Start Linux" in the AmigaOne Early Startup Control of the AmigaOne X5000 with the following commands:

With initrd:

Code: Select all

X5000> setenv linuxboot 'root=LABEL=FIENIX-DISK ; load sata 0:1 1000000 uImage-5.11 ; load sata 0:1 1c00000 cyrus-p5020.dtb ; load sata 0:1 2000000 uInitrd ; bootm 1000000 2000000 1c00000'

Code: Select all

X5000> saveenv

Without initrd:

Code: Select all

X5000> setenv linuxboot 'setenv bootargs root=/dev/sda2 ; load sata 0:1 1000000 uImage-5.11 ; load sata 0:1 2000000 cyrus-p5020.dtb ; bootm 1000000 - 2000000'

Code: Select all

X5000> saveenv

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