[GTALUG] Linux on ppc64 (G5) - distro support

[Stewart C. Russell]

On 2018-12-06 10:35 a.m., William Porquet wrote:
> I have a similar boat-anchor Mac G5. Lubuntu PPC works quite well on it.
> I can't upgrade from 16 to 18 yet, doesn't seem to be supported or the
> distro isn't ripe yet.

Good to know, thanks. I've installed Lubuntu 16.04 as powerpc64, but I
can't get past yaboot. I hold Option (⌥) when powering up to get to the
boot selection screen, choose the Linux HD (it even has a tiny
penguin!), pick 'l' from yaboot … and I'm back at the boot selection
screen again. Continue until patience runs out.

Do you use the OpenFirmware boot? Did you stick with 32 bit?

16.04 was the last PPC (big-endian) Ubuntu distro, so we won't be seeing
18. ppc64el is supported as a server OS, but won't run on our Apple
hardware.

> You pick up one from Masterfile too?

Yeah, a couple. Plus an Oki 9-pin printer that will likely outlive me.
Lev tells me he's getting most of the servers ready soon. He got rid of
a bunch of desktops to a movie prop company, too.

…

On 2018-12-07 10:15 a.m., Lennart Sorensen via talk wrote:> On Thu, Dec
06, 2018 at 01:19:33PM -0500, Mike via talk wrote:
>
> There is no powermac that can come close to the sound of an IBM
> pSeries server for making fan noise

I'd believe that. What remarkable about the G5 boxes is the sheer volume
of air they move through the CPU cooler before you notice the noise.
They've got two big 3-blade ducted fans either side of the CPU. On full
roar, all the noise is from turbulence fluctuating around the cooler
fins. But the box does produce a fierce amount of heat: I left it
running the Lubuntu live CD for a couple of hours last night, and the
room was very toasty when I went back in.

One the opposite end of the fan scale, Sunon make a 10 × 10 x 3 mm micro
cooler fan. 17000 rpm at 3 V. Can't think what would need that.

cheers,
 Stewart