New powerpc64 snapshot

[Paul Mather]

On Sep 25, 2010, at 10:43 AM, Nathan Whitehorn wrote:

> On 09/21/10 22:36, Paul Mather wrote:
>> On Sep 10, 2010, at 6:35 PM, Nathan Whitehorn wrote:
>> 
>>> I have built a new powerpc64 snapshot that should have a more
>>> functional installer and not have disk-detection problems on some
>>> models of G5 Powermac. This snapshot can be found at
>>> http://people.freebsd.org/~nwhitehorn/FreeBSD-9.0-20100910-SNAP-powerpc64
>>> 
>>> Installation directions are the same as for 32-bit PowerPC:
>>> http://people.freebsd.org/~nwhitehorn/ppcinstall.txt
>>> 
>>> SMP is also now in the default powerpc64 kernel configuration, thanks
>>> to Peter Grehan.
>> 
>> I just tried this snapshot but did not have much luck installing.
>> 
>> I am trying to install on a headless Xserve G5 via a serial console.
>> I can boot the CD from OpenFirmware and enter the installer. I then drop
>> into the Fixit shell but cannot successfully complete any partitioning
>> via gpart. Commands like "gpart show" will display the existing
>> partition table, but any gpart command that affects the partition table
>> (gpart delete; gpart add; etc.) will not complete (coincidentally, the
>> fan seems to start racing then, too). The system isn't hung because
>> CTRL-C will bring me back to sysinstall.
> 
> There isn't any fan control at present (although this should be
> committed soon), so the fan doesn't have anything to do with it. It
> sounds like you found a gpart bug, so maybe Marcel has some ideas. One
> thing you could try is to remove the previous partition map with gpart
> destroy and than make a new one with gpart create.

I didn't mention it explicitly above, but I did try "gpart destroy ad0" but it behaved similar to the other partition-affecting gpart commands I tried (add, delete, etc.) in that the command just appeared to hang around and not complete and return to the shell prompt.  It didn't destroy the partition, as I was able to reboot back into Mac OS X.

>> I currently have Mac OS X 10.5 on this system, and would like to
>> replace it with FreeBSD/powerpc64. Has anyone done this successfully, or
>> have any hints about what I may be missing?
> 
> It worked fine for me, but I was using a fresh disk. Removing the
> existing partition map, or trying with a fresh SATA disk, might help.

I have a spare external firewire drive that I will try again with, and hopefully be able to test out FreeBSD/powerpc64 that way (without having to blow away Mac OS X first, too, which is a plus).  I have had troubles there, too, but that is a subject for another posting.

> 
>> Oh, and is it possible to change the OpenFirmware serial console
>> speed to something lower than 57600? I have an IBM 3151 TTY (with VT100
>> personality card) I'd like to use as a permanently-attached serial
>> console but it only goes up to 19200 in its setup options. :-(
> 
> This one I have no idea. You can change it in FreeBSD, of course, but
> that doesn't affect OF.

Unfortunately, "printenv" didn't appear to show any obvious speed-related OF variables.  I do have a USB-to-serial device that works, but that means I have to lug a laptop to where the Xserve G5 is, which is less convenient.

Cheers,

Paul.