Architectures/PowerPC

PowerPC/POWER/Cell Special Interest Group

Members

• Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams
  
• Paul Nasrat
  
• Peter Lemenkov
  
• Stefan Posdzich (using a Playstation 3 with Fedora 9)

Applications/Libraries of Interest

• Mac-on-Linux - virtualization solution for PowerPC

Documentation

Fedora on Apple PPC hardware

iBook G4 Hardware info:

iBook G4/1.33GHz 12-Inch (Mid-2005)

• 1.33 GHz PowerPC 7447a (G4) processor with 64k L1 cache
• 512k "on chip" level 2 cache.
• 512 MB of onboard RAM (PC2700 DDR SDRAM).
• 40 GB (4200 RPM) Ultra ATA/100 hard drive.
• Slot-loading DVD-ROM/CD-RW "Combo" drive.
• 4X AGP ATI Mobility Radeon 9550 graphics with 32 MB of DDR SDRAM.
• A standard AirPort Extreme (802.11g) - Broadcom BCM4318 chipset.
• Bluetooth 2.0+EDR.
• 56k v.92 standard modem
• 50 W/Hr LiIon battery (Stated 6 hour lifetime)
• 12.1" TFT XGA active matrix display (1024x768 native resolution).
• "Sudden Motion Sensor" technology that stops the hard drive heads from moving if the notebook is dropped.
• "Scrolling Trackpad" that allows one to scroll or pan by touching the trackpad with two fingers instead of one.

Dual booting with OS X

• Install OS X first.

1. Boot from your OS X install CD but before the installation starts, load the disk utility from the top menu.
2. Here you can partion your drive. Partition the drive in two, one as MAC filesystem (for OS X) and one as free space, leave the MBR as the default MAC option.
3. Once OS X is installed grab any updates and set the date/time.
4. You are now ready to go ahead with installing Fedora

Installing Fedora

• Turn on your Apple, insert the Fedora install media and boot from the CD/DVD by holding down the 'c' key as soon as you hear the Apple chime.

Note
There seems to be a bug in the Fedora 9 installer. Caps lock may be on when the light is not. Check at the screen where you can enter your host name.

1. If you are dual booting, when you get to the partitioning page, select the option which will set up the free space on your hard drive for Fedora, leaving your MAC partition alone.

Wireless networking

Broadcom BC43xx chipset

This chipset uses the 'b43' drivers contained in the kernel. For a comprehensive list of supported chipset versions and more info, check the link at the bottom of the page to linuxwireless.org. Although the 'b43' driver is open source, a proprietary piece of firmware is required in order get this wireless chipset to function.

Note
This guide assumes you are using kernel version 2.6.25 or newer (Fedora 9 and above).

1. Download the firmware:

$ wget http://mirror2.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2

1. Extract the firmware:

$ tar xjf broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2

1. Set a temporary environment variable:

# export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR="/lib/firmware"

1. Use the 'b43-fwcutter-011' tool to extract the firmware to your Fedora system:

# b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w "$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR" wl_apsta_mimo.o

1. Load the 'b43' module to make sure you get no errors:

modprobe b43

1. Reboot (restarting the network manager might work too). Now the network manager should display any nearby wireless networks!

Useful links

http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers

Work needed

Bugzilla

• #219540 Game Glest not playable at PPC-arch
• #239713 bootstrap ghc on ppc64
• #453311 pulseaudio does not start

Someone who interested should also watch #179260

Documentation

• We need step-by-step tutorials describing HOWTO setup Wi-Fi, Apple Bluetooth Mouse and Keyboard, where to find JRE and so on. See the next links (from Ubuntu, Debian and YellowDog):
  • HOWTO: Apple Wireless Keyboard (Bluetooth)
  • PowerPC FAQ
  • Notes abount snd-aoa kernel module

Links

• Power homepage
  
• fedora-ppc mailing list
  
• Power.org
  
• PPCZone
  
• YellowDogLinux support pages
  
• powerdeveloper.org

See also

• PlayStation