Working 6.6.x kernel-config for PowerMac G5 AGP/PCIe

schwarzygesetzlos

This is my (rather minimal) G5 kernel-config. It works for my PowerMac G5 11,2 (PCIe) and it should work for the PowerMac G5 AGP models alike. Feedback is appreciated!
Output generated via grep -E '^[^#]' .config. Thanks for the hint, Moderator!

Full config at: https://pastebin.com/9JyNSFua

Fan control, SATA, PATA, firewire, audio, ethernet, serial port (G5 7,3), WLAN is configured (Atheros, Realtek USB).
For WLAN over native Airport Xtreme card you additionally need to emerge sys-firmware/b43legacy-firmware (G5 7,3) or sys-firmware/b43-firmware (G5 11,2). WLAN over an Atheros 5xxx chipset card does not require additional firmware.

Don't forget to define your VIDEO_CARDS= in /etc/portage/make.conf, e.g. VIDEO_CARDS="fbdev radeon r300 r600 nouveau".

Posting this because it may save somebodys time twinkering around with the kernel. It took me quite a while to figure out what config-options are really needed.

schwarzygesetzlos · Posted: Sat May 20, 2017 10:36 am Post subject:

Updated to 4.10.x as 4.8.x is no longer in tree.
Re-enabled OpenRC support (was using systemd only).
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Talos II. [Gentoo Linux] | PMac G5 11,2. PMac G4 3,6. PBook G4 5,8. [MorphOS 3.18 / Gentoo Linux] | Vampire V4 SA [ApolloOS / Amiga OS 3.2.2]

starpa · n00b Joined: 13 Jan 2018 Posts: 9

Were you able to get a display manager working with this config on the PowerMac g5 7,3 AGP Radeon?

schwarzygesetzlos · Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2018 2:05 pm Post subject:

Yes. I run the G5 7,3 with a Radeon 9800, lightdm, MATE and XFCE desktop.

Until recently I needed to turn 2D/3D acceleration off, to prevent the card from freezing:

schwarzygesetzlos · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2018 12:11 am Post subject:

Ah, forgot to add that I use the following boot parameters via the append="..." line in /etc/yaboot.conf:

starpa · n00b Joined: 13 Jan 2018 Posts: 9

Great info! I'm trying Gnome now and with that 10-device.conf it seems to run one processor really high so I might just try xfce instead.

What gentoo-sources are you using by the way? I'm using 4.9.76-r1 because it's the highest that isn't in "testing". Would you recommend higher with gcc-7.3.0?

schwarzygesetzlos · Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 7:39 pm Post subject:

The xorg.conf option Option "Accel" "off" turns off the 2D/3D acceleration of the GPU, the CPU needs to GPU stuff via software rendering. So no wonder Gnome runs slow. :wink:

Does Gnome use a composting manager? If so, can you turn it off? Most probably it will run faster then. XFCE uses no composting manager, MATE does use one, but you can turn it off-

I am running gentoo-sources-4.15.7-r1 on the AGP G5 and gentoo-sources-4.9.86 on my PCIe G5. On the PCI G5 2D/3D acceleration is running on DRI3+glamor. Made the desktop and Firefox a lot faster, yay! But I have to run on 4.9.x sources 'cause of kernel bug #99851 (https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=99851)

I rebuilt world with gcc-7.3.0 and would recommend it. I encountered no build problems I can remember of. GCC 7 uses LRA now by default on ppc64, as amd64 does for years.
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Talos II. [Gentoo Linux] | PMac G5 11,2. PMac G4 3,6. PBook G4 5,8. [MorphOS 3.18 / Gentoo Linux] | Vampire V4 SA [ApolloOS / Amiga OS 3.2.2]

starpa · n00b Joined: 13 Jan 2018 Posts: 9

Oh okay, that makes sense now. I will check out if I can turn of the compositing manager and try that xorg.conf again.

I'll try out GCC 7 also and see if that makes a difference before updating the sources.

schwarzygesetzlos · Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2018 8:06 pm Post subject:

Updated the config to 4.14.35.
Did some minor changes.
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Talos II. [Gentoo Linux] | PMac G5 11,2. PMac G4 3,6. PBook G4 5,8. [MorphOS 3.18 / Gentoo Linux] | Vampire V4 SA [ApolloOS / Amiga OS 3.2.2]

schwarzygesetzlos · Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2018 11:13 pm Post subject:

Updated the config to 4.14.47.
Added config for WLAN support (for a native Airport Xtreme card emerge sys-firmware/b43legacy-firmware ** is needed additionally).
Addec config for NUMA support (the G5 identifies itself as having a node).
Changed TCP congestion algorithm to Westwood+ (plays much nicer with WLAN as BBR).
Rebased some options against a genkernel generated kernel.
_________________
Talos II. [Gentoo Linux] | PMac G5 11,2. PMac G4 3,6. PBook G4 5,8. [MorphOS 3.18 / Gentoo Linux] | Vampire V4 SA [ApolloOS / Amiga OS 3.2.2]

schwarzygesetzlos · Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2018 1:11 pm Post subject:

Updated the config to 4.14.72.
Minor tweaks.
_________________
Talos II. [Gentoo Linux] | PMac G5 11,2. PMac G4 3,6. PBook G4 5,8. [MorphOS 3.18 / Gentoo Linux] | Vampire V4 SA [ApolloOS / Amiga OS 3.2.2]

schwarzygesetzlos · Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2018 4:17 pm Post subject:

Updated the config to 4.14.90.
Added Atheros PCI WLAN Driver
Minor tweaks
_________________
Talos II. [Gentoo Linux] | PMac G5 11,2. PMac G4 3,6. PBook G4 5,8. [MorphOS 3.18 / Gentoo Linux] | Vampire V4 SA [ApolloOS / Amiga OS 3.2.2]

luks · n00b Joined: 10 Nov 2018 Posts: 2

Hey, I'm trying to generate initramfs for the kernel. Your kernel compiled fine but when trying to create initramfs for it with genkernel the compilation fails with error message "Failed to add devices to cpio". I used the command "genkernel --kernel-config=/usr/src/linux/.config --install initramfs".

Do you have any idea what I'm doing wrong? My machine is PowerMac11,2.

Log: https://pastebin.com/Ze2MjGRr

schwarzygesetzlos · Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2018 11:54 pm Post subject:

I quickly found the mistake, I simply stripped out the relevant kernel option from the .config 'cause I do not use a ramdisk myself. :wink:

It's easy to add it back. Simply enter your kernel directory via cd /usr/src/linux, type make menuconfig, go to "General setup", look for "Initial RAM filesystem and RAM disk (initramfs/initrd) support" and activate it. If this works out for you I will update my .config here.
_________________
Talos II. [Gentoo Linux] | PMac G5 11,2. PMac G4 3,6. PBook G4 5,8. [MorphOS 3.18 / Gentoo Linux] | Vampire V4 SA [ApolloOS / Amiga OS 3.2.2]

luks · n00b Joined: 10 Nov 2018 Posts: 2

Thanks! It worked. I thought that using initramfs is mandatory with ppc, as mentioned in https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-1065480.html.

schwarzygesetzlos · Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2018 12:48 pm Post subject:

Not if you build the modules you need to boot up statically into the kernel. Minimum is basically SATA/PATA, filesystem for root/boot-partition, OpenFirmware console (if you want to see kernel messages at startup), systemd/OpenRC-support. The rest can be loaded as modules on the root partition.
_________________
Talos II. [Gentoo Linux] | PMac G5 11,2. PMac G4 3,6. PBook G4 5,8. [MorphOS 3.18 / Gentoo Linux] | Vampire V4 SA [ApolloOS / Amiga OS 3.2.2]

schwarzygesetzlos · Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2018 1:37 pm Post subject:

Updated the config to 4.14.91.
Added INITRAMFS to the config (gzip/xz compression possible)

Creating the kernel via genkernel now should work with and without an initrd/initramfs.
_________________
Talos II. [Gentoo Linux] | PMac G5 11,2. PMac G4 3,6. PBook G4 5,8. [MorphOS 3.18 / Gentoo Linux] | Vampire V4 SA [ApolloOS / Amiga OS 3.2.2]

schwarzygesetzlos · Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2019 11:28 pm Post subject:

Updated the config to 4.19.44.
Minor tweaks.
_________________
Talos II. [Gentoo Linux] | PMac G5 11,2. PMac G4 3,6. PBook G4 5,8. [MorphOS 3.18 / Gentoo Linux] | Vampire V4 SA [ApolloOS / Amiga OS 3.2.2]

Atha · Apprentice Joined: 22 Sep 2004 Posts: 230

Thanks for your kernel .config, it saved a lot of time! Well done!

Only thing new on kernel-4.19.57-gentoo I can find is NOUVEAU_LEGACY_CTX_SUPPORT=y.

For my own .config I added some features:
FIREWIRE_NET=m
MAC_EMUMOUSEBTN=m
IP networking over 1394 is IMHO a good idea since Mac OS X also supports networking over FireWire. It might be possible to connect two Macs over FireWire and use it for connection sharing.
The Support for mouse button 2+3 emulation is necessary for me because I still have at least two of those one-button mouses laying around and I might use them. The module is called mac_hid.ko. The emulation is then controlled via /proc/sys/dev/mac_hid/[mouse_button_emulation|mouse_button2_keycode|mouse_button3_keycode].

Also, I changed Device Drivers ---> Graphics support ---> Maximum number of GPUs down to 4.
VGA_ARB_MAX_GPUS=4
The default is 16; I know it says the overhead is very small. I changed it to 4 since the maximum number of AGP/PCI/PCIe expansion cards is 5 and I don't think that anyone on a PowerMac uses more than two graphics cards. I 100% save value would be 8.

Under Device Drivers ---> USB support ---> USB Mass Storage support I enabled all the additional drivers, such as the Realtek Card Reader support and so forth. I think you can connect any hardware via USB and you don't know what a specific user has or doesn't have. I remember that I had a card reader more than 15 years ago on my Intel Pentium III 800 MHz that wouldn't function, until I realized I had to add those modules. Since then I have them all available... (wow, that was long ago!)
USB_STORAGE_REALTEK=m
REALTEK_AUTOPM=y
USB_STORAGE_DATAFAB=m
USB_STORAGE_FREECOM=m
USB_STORAGE_ISD200=m
USB_STORAGE_USBAT=m
USB_STORAGE_SDDR09=m
USB_STORAGE_SDDR55=m
USB_STORAGE_JUMPSHOT=m
USB_STORAGE_ALAUDA=m
USB_STORAGE_ONETOUCH=m
USB_STORAGE_KARMA=m
USB_STORAGE_CYPRESS_ATACB=m
USB_STORAGE_ENE_UB6250=m
USB_UAS=m
The same might be true for ALSA [USB|FireWire] sound devices...

I also noticed that Apple Cinema Display support is disabled. I don't have such a display myself, but it could be a reasonable assumption that someone using a PowerMac G5 has, and it could be a good idea to include it:
USB_APPLEDISPLAY=m
This allows backlight control of the Apple Cinema Display over USB.
The same might be true about the iSight USB camera...

In File systems ---> Native language support I added Codepage 850 (Europe):
NLS_CODEPAGE_850=m
It was commonly used on MS-DOS in Europe. (Good, if you intend to use i.e. DOSBox with images etc.)

Last but not least I enabled Security Labels for ext2/3/4 (EXT4_FS_SECURITY=y). (I sometimes mount an SD card from an Android phone. On Androids ext4 file systems security labels are used for SELinux and I want to be able to copy those labels as well when making backups.)

I added CONFIG_LOCALVERSION="-PowerMacG5" to clearly mark the kernel target systems. It now reports Linux Kernel 4.19.57-gentoo-PowerMacG5 for ppc64...

Again, thanks!
_________________
Think for yourself and let others enjoy the privilege of doing so too. – Voltaire

schwarzygesetzlos · Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 2:27 pm Post subject:

@Atha: Thanks for your really reasonable suggestions! I will add most of them of them and re-upload my current 4.19.72 stable config.

I'll only ditch the non-Apple USB driver stuff as I kinda like minimalistic kernels.
_________________
Talos II. [Gentoo Linux] | PMac G5 11,2. PMac G4 3,6. PBook G4 5,8. [MorphOS 3.18 / Gentoo Linux] | Vampire V4 SA [ApolloOS / Amiga OS 3.2.2]

schwarzygesetzlos · Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 3:22 pm Post subject:

Updated the config to 4.19.72.

Added:
CONFIG_LOCALVERSION="-PowerMacG5"
FIREWIRE_NET=m
MAC_EMUMOUSEBTN=m
USB_APPLEDISPLAY=m
USB_ISIGHTFW=m
USB_STORAGE_REALTEK=m
USB_STORAGE_DATAFAB=m
USB_STORAGE_FREECOM=m
USB_STORAGE_ISD200=m
USB_STORAGE_USBAT=m
USB_STORAGE_SDDR09=m
USB_STORAGE_SDDR55=m
USB_STORAGE_JUMPSHOT=m
USB_STORAGE_ALAUDA=m
USB_STORAGE_CYPRESS_ATACB=m
USB_STORAGE_ENE_UB6250=m
USB_UAS=m
NLS_CODEPAGE_850=m

Added some debug options to detect Soft/Hard-Lockups, Workqueue Stalls and Hung Tasks (which may happen on some G5 with some kernel versions).

Removed:
PPC_MEM_KEYS (not a POWER4/PPC970 feature)
_________________
Talos II. [Gentoo Linux] | PMac G5 11,2. PMac G4 3,6. PBook G4 5,8. [MorphOS 3.18 / Gentoo Linux] | Vampire V4 SA [ApolloOS / Amiga OS 3.2.2]

schwarzygesetzlos · Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2020 11:56 am Post subject:

Updated the config to 4.19.86.
Minor tweaks.
_________________
Talos II. [Gentoo Linux] | PMac G5 11,2. PMac G4 3,6. PBook G4 5,8. [MorphOS 3.18 / Gentoo Linux] | Vampire V4 SA [ApolloOS / Amiga OS 3.2.2]

schwarzygesetzlos · Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2020 12:10 am Post subject:

Updated the config to 5.4.18.
Added Adiantum cipher (very fast cipher supported by cryptsetup for on-disk encryption).
Added zstd compression (supported by btrfs).
Minor tweaks.
_________________
Talos II. [Gentoo Linux] | PMac G5 11,2. PMac G4 3,6. PBook G4 5,8. [MorphOS 3.18 / Gentoo Linux] | Vampire V4 SA [ApolloOS / Amiga OS 3.2.2]

Tratkazir_the_1st · n00b Joined: 18 Feb 2020 Posts: 16

Grabbed config for 5+ kernel. At last this one works!!! Got working X with xfce + sddm

. Really big thanks to author

. (Excuse my bad english,pls

)

schwarzygesetzlos · Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2020 10:28 am Post subject:

You're welcome, glad to help! Next time you upgrade to next higher kernel version