Trying to install FreeBSD 8.2-RC1 on a PowerMac G5

[Andreas Tobler]

On 16.01.11 18:57, Torfinn Ingolfsen wrote:
> Update:
>
> On Thu, 13 Jan 2011 22:04:50 +0100
> Torfinn Ingolfsen<torfinn.ingolfsen at broadpark.no>  wrote:
>
>> I am trying to install FreeBSD 8.2-RC1 on a PowerMac G5[1].
>> The machine boots from the CD (disc1 image) when I press "C" on the keyboard, but after booting,
>> when it shows the "Country Selection" dialog, the keyboard no longer works.
>> How do I fix / workaround this problem?
>>
>> FWIW, i also tried with FreeBSD 8.1-release (both on CD and from a usb memory stick), the CD hung,
>> the memory stick has the same problem as 8.2-RC1; the keyboard is not working when the "Country Selection"
>> dialog shows up. Full details on the FreeBSD page[2] for this machine.
>>
>> References:
>> 1) http://sites.google.com/site/tingox/powermac_g5
>> 2) http://sites.google.com/site/tingox/powermac_g5_freebsd
>
> After testing the machine with ASD, swapping memory etc, the staus is
> that the mcahine isn't totally ok, but I can get about two hours of
> working time on it (from "cold") before problems start to show up.

Nasty HW errors, including bad RAM, show up after a couple of 
minutes/hours. Sometimes only during heavy compile jobs. I have such an 
imac. And my RAM issue on my G5 showed up only when I was building 
world. Running under OS-X did not show any problems.

> A few things I have figured out:
> 1) whenever I try to boot a FreeBSD install CD ("disc1") on this
> machine, it hangs with acd0 errors, and will not go on from there. This
> goes for both the FreeBSD 8.2-RC1 image and the FreeBSD
> 9.0-20101118-SNAP image.
>
> 2) If I put the same image on a usb memory stick, I can successfully
> boot it, provided that there isn't a CD in the cd drive. If there is a
> cd in the drive, the hang problem shows up again. Again, this holds
> true for both the 8.2-RC1 and the 9.0-20101118-SNAP image.
>
> 3) When I get to the main screen, I select Fixit, then "live filesystem
> from usb", but the installer says "no usb devices found".
>
> 4) Since there isn't a "scroll lock" key on a Mac keyboard, I do not
> know how to display the boot messages, so I can't give more info about
> what might be wrong.
>
> 5) I could have used "dmesg" but it isn't on the install image. I could
> have mounted the live fs manually, but the install image doesn't have a
> "mount" command.
>
> Info about this machine[II] and about FreeBSD on this machine[I].
>
> Questions:
> a) is there a way to perform the "scroll lock" keypress on a Mac
>      keyboard?

I managed to get that working only with a pc keyboard where the keys are 
there.

I'd try to set up a netboot environment.
You'd need a freebsd box where you can crossbuild a ppc setup. This can 
be a i386 or an amd64 or even another ppc box. (The faster the machine 
is, the better the build times ;)

Then you build the stuff and export it via nfs.

On the G5 you have to tell OF where to boot from. That is all.

Let me know if you need the details.

Gruss,
Andreas