Raptor Computing Systems Community Forums (BETA)
Software => Operating Systems and Porting => Topic started by: Hasturtium on December 13, 2023, 10:17:19 am
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I am debating jumping from Fedora to Debian on my Blackbird machine, which would coincide with a nice storage upgrade. I've had plenty of Debian/Ubuntu family experience on x86 so that part doesn't give me heartburn, but there are a few questions I'd like to have answered before I make the switch.
- Does the stock kernel for Bookworm work with RDNA2 Radeons? What should I do to prevent Debian from trying to use the BMC video versus my RX 6600? (IIRC it installs kernel 6.1 but I don't know what the current version they're providing is - I assume it'll Just Work, outside of possibly coaxing x.org to properly init the Radeon with a config file)
- Are there any snafus or gotchas beyond what MauryG5 has experienced in this thread?
- Is Chromium actually working and installable?
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Have another computer handy because Debian still have not readded the ast module for initramfs to their installation images.
Have a look at the wiki (https://wiki.raptorcs.com/wiki/Operating_System_Specific_Workarounds/Debian#Blank_VGA). You'll need to set console=hvc0 to grub cmd line and conduct the TUI installer from another machine through obmc-console-client. Huge PITA, but worth it to have Debian IMO.
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Hi Hasturtium, I have been using Debian for a few years now and I must say that I have now found my ideal size on Power. As for the various things you want to know, Chromium I can confirm that it is stable and works perfectly, in fact, Debian has been the starting operating system for Chromium on Power for some time now as Raptor develops it officially on Debian and updates it regularly and punctually. As for the rdna2 graphics card, I know that from Kernel 6.2 onwards, it is regularly supported and works without problems. Friend TLE has been using a Radeon 6600 for some time now with success. I currently still use an XT5700 and therefore the previous generation but in any case I compile the Kernel myself to keep it always updated to the latest version and in fact I have recently compiled and installed 6.6.5. To make it work regularly you need 3 things on Debian, 1 the Kernel from version 6.2 or higher, 2 the updated Debian firmware and then lastly the file called XORG.CONF set in the correct way so as to tell Xorg that you are using an external graphics card instead of internal AST.