Messages

91

Firmware / Re: Basic understanding of OPAL

« on: August 16, 2020, 04:53:40 pm »

Hey ClassicHasClass, thank you for the input. I've followed your lead and found the OPAL API reference link here https://open-power.github.io/skiboot/doc/opal-api/

Now it has became a lot clearer.

Cheers!

92

Firmware / Basic understanding of OPAL

« on: August 16, 2020, 02:16:33 am »

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to understand what OPAL does and how it works. I noticed the memory I see on "host" OS is about 0.5GB smaller than actual physical memory and I wonder OPAL works as a tier 1 "hypervisor" for what we call "host" OS (Fedora 32 in my case), which is kind of para virtualized.

Besides memory, what else OPAL provides to the OS? CPU scheduler, PCI devices, NICs, USB, and HDMI (through BMC in my case with Blackbird)?

If this is so, it can be good from a security point of view (besides providing standard interfaces for any OS) since any reboot will bring up a fresh and clean OPAL, regardless of what happened before. If so, also important to keep firmware up to date, which I have not done since I got the machine on May 2020.

Any input is appreciated.

Regards,
Claudio

93

General OpenPOWER Discussion / Raptor/PowerPC Training

« on: August 05, 2020, 09:58:24 am »

Anyone ever thought about Training for users willing to make better use of their powerful Talos/Blackbird? Does Raptor provide any?

A basic training could include aspects related to Hardware (what's inside your machine, how to add PCI devices like video cards and additional disks, how to add memory, compatibility issues, etc.). Firmware (how to update, how to setup secure boot) and Software (what OSs are available, applications, repositories, general config tips, etc.).

I would pay for content that would help me make a better use of my Blackbird.

Anyone knows what is Raptor customer profile? individuals? corporations? universities? maybe these would be target audience for Training.

I remember DOS and later on Windows 3, 3.1 and so on. MS conquered the end user and Windows became ubiquitous in the corporate environment (servers/AD, SQL, Exchange, Sharepoint, Dynamics, etc.). I do not expect Raptor products ti become so popular, after all it's a niche product. Also, IBM dominates in the data center with power servers, leveraging their presence in this market, support capabilities, sales channels, etc.. I wonder the target market for Raptor is made of enthusiasts, developers and researchers.

At least this community could benefit from Training and grow to perpetuate Raptor.

94

Operating Systems and Porting / Re: Debian 10 vs CentOS 7 (both as VM under Fedora 32 KVM)

« on: July 29, 2020, 01:18:09 am »

Hi,

Thanks! I solved the issue and edited the /etc/gdm3/daemon.conf file and uncommented #WaylandEnable=flalse.

After restarting everything works fine, no sluggishness anymore.

Cheers

95

Operating Systems and Porting / Re: Debian 10 vs CentOS 7 (both as VM under Fedora 32 KVM)

« on: July 27, 2020, 06:17:07 am »

Hi,

I've tried to edit /etc/gdm3/daemon.conf to uncomment #WaylandEnable=flalse but my Debian is not allowing me to add my user to sudoers. On CentOS I added my users to sudoers logging as root but on Debian I could not find how to add my user to sudoers neither how to login in as root or open a terminal as root.

I've tried reinstalling Debian but ended up with the same issue.

Any idea of how to circumvent this limitation?

Thanks

96

Operating Systems and Porting / Re: Debian 10 vs CentOS 7 (both as VM under Fedora 32 KVM)

« on: July 25, 2020, 01:57:57 pm »

Hi,

echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE
On host (Fedora): tty
On Debian VM: wayland
On Centos: x11

The file /var/log/Xorg.0.log did not exist on the Debian VM (I've tried vi /var/log/Xorg.0.log and it opened a new file).

Thanks

97

Operating Systems and Porting / Re: Debian 10 vs CentOS 7 (both as VM under Fedora 32 KVM)

« on: July 24, 2020, 11:16:18 am »

Hi,

I use both VMs through the GUI, I'm just a regular desktop user.

Regarding slowness, your question kind of answer the issue: the slowness is related to the GUI and not the applications themselves. I've tried them both again, paying attention to application start time and responsiveness and they seem to be ok and similar (actually, Firefox starts much faster on Debian than on CentOS). The issue is just this sluggishness of the cursor when I move the mouse around the screen on the Debian VM.

Maybe it's something related to how these VMs connect to the display? By the way, I'm using both VMs at 1920x1080.

Regards

98

Operating Systems and Porting / Re: Debian 10 vs CentOS 7 (both as VM under Fedora 32 KVM)

« on: July 24, 2020, 10:37:37 am »

debian-10.4.0-ppc64el-xfce-CD-1

99

Operating Systems and Porting / Debian 10 vs CentOS 7 (both as VM under Fedora 32 KVM)

« on: July 24, 2020, 09:23:51 am »

Hi,

I'm running Fedora 32 on my host (32GB RAM) and I have two VMs under KVM: Debian 10 and CentOS 7, both with 4GB RAM and 4 vCPUs.

With Debian, even the cursor moves with a delay when I move the mouse and all applications seems to be slower than usual. With CentOS it's just like on the host, I cannot perceive any difference in the user experience.

Any idea why Debian port does not seem to run "natively" while CentOS runs just ok? Is it because some "better" integration between host (which is Fedora) and CentOS? Shouldn't KVM see any guest the same way?

Appreciate any feed-back.

Thanks

100

Applications and Porting / Re: (some times) no audio on Firefox

« on: July 23, 2020, 09:07:17 am »

Hi All,

I've installed Chromium (https://forums.raptorcs.com/index.php/topic,16.0.html) and now Zoom works.

I just wanted to let anyone reading this thread that I found a solution and found it on this same Forum.

Cheers

101

Applications and Porting / (some times) no audio on Firefox

« on: July 21, 2020, 09:09:46 am »

Hi,

I use Blackbird as a desktop. I have Fedora 32 installed and use Firefox as a browser.

I use an USB (wired) headset and some times a bluetooth (via USB dongle) headset. I hear audio from You Tube and also can speak with the mike (wired and bluetooth) using Google Meet (like Zoom).

When I try using Zoom I get the following error message: "Your browser does not support using the computer’s Audio device. To use Zoom, install the latest version of a standard browser, such as Chrome, Firefox and Chromium Edge.", although I'm using the latest Firefox version.

Same thing Microsoft Teams. It does not recognize my head sets, although I can use them on another tab with Google Meet..

Anyone faced this issue? any ideas?

I read somewhere that Chromium Browser has been ported to ppc but could not find it (dnf search browser | grep -i chromium). Is that a browser that works 100% on power?

Thanks

102

Blackbird / How to implement Secure Boot on the Blackbird

« on: July 17, 2020, 09:39:20 am »

Hi,

Anyone has done it before? is there a step-by-step guide on how to implement it?

Are there risks? like getting stuck and having to reinstall everything from scratch?

Any input is appreciated.

Thanks

103

Blackbird / Re: RAM slot B1 not showing

« on: July 16, 2020, 11:36:59 pm »

Thank you meklort!

104

Blackbird / Re: RAM slot B1 not showing

« on: July 16, 2020, 11:35:54 pm »

Hi, I found it on petitboot (shell). It worked for me also, but it remains unknown why that happened.

105

Blackbird / Re: RAM slot B1 not showing

« on: July 16, 2020, 11:06:03 pm »

Hi, I'm new to Raptor. How do I issue this command? After powering up and before booting? On the boot menu?

Thanks