Third Party Hardware > Legacy POWER Hardware
Which strategy for old big-endian Linux machines
mparnaudeau:
Linux is still used on old machines (PowerMac, X1000/X5000) even if the situation is not comfortable: they are not so powerful (even more with 32-bit models),
there are some distributions but not fully supported ...
It became very problematic when Debian announced PPC wouldn't continue to be supported. Updates for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS stopped last year.
I had much hope with VoidLinux but they announced the end of their big-endian distribution.
I heard about Adelie but I thought it was not very active ... I may be wrong.
Chimera Linux will provide 64-bit BE support but at 3rd tier level.
There are other attempts like MintPPC, Fienix ...
I wonder if we should not have to focus on one or two distributions and make them strong ... if it's not too late.
So, I would like to know your opinion:
1. Do you think it is still time to want a polished distribution on these machines?
2. What would be the most promising distribution (and not for hardcore Linux hackers)?
3. Should we focus on 64-bit models only?
MauryG5:
My personal opinion is that these old machines are now obsolete and it no longer makes sense to keep them alive given the growing limits. On the contrary, the time has come to invest in Raptor machines that represent Power's future in the home environment. They are and have made a great effort to bring Power back to our homes, I was no longer hoping to revise my favorite architecture, to return to the homes of all of us! So with all due respect to the old machines, that's it, it's time to evolve and change, support Raptor and carry on the whole oper Power project!
Borley:
I had a 32 bit Powerbook for a while but when Debian dropped ppc support in Jessie, it just wasn't worth it to try to continue using it. Even as a hobbyist piece. I would at least look to move to something newer, if not entirely to a Raptor board, as Maury says.
MPC7500:
Unfortunately, there are only a few distributions left.
Void Linux will still support PPC64 big-endian in the future. Support for PPC32 will be dropped. But it's just a matter of maintainers.
Adelie Linux is also very good. Unfortunately, it has become a bit quiet around Adelie since Awilfox left.
Fienix is also supposed to be very good.
Debian still supports PowerPC, but only as sid. Funnily enough, 90% of the posts on the PowerPC Debian mailing list are about big-endian :-)
Gentoo also still supports big-endian.
Then there's Bedrock Linux, CruxPPC, Arch Linux and MintPPC. And there are also Ubuntu remix variants maintained by Wicknix.
And OpenSUSE Tumbleweed can also be installed on G5s, X1000, X5000 with a trick.
All distributions have in common that the bugs concerning big-endian are no longer fixed. Moreover, the computers are more than 15 years old.
But maybe there will be cheaper PowerPC systems in the future.
ClassicHasClass:
Seriously, one of the BSDs would be a better choice (I'd personally use NetBSD but OpenBSD would also work). I run NetBSD on a G4 Mac mini and even a Macintosh IIci.
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