Debian 12 installation on iMac G3

[Manuel Molina Cuberos]

Hi all!

I have several PowerPC based computers. One of them is an iMac G3/500 DV SE
(powermac2,2) with 1 GB RAM and 30 GB hard drive.

I've had it with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS but it's out of support already. It
worked fine from boot perspective, and it was using yaboot.

I wanted to install Debian 12, now that I know that the architecture is
being maintained.
I downloaded and installed it from this image:
https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/snapshots/2024-02-25/debian-12.0.0-powerpc-NETINST-1.iso
.

The disk layout for this installation was:

Device / Size / Type / Mount point / Bootable
-------------------------------------------------------
/dev/sda13 128MB HFS /boot/grub yes
/dev/sda14 11GB ext4 / no
/dev/sda15 512MB swap no

However, when it comes the time to install grub, the system hangs at 16%
progress of that stage.
I opened a console and checked. The process hung was grub-ieee1275

The system log (Alt+F4) showed a dump of a killed process.

I was able to kill that and finish the installation (users etcetera).
I booted in rescue mode. Then mounted and verified that /boot/grub was r/w.
Then tried to complete the installation, to no avail. The error message
this time:

Installing for powerpc-ieee1275 platform . Errors were encountered while
processing grub-ieee1275

Any hint of what I'm missing or doing wrong?
Any hint will be very much appreciated.

[Ed Robbins]

Hi Manuel

Post by Manuel Molina Cuberos
Hi all!
I have several PowerPC based computers. One of them is an iMac G3/500 DV SE (powermac2,2) with 1 GB RAM and 30 GB hard drive.
I've had it with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS but it's out of support already. It worked fine from boot perspective, and it was using yaboot.
I wanted to install Debian 12, now that I know that the architecture is being maintained.
I downloaded and installed it from this image: https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/snapshots/2024-02-25/debian-12.0.0-powerpc-NETINST-1.iso .

Grub right now only works on certain specially prepared CD images. You
need to use this one, it should solve your issue
https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/snapshots/2023-06-18/debian-12.0.0-powerpc-NETINST-1.iso

Best,
Ed

Post by Manuel Molina Cuberos
Device / Size / Type / Mount point / Bootable
-------------------------------------------------------
/dev/sda13 128MB HFS /boot/grub yes
/dev/sda14 11GB ext4 / no
/dev/sda15 512MB swap no
However, when it comes the time to install grub, the system hangs at 16% progress of that stage.
I opened a console and checked. The process hung was grub-ieee1275
The system log (Alt+F4) showed a dump of a killed process.
I was able to kill that and finish the installation (users etcetera).
I booted in rescue mode. Then mounted and verified that /boot/grub was r/w.
Installing for powerpc-ieee1275 platform . Errors were encountered while processing grub-ieee1275
Any hint of what I'm missing or doing wrong?
Any hint will be very much appreciated.
--
Regards,
Manuel Molina Cuberos

[Manuel Molina Cuberos]

Hi Ed!

Thanks for the hint.
I toasted another CD with the image you suggested.
Launched the installation and everything was working up to the mirror
selection stage.
I added one mirror (deb.debian.org) but from the error reported and the
looks of the log, it seems that the current contents of the mirror show an
inconsistent situation for installing gcc-14.

I clicked back, reconfigured APT for using only the CD and continued.
Then it reached the stage of grub installation. Same issue: it hangs up.

In the console log I can find this:

INFO: task grub-install:17327 blocked for more than 483 seconds.
Not tainted 6.3.0-1-powerpc #1 Debian 6.3.7-1
"echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disabled this message.
task:grub-install state:D stack:0 pid:17327 ppid:17214
flags:0x00000....
Call Trace:
[f3cf1b30] [00000004] 0x4 (unreliable)
...
(it goes on)

I managed to capture the current versions of the packages, according to
/target/var/log/dpkg.log contents:

grub-common:powerpc 2.06-13
grub2-common:powerpc 2.06-13
grub-ieee1275-bin:powerpc 2.06-13

Anything I've missed?

Regards,

Post by Ed Robbins
Hi Manuel

Post by Manuel Molina Cuberos
Hi all!
I have several PowerPC based computers. One of them is an iMac G3/500 DV

SE (powermac2,2) with 1 GB RAM and 30 GB hard drive.

Post by Manuel Molina Cuberos
I've had it with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS but it's out of support already. It

worked fine from boot perspective, and it was using yaboot.

Post by Manuel Molina Cuberos
I wanted to install Debian 12, now that I know that the architecture is

being maintained.
https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/snapshots/2024-02-25/debian-12.0.0-powerpc-NETINST-1.iso
.
Grub right now only works on certain specially prepared CD images. You
need to use this one, it should solve your issue
https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/snapshots/2023-06-18/debian-12.0.0-powerpc-NETINST-1.iso
Best,
Ed

Post by Manuel Molina Cuberos
Device / Size / Type / Mount point / Bootable
-------------------------------------------------------
/dev/sda13 128MB HFS /boot/grub yes
/dev/sda14 11GB ext4 / no
/dev/sda15 512MB swap no
However, when it comes the time to install grub, the system hangs at 16%

progress of that stage.

Post by Manuel Molina Cuberos
I opened a console and checked. The process hung was grub-ieee1275
The system log (Alt+F4) showed a dump of a killed process.
I was able to kill that and finish the installation (users etcetera).
I booted in rescue mode. Then mounted and verified that /boot/grub was

r/w.

Post by Manuel Molina Cuberos
Then tried to complete the installation, to no avail. The error message
Installing for powerpc-ieee1275 platform . Errors were encountered while

processing grub-ieee1275

Post by Manuel Molina Cuberos
Any hint of what I'm missing or doing wrong?
Any hint will be very much appreciated.
--
Regards,
Manuel Molina Cuberos

[John Paul Adrian Glaubitz]

Hello Manuel,

Post by Manuel Molina Cuberos
Thanks for the hint.
I toasted another CD with the image you suggested.
Launched the installation and everything was working up to the mirror selection stage.
I added one mirror (deb.debian.org) but from the error reported and the looks of the log,
it seems that the current contents of the mirror show an inconsistent situation for installing gcc-14.

Just skip installing packages from the mirror and finish the installation.

You can still set up the mirror to fetch updates once the machine is running.

And, yes, gcc-14 was just updated on 32-bit PowerPC and you have probably just
hit the update-in-progress package. That's just the problem when using unstable
as the base for installing a machine.

Adrian

[Manuel Molina Cuberos]

Hi Adrian,

In order to be able to reproduce, I started all over again. Using the same
CD (
https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/snapshots/2023-06-18/debian-12.0.0-powerpc-NETINST-1.iso
), booted and performed the installation. Formatted all the partitions
clean.
I skipped the mirror stage and stick to CD-only installation.
Came again to the point where powerpc-ieee1275 is being installed and the
system hangs there, waiting for the process to finish.
Again, in the system console, I get this:

INFO: task grub-install:7444 blocked for more than 120 seconds.
Not tainted 6.3.0-1-powerpc #1 Debian 6.3.7-1
...
...
(call trace comes here)

Is it something about this particular iMac model? What can I do?

Regards,


El vie, 11 oct 2024 a las 17:27, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz (<

Post by John Paul Adrian Glaubitz
Hello Manuel,

Post by Manuel Molina Cuberos
Thanks for the hint.
I toasted another CD with the image you suggested.
Launched the installation and everything was working up to the mirror

selection stage.

Post by Manuel Molina Cuberos
I added one mirror (deb.debian.org) but from the error reported and the

looks of the log,

Post by Manuel Molina Cuberos
it seems that the current contents of the mirror show an inconsistent

situation for installing gcc-14.
Just skip installing packages from the mirror and finish the installation.
You can still set up the mirror to fetch updates once the machine is running.
And, yes, gcc-14 was just updated on 32-bit PowerPC and you have probably just
hit the update-in-progress package. That's just the problem when using unstable
as the base for installing a machine.
Adrian
--
.''`. John Paul Adrian Glaubitz
: :' : Debian Developer
`. `' Physicist
`- GPG: 62FF 8A75 84E0 2956 9546 0006 7426 3B37 F5B5 F913

[Manuel Molina Cuberos]

Hi again!

I used the image you suggested, that worked (mostly) in a PowerBook G4 that
I have over here.
The installation of grub was this time interrupted by an error I managed to
see in the logs:

Oct 15 18:12:24 main-menu[252]: (process:1780): chroot: can't execute
'hmount': No such file or directory
Oct 15 18:12:24 main-menu[252]: WARNING **: Configuring 'grub-installer'
failed with error code 127

However, I omitted that step and finished the installation.
Then, I booted in rescue mode and finished installing grub2 successfully.

Is there any information on how to be successfull the same way with the
iMac G3 ?

Regards,

Post by Manuel Molina Cuberos
Hi Ed!
Thanks for the hint.
I toasted another CD with the image you suggested.
Launched the installation and everything was working up to the mirror
selection stage.
I added one mirror (deb.debian.org) but from the error reported and the
looks of the log, it seems that the current contents of the mirror show an
inconsistent situation for installing gcc-14.
I clicked back, reconfigured APT for using only the CD and continued.
Then it reached the stage of grub installation. Same issue: it hangs up.
INFO: task grub-install:17327 blocked for more than 483 seconds.
Not tainted 6.3.0-1-powerpc #1 Debian 6.3.7-1
"echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disabled this message.
task:grub-install state:D stack:0 pid:17327 ppid:17214
flags:0x00000....
[f3cf1b30] [00000004] 0x4 (unreliable)
...
(it goes on)
I managed to capture the current versions of the packages, according to
grub-common:powerpc 2.06-13
grub2-common:powerpc 2.06-13
grub-ieee1275-bin:powerpc 2.06-13
Anything I've missed?
Regards,

Post by Ed Robbins
Hi Manuel

Post by Manuel Molina Cuberos
Hi all!
I have several PowerPC based computers. One of them is an iMac G3/500

DV SE (powermac2,2) with 1 GB RAM and 30 GB hard drive.

Post by Manuel Molina Cuberos
I've had it with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS but it's out of support already. It

worked fine from boot perspective, and it was using yaboot.

Post by Manuel Molina Cuberos
I wanted to install Debian 12, now that I know that the architecture is

being maintained.
https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/snapshots/2024-02-25/debian-12.0.0-powerpc-NETINST-1.iso
.
Grub right now only works on certain specially prepared CD images. You
need to use this one, it should solve your issue
https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/snapshots/2023-06-18/debian-12.0.0-powerpc-NETINST-1.iso
Best,
Ed

Post by Manuel Molina Cuberos
Device / Size / Type / Mount point / Bootable
-------------------------------------------------------
/dev/sda13 128MB HFS /boot/grub yes
/dev/sda14 11GB ext4 / no
/dev/sda15 512MB swap no
However, when it comes the time to install grub, the system hangs at

16% progress of that stage.

Post by Manuel Molina Cuberos
I opened a console and checked. The process hung was grub-ieee1275
The system log (Alt+F4) showed a dump of a killed process.
I was able to kill that and finish the installation (users etcetera).
I booted in rescue mode. Then mounted and verified that /boot/grub was

r/w.

Post by Manuel Molina Cuberos
Then tried to complete the installation, to no avail. The error message
Installing for powerpc-ieee1275 platform . Errors were encountered

while processing grub-ieee1275

Post by Manuel Molina Cuberos
Any hint of what I'm missing or doing wrong?
Any hint will be very much appreciated.
--
Regards,
Manuel Molina Cuberos

--
Un saludo,
Manuel Molina Cuberos (deluxe_)