Debian 12 on iMac G5

[Claudia Neumann]

Hi all,

in the meantime I succeeded in installing Debian 12.0.0 on iMac G5 with radeon graphic
card.

I used ISO-Image 2023-06-18, installed default with tasksel KDE plasma, LXDE and LXQT.

I had to insert "radeon.agpmode=1 radeon.modeset=1 video=offb.off nomodeset" in grub
to get graphic mode.

Now firmware R300_cp.bin, b43 and isight.fw is missing. I can not install this firmware
from the indicated sources.

/etc/debian_version is telling me, it is trixie/sid, but 12.0.0 should be bookworm stable.

Can I change /etc/debian_version to bookworm and change the /etc/apt/sources.list to
bookworm? Should I download the missing firmware by hand and install it?

With LXDE I can work although it is rather slow. Firefox hangs, konqueror will not show
google. Are there any tricks to make that better?

Otherwise the iMac G5 is not usable.

Best regards

Claudia

[Federico Vaga]

Post by Claudia Neumann
Hi all,
in the meantime I succeeded in installing Debian 12.0.0 on iMac G5 with radeon graphic
card.
I used ISO-Image 2023-06-18, installed default with tasksel KDE plasma, LXDE and LXQT.
I had to insert "radeon.agpmode=1 radeon.modeset=1 video=offb.off nomodeset" in grub
to get graphic mode.

Just for future references. On my iMac G5 I've the Nvidia GeForce and the
nouveau driver. I had to set "video=TV-1:d" to avoid continous error ("DDC
responded, but no EDID")

Post by Claudia Neumann
Now firmware R300_cp.bin, b43 and isight.fw is missing. I can not install this firmware
from the indicated sources.
/etc/debian_version is telling me, it is trixie/sid, but 12.0.0 should be bookworm stable.
Can I change /etc/debian_version to bookworm and change the /etc/apt/sources.list to
bookworm? Should I download the missing firmware by hand and install it?
With LXDE I can work although it is rather slow.

I'm using i3 and the performance is fine. It might take a while to get used to i3.

Post by Claudia Neumann
Firefox hangs, konqueror will not show
google. Are there any tricks to make that better?

I'm struggling as well in finding a decent browser for such an old hardware.
I've in the pipeline to try ArticFox (https://github.com/rmottola/Arctic-Fox)

A bit extreame perhaps. You could try `lynx` and friends.

Post by Claudia Neumann
Otherwise the iMac G5 is not usable.
Best regards
Claudia