Re: [gentoo-ppc-dev] Is PPC support being dropped for Gentoo?
Jeff Rush wrote: I've just --synced on my PPC box (Kurobox HG) and now there is no PPC profile directory: /usr/portage/profiles/default-linux/ppc/ but the profiles for the other various CPU types are present. Did PPC get dropped or become something optional that I need to enable somehow? I've googled and searched the PPC FAQ and forums but no mention of the removal of that directory tree. Sorry if this is a well-known issue. -Jef It's not an issue and support isn't being dropped. Those profiles were old and deprecated. Use the tool eselect profile --list to display the profiles that are compatible with your machine. As far as I know, the current latest profile is default/linux/powerpc/ppc32/2008.0 for ppc32. Hope that helps, -Joe
Re: [gentoo-ppc-dev] Playstation3 port status woes
Nelson Batalha wrote: Hi! Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:33:49 +1100 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: gentoo-ppc-dev@lists.gentoo.org Subject: Re: [gentoo-ppc-dev] Playstation3 port status woes I intend to spend some time on this over the next few weeks. Anything I can do to help take some of the load off? Are there any style guides for the docs and boot/install media or templates to follow? Requisite lists? (I offered for the same task, a bug was started so I could join gentoo but since then didn't get a reply). What's the bug #? Have you been working on testing some of our open bugs? We need testers just as much as developers and becoming a developer is a whole lot easier if we know who you are from helping with testing. Either way, email me out of this thread if you'd like some help with the process. Will this bootable disk be only to the ps3? What problems are you having building it? I would assume that all we'd need is a kernel and initrd to make it boot, the existing minimal cd should be adequate otherwise. Again, Brent is the release engineering person, so he's the one you should be asking. If so, afaik the livecd and stage4 could be released in the same file, since a livecd can be only a stage4 with a specific boot config file if I recall. A simple install procedure could be written so a user would approprietly copy the cd contents to the disk. (I was actually writting a GTK gui that did just that along with specific ps3 configurations). It's really annoying to compile everything from a stage3, are you dropping stage4 support for it? I don't see the benefit of releasing a stage 4 build, since that would essentially require us to make decisions as to what you should have on your system. While it is convenient, I would suspect that most Gentoo users would choose not to use it. Again, you're more than welcome to prepare a repository of pre-built packages for PS3, but it's unlikely that we'll do that in an official sense (speaking for myself here, if others want to do it, more power to them!). Hope that helps, -Joe
Re: [gentoo-ppc-dev] Playstation3 port status woes
Wes wrote: Hello, I'm wondering, who is the maintainer of the PS3 port? I have a few issues I'd like to raise. One being the fact that it's been built targeting entirely the wrong ppc arch. Several sources I've come across state that the pipelines are so different, that doing this severely hurts performance, and you are in fact better off targeting generic ppc than running 970-targeted binaries on CELL/BE. Also, newer gcc's are available now which have an mcpu=cell target and it would probably be best to make the playstation3 port. a playstation3 port! And not a ps3 / g5 port. These machines differ so much it is incredibly detrimental to try to support both with the 1 port. Specially when there are better ports existing already for g5. Also, the only available release is still a stage4, that hasn't been updated in a whole year. While I commend the efforts of the maintainer so far (apart from the 970 target mistake), it would be nice if they actually maintained the port, or handed off to someone more willing if they've grown bored with it. It is my impression that this specific port currently does not follow any Gentoo ideals or philosophy, and is desperately in need of change. The PS3 port (stage 4) that you're talking about was a test build done by one of the PowerPC team developers, Brent Baude, and isn't an official release, (as far as I know). As for a real port, the basic install can be easily done with the generic ppc/ppc64 stages that we already make! Simply install the stage3, and recompile the whole system using emerge world -Duve, although you may want to rebuild the system targets first. There is no need for additional stages. By giving you the ability to install on a multitude of targets, while still allowing for optimization and configuration, well, that seem like it meets the Gentoo ideals and philosophy! That said, we probably do need to make an updated minimal install CD for PS3 if one doesn't already exist. Unfortunately, the PPC team doesn't have a whole lot of man-power at this time, so that will get done as soon as someone decides that it needs to be done and has the time to do it. Again, you can use *any* LiveCD (even other distros!) to boot the system, but the current PowerPC stages are adequate to complete a fully optimized Gentoo on PS3 install. Hope that helps, -Joe
Re: [gentoo-ppc-dev] Playstation3 port status woes
Wes wrote: Thanks for the response! I see now. I think the problem from my perspective then is that the docs need to be updated a bit, as they all point to the 'experimental' sections of the mirrors, which only contain old 970-targeting ps3 stage4's. I see now that 'releases' has more generic stage3's suitable for rebuilding specifically for Cell/BE. That may be the case, but as of right now, PS3 isn't specifically supported, and probably won't be officially supported until we have a reliable bootable disk. Once we do, I'd be happy to add the PS3 specific sections to the Gentoo/PowerPC handbook. As it stands, the install procedure is basically the same as any other unsupported architecture in Gentoo (make it boot, then use our stages), but with the benefit of supported keywords and stages. If there is Gentoo documentation that you think needs to be updated to reflect this, please let me know and I'll get it fixed. Thanks, -Joe
