From owner-freebsd-ppc@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jun 11 19:40:14 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-ppc@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3A939106564A for ; Fri, 11 Jun 2010 19:40:14 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from paul@gromit.dlib.vt.edu) Received: from lennier.cc.vt.edu (lennier.cc.vt.edu [198.82.162.213]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E4ED28FC25 for ; Fri, 11 Jun 2010 19:40:13 +0000 (UTC) Received: from dagger.cc.vt.edu (dagger.cc.vt.edu [198.82.163.114]) by lennier.cc.vt.edu (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id o5BJdAEl017408 for ; Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:39:43 -0400 Received: from auth3.smtp.vt.edu (EHLO auth3.smtp.vt.edu) ([198.82.161.152]) by dagger.cc.vt.edu (MOS 4.1.8-GA FastPath queued) with ESMTP id JKG50445; Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:39:40 -0400 (EDT) Received: from gromit.tower.lib.vt.edu (gromit.tower.lib.vt.edu [128.173.51.22]) (authenticated bits=0) by auth3.smtp.vt.edu (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id o5BJdea9028380 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=AES128-SHA bits=128 verify=NO) for ; Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:39:40 -0400 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v1078) From: Paul Mather In-Reply-To: <4C118649.7030007@freebsd.org> Date: Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:39:40 -0400 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Message-Id: References: <4C118649.7030007@freebsd.org> To: freebsd-ppc@freebsd.org X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.1078) X-Mirapoint-Received-SPF: 198.82.161.152 auth3.smtp.vt.edu paul@gromit.dlib.vt.edu 5 none X-Mirapoint-IP-Reputation: reputation=neutral-1, source=Fixed, refid=n/a, actions=MAILHURDLE SPF TAG X-Junkmail-Info: (0) X-Junkmail-Status: score=10/50, host=dagger.cc.vt.edu X-Junkmail-SD-Raw: score=unknown, refid=str=0001.0A020204.4C1290FC.0237,ss=1,fgs=0, ip=0.0.0.0, so=2009-09-22 00:05:22, dmn=2009-09-10 00:05:08, mode=multiengine X-Junkmail-IWF: false Subject: Re: Current support for Xserve G5 X-BeenThere: freebsd-ppc@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Porting FreeBSD to the PowerPC List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 11 Jun 2010 19:40:14 -0000 On Jun 10, 2010, at 8:41 PM, Nathan Whitehorn wrote: > On 06/10/10 13:20, Paul Mather wrote: >> In our lab we have two Xserve G5 servers. We'd like to keep using = these, but, because of EOL issues with Mac OS X, I am looking for an = Open Source replacement. My preference is for *BSD---preferably FreeBSD = or NetBSD. When I looked a while ago, it seemed that the Xserve G5 was = either not supported or not very functional under these two OSes. = (NetBSD, for example, had no support for the onboard SATA controller and = so could only run diskless via netbooting.) >>=20 >> I just looked at the FreeBSD/ppc project Web page and was happy to = see the Apple Xserve G5 as reported as running for FreeBSD 8.1. Can = anyone tell me whether this runs fully for the stock Xserve G5 hardware, = or does it have some serious limitations to deployment, as mentioned for = NetBSD above? >> =20 >=20 > It is fully supported, and we use G5 xserves for building PPC binary = packages, so they are quite stable. This is excellent news! I'll be able to use FreeBSD after all. :-) > The only caveat is that 64-bit PPC support will first be appearing in = the 9.0 release series, so you will only be able to use 2 of the 4 GB of = RAM in your machines with 8.1. Is this 2 GB per process of user addressable space or 2 GB of physical = RAM usable across all processes? I remember having to mess around with = kernel address space size to increase it on a ZFS-based FreeBSD/i386 = system. Is this something similar, or is it some hardware limitation? When you say, "64-bit PPC support will first be appearing in the 9.0 = release series," does this mean it is not currently in HEAD? I'm not = averse to running FreeBSD-CURRENT (I've done it in the past) to try it = out if support is already in HEAD. > I have put a more recent install guide at = http://people.freebsd.org/~nwhitehorn/ppcinstall.txt. Thanks for = pointing out the old link on the web site -- I'll try to get that fixed. = You should also be aware that the GENERIC kernel on PPC does not have = SMP enabled by default, so you will likely want to build a new kernel = after installation. Thanks for the info and the link to the updated install guide. Cheers, Paul.