FreeBSD/ppc Project
Introduction
The FreeBSD/ppc project pages contain information about the FreeBSD port to the PowerPC® architecture. As with the port itself, these pages are still a work in progress.
Table Of Contents
Status
The FreeBSD/ppc port is still a Tier 2 platform. That means it is not being fully supported by our security officer, release engineers and toolchain maintainers. However, it is supported by portmgr (package building).
The most up-to-date information about supported hardware is currently being maintained on the wiki.
Latest News
-
05 May, 2019: FreeBSD has been tested and seems to work on the Raptor Blackbird.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I install FreeBSD/ppc?
ISO images of FreeBSD 12.0 are available for download, for details on how to obtain these see the release announcement.
How to use ports on FreeBSD/ppc?
The easiest way to use ports on FreeBSD is to use portsnap. (if running FreeBSD 11.4 or 12.1) or Subversion (if running FreeBSD-CURRENT). Refer to the Handbook if you need assistance to use the Ports Collection.
Should I install powerpc or powerpc64?
The powerpc64 port provides a 64-bit kernel and userland, and is supported on all 64-bit CPUs. Users of 32-bit CPUs (Apple G3/G4) must use the 32-bit powerpc platform, users of 64-bit CPUs that support 32-bit operating systems (Apple G5) have a choice, and users of 64-bit CPUs that do not must use powerpc64. For those users with a choice, powerpc64 provides some additional features (the ability to use more than 2 GB of RAM and ZFS support). Like other 64-bit platforms, FreeBSD/powerpc64 supports running 32-bit binaries as well as 64-bit ones.
Supported Hardware
The most up-to-date information about supported hardware is currently being maintained on the wiki.
The FreeBSD/ppc port should run on any New-World Apple machine (any Apple machine with a built-in USB port), as well as the Sony Playstation 3.
People have previously reported that FreeBSD runs on the following machines:
| Manufacturer | Model | Submitter (optional links) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Apple |
iMac G3 350 MHz |
Rage 128VR |
|
|
Apple |
iMac G3 DV Special Edition |
None |
|
|
Apple |
iMac G3 Revision B |
Rage 3D Pro 215GP, accel disabled |
|
|
Apple |
eMac 700 MHz |
Nvidia GeForce2 MX |
|
|
Apple |
Mac Mini G4 1.4 GHz |
None |
|
|
Apple |
Powerbook G4 1.33 GHz |
Nvidia GeForce G5200 |
|
|
Apple |
Aluminium Powerbook G4 1.5 GHz |
None |
|
|
Apple |
PowerMac G5 |
FreeBSD 8.0 |
|
|
Apple |
iMac G5 |
FreeBSD 8.0 |
|
|
Apple |
Xserve G5 |
FreeBSD 8.1 |
|
|
Apple |
PowerMac G5 (late 2005) |
FreeBSD 8.1 |
FreeBSD/ppc mailing list
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or visit the mailman
interface.
Known Issues
-
On New-World Apples, there is a known bug in the boot-loader, that prevents you from loading an alternate kernel, so testing your kernel is a bit risky. When booting the loader from the Open Firmware prompt, give it a partition which is either non-existent, doesn’t have a kernel to load, or isn’t a UFS partition:
0 > boot hd:loader hd:0
At this point, you can set currdev and manually load a kernel:
OK set currdev="hd":14 OK load /boot/kernel/kernel.save