Finnix Blog

Despite having a mac mini, I’m still doing Finnix development on the graphite G4. It’s been very stable, up until last night, when I was compiling the latest and greatest kernel, I got the occasional failure like so:

CC drivers/pci/probe.o
include/asm/processor.h: In function 'pci_scan_child_bus':
include/asm/processor.h:186: internal compiler error: Segmentation fault
Please submit a full bug report,
with preprocessed source if appropriate.
See  for instructions.
For Debian GNU/Linux specific bug reporting instructions,
see .
make[2]: *** [drivers/pci/probe.o] Error 1
make[1]: *** [drivers/pci] Error 2
make: *** [drivers] Error 2

But upon, resuming the compile, the failed object would compile successfully. This happened several times, which suggested bad memory. I slept on it, and this morning, tried again:

CC [M] drivers/usb/misc/idmouse.o
fixdep: inclu`e/asm-generic/local.h: No such file or directory
make[3]: *** [drivers/usb/misc/idmouse.o] Error 2
make[2]: *** [drivers/usb/misc] Error 2
make[1]: *** [drivers/usb] Error 2
make: *** [drivers] Error 2

“inclu`e”? Yep, that’s bad ram. Too bad there’s no memtestppc. I’ll have to swap it out into a PC to test.

I am pleased to announce the availability of Finnix version 86.1 as a recovery distribution for Linode customers. Linode.com provides a highly customizable Virtual Machine Management Platform using Linux, that lets you configure your own server complete with root access, without the burden of a dedicated server’s upkeep, maintenance, and co-location fees.

With the addition of Finnix as a deployable distribution, you can now easily perform maintenance or recovery of your existing Linode system. Finnix can even be used to create new distribution installations, such as installing Gentoo from scratch. Linode uses User Mode Linux (UML) to provide service, and UML support is built into Finnix 86.1, so all functionality in the CD version of Finnix is automatically available when you boot Finnix through Linode.

Please see http://www.linode.com/ for more information about Linode, view available system configurations, and to sign up for new service. Existing Linode customers may go to http://www.linode.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1971 for instructions on how to deploy Finnix to your Linode account.

Finnix is a small, self-contained, bootable Linux CD distribution for system administrators, based on Debian testing. Today marks the release of version 86.1 for the x86, PowerPC, and UML/Xen platforms.

PowerPC Support: The largest change for version 86.1 has been the inclusion of a PowerPC port. Finnix for PowerPC (Finnix-PPC) is a 115MB ISO that functions identically to the main x86 Finnix distribution. Simply insert the CD and boot while holding down the “C” key. Finnix-PPC is well supported on G4 and NewWorld G3 hardware, including PowerMacs, PowerBooks, iBooks, iMacs and the Mac Mini. G5 support is present, but still experimental.

UML/Xen Support: Finnix 86.1 can be deployed as a guest image on User Mode Linux (UML) and Xen virtualization systems. UML/Xen administrators can go to http://www.finnix.org/uml.php for information on deploying Finnix in a UML or Xen environment. Additionally, the x86 Finnix CD includes a built-in UML demo. Once at the bash prompt, you can type “finnix create”, and a UML guest session is created within the running CD session, using the same media as the CD session itself. Full networking is available in this running guest.

Other Changes: Finnix 86.1 includes Linux kernel 2.6.14.2, unionfs 1.1.1, and updated upstream packages. Many bugs have been fixed; most visibly, the CD will now reliably eject before system shutdown. For a full changelog, see the link below.

Home page: http://www.finnix.org/
SourceForge page: http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/finnix/
Download:
* x86: http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/finnix/finnix-86.1.iso?download
* PowerPC: http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/finnix/finnix-ppc-86.1.iso?download
ChangeLog: http://sourceforge.net/project/shownotes.php?group_id=3892&release_id=371261
Finnix for UML/Xen: http://www.finnix.org/uml.php

Finnix version 86.1-pre1 has been released for x86 and PowerPC platforms today. Yes, you heard right. There is now a Finnix PowerPC ISO available for download. Documentation will be written by the time 86.1 final is released, but the short of it is:

* G4s and Blue-and-White G3s (NewWorld) are well supported, and have been tested on about a dozen machines so far, including various G4 desktops, a few G4 laptops, Mac Minis, and a G3 iMac.
* There is a G5 kernel in the distro (type “finnix64″ at the boot prompt), but I do not have a G5 to test it on. Use at your own risk.
* OldWorld G3s may work as well (using the BootX method), but will not be supported, and have not been tested.

There are also some other new features, which will be announced when 86.1 is final. Look at the changelog, download the ISOs, and let me know if anything comes up.

Finnix-PPC development is coming along nicely. It’s “stable”, but since I don’t have 100 different ppc machines lying around like I do for x86, I’m turning to livejournal for hardware testing before I “publicly” release it. So if you have a NewWorld[0x01] Mac (ESPECIALLY a G5):

1) Download and burn finnix-ppc-dev21.iso (116MB, login is finnix/2000, MD5 479b8f49d12148852520212a4cc66647)
2) Inset disc, reboot while holding down “c”.
3a) For G3/G4 machines, simply hit Enter at the boot prompt.
3b) For G5 machines, type “finnix64″ at the boot prompt.
4) Note any errors or problems (didn’t find wired network, etc, etc). If the kernel boot displays warnings about pmac_zilog or “Cannot allocate resource region”, you can safely ignore them.
5) Make sure you are wired in; you will need internet access in the next step, and Airport Extreme cards are not supported in linux yet.
6) Run “finnix-hwsubmit”, which will gather info about your hardware, let you review the info to be sent, then send it to the Finnix server. Follow the instructions. Here is an example of a submitted report. If you could note your LJ username in the “notes” section of the program, I would appreciate it
7) Play with Finnix or something.

If something stupid happens like it doesn’t detect your keyboard or wired network, and hence you can’t get finnix-hwsubmit to submit the report, please reply here.

I have personally tested Finnix-PPC on the following machines:
* 400MHz Graphite G4, 1GB (original dev machine)
* 400MHz FW G3 iMac, 128MB
* 1GHz MDD G4 Windtunnel, 1GB
* 1GHz 12″ G4 iBook, 512MB
* 1.25GHz Mac Mini G4, 256MB

With the exception of the grey screen bug and the lack of airport extreme, everything has worked like a charm on those 4 machines, even the built-in airport classic on the Graphite G4. If you have ANY NewWorld hardware, I would appreciate you testing this.

User-submitted machines, all mentioned have worked great so far:
* 1.5GHz 15″ Aluminum PowerBook G4, 768MB
* 1.66GHz 15″ PowerBook G4, 2GB
* 1.4GHz Mac Mini G4, 512MB

Update: Looks like G5 hardware will NOT work. You can still try if you want to
Update 2: I think I now know what’s causing the grey screen problem. We’ll see…
Update 3: Yep, all it took was adding 1 line to the openfirmware boot script. Goodbye grey screen!
Update 4: New version posted (dev14).
Update 5: New version posted (dev19), this one may or may not work with G5s (I don’t know yet as I have no G5 machines to test with).
Update 6: dev21, this one has a new boot option for scrambling/displaying the root password and starting sshd automatically (”finnix64 sshd”)

[0x01] Theoretically, Finnix-PPC should work on OldWorld machines as well, but the setup is a pain. You can try it yourself, but I’m not going to help you to get it working.

Where the last 6 hours and 27 CD coasters have gone: