On Sun, Apr 12, 2015 at 6:43 PM, Lennart Sorensen <lsore...@csclub.uwaterloo.ca> wrote: > On Sun, Apr 12, 2015 at 08:45:50PM -0300, Thadeu Lima de Souza Cascardo wrote: >> Sorry for jumping in. I would like the chance to complement and clarify >> some things about ppc64el platform. >> >> As Aurelien pointed out, when used in OPAL mode, the system will boot a >> system running petitboot, which is capable of netboot, booting from >> disk, and install media. >> >> So, will it boot from USB media? Yes. >> >> When it comes to IBM latest servers, that are three options for >> platforms: OPAL (powernv in Linux), as PowerKVM guest, and PowerVM LPAR >> (both pseries platform in Linux). >> >> OPAL has petitboot built-in, PowerKVM uses SLOF and PowerVM uses IBM >> Open Firmware. The three are capable of booting from optical media, USB, >> and netboot. With the exception of KVM guests, when a supported >> graphical card is used, graphical installation should be an option as >> well. For KVM guests, there is offb, which should work with VNC. Should >> we enable graphical installation in the media? Or is just netboot images >> missing graphical support on d-i? > > So does this mean that PowerVM LPAR is the same as running on the bare > metal (which is the only way I have run debian on IBM pSeries systems, > specifically a p520 power6+ and a p710 power7). Certainly openfirmware > booting with grub2 is the only method I have ever used. IBM support > people sure do seem confused when they hear you have no HMC or VM or > anything else on your pSeries. Just Debian on the bare metal. > >> One caveat: I may be mistaken on the current state of support for USB >> and netboot on SLOF. But considering it's a KVM guest using qemu, there >> is much more flexibility, if things are downloaded on the host. I would >> say that is one of the things that we should document on the >> installation-guide. Is that right? >> >> As for wireless network adapters, the systems don't ship with any, and I >> haven't heard of any testing with any drivers. Nonetheless, those >> systems support PCI 3.0 and USB 3.0, so there is no reason those >> adapters shouldn't work, giving enough testing and fixes. But I would >> leave that out. >> >> As for other systems supporting ppc64el, OpenPower members have been >> releasing new systems using Power8 and supporting little-endian from the >> start. >> >> As already mentioned, older IBM systems could be capable as well, but I >> wouldn't say that is supported. As for chips from Freescale, I can't >> tell much. For 64-bit capable old Macs, I suppose firmware could be a >> problem. For those systems, adopting ppc64 (BE) would offer an option. >> >> Why 64-bit? Well, the same answer applies for all platforms. Address >> space. I suppose some people cannot even run web browsers these days >> without 64-bit :-). Of course, that has some disadvantages, like the >> memory footprint because of pointers, that x32 tries to address. > > I sometimes wonder if limiting the browser to 2GB of memory is a > convinient way to prevent the leaks from getting out of hand in the > terrible code that is in web browsers. 4GB when kernel is 64-bit > > -- > Len Sorensen > > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-arm-requ...@lists.debian.org > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org > Archive: https://lists.debian.org/20150413014307.gj29...@csclub.uwaterloo.ca >
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