Manual installation MintPPC

I will give some guidance on how to manually install the Mint layer on top of Debian sid. Debian sid can be installed as described in my other post.

If you end up with a black screen after booting, follow this page.

First we need to make sure we have the right PATH settings, so as root:
export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/sbin:/sbin

Then we need to make sure you as user is added to the sudoers list to perform administrative tasks in your system.

The best way to do this, but it doesn’t always work, is to do the following (as root):
usermod -aG sudo your_user_name

If the former does not work, edit /etc/sudoers and add under %sudo ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

username ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL
Make sure you change “username” with the name of the user that you want to grant access to.

We are first going to adapt the /etc/apt/sources.list file:
sudo apt edit-sources
Add the following lines:

for MintPPC32:
deb http://u58733p55594.web0093.zxcs-klant.nl/repo unstable main
deb http://u58733p55594.web0093.zxcs-klant.nl/wicknix ./

for MintPPC64:
deb http://u58733p55594.web0093.zxcs-klant.nl/repo-64 unstable main
deb http://u58733p55594.web0093.zxcs-klant.nl/xeno74 ./

Then we update the repo:
sudo apt update

You will see that we will need my public gpg key:
wget http://u58733p55594.web0093.zxcs-klant.nl/repo/key/public.gpg.key


gpg --no-default-keyring --keyring ./temp-keyring.gpg --import public.gpg.key

gpg --keyring ./temp-keyring.gpg --no-default-keyring --export -a > mintppc.asc

rm temp-keyring.gpg

sudo mv mintppc.asc /etc/apt/keyrings

To know more about importing public keys the right (Debian) way, see this link.

Edit the file /etc/apt/sources.list, and in between deb and the url, add [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/mintppc.asc]

For MintPPC32 it will look like:
#MintPPC32 repository
deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/mintppc.asc] http://u58733p55594.web0093.zxcs-klant.nl/repo unstable main
#MintPPC32 additional repository
deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/mintppc.asc] http://u58733p55594.web0093.zxcs-klant.nl/wicknix ./

For MintPPC64 it will look like:
#MintPPC64 repository
deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/mintppc.asc] http://u58733p55594.web0093.zxcs-klant.nl/repo-64 unstable main
#MintPPC64 additional repository
deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/mintppc.asc] http://u58733p55594.web0093.zxcs-klant.nl/xeno74 ./

sudo apt update


Now we are going to install MintPPC specific packages and some other packages to install a desktop. During installation select lxdm as display manager instead of lightdm. We will install these:

sudo apt install
task-lxde-desktop lxdm mint-artwork mint-artwork-lxde mint-common \
mint-lxde-default-settings mint-x-icons mint-y-icons mint-l-icons mint-themes \
mint-backgrounds-tina mint-backgrounds-ulyana mintsystem mint-l-theme xdg-user-dirs \
xdg-user-dirs-gtk libglib2.0-bin hfsutils evince \
firmware-linux-nonfree firmware-amd-graphics package-update-indicator \
brasero mtpaint pidgin xpad l3afpad arcticfox sealion sylpheed \
gnome-screenshot mesa-utils mesa-utils-extra mint-cursor-themes \
gnome-themes-extra network-manager network-manager-gnome \
gucharmap galculator scrot preload xserver-xorg-video-nouveau sudo

To download this task and execute it:
wget http://u58733p55594.web0093.zxcs-klant.nl/task-mintppc
chmod u+x task-mintppc
./task-mintppc

To install the right airport driver have a look here.

Make sure that you have configured the right display (or login) manager, if it has not already been done during package installation:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure lxdm
Select lxdm, then ok

Now we delete the display manager package lightdm if it is present:
sudo apt remove lightdm

Installing MintPPC in the usual way is done within an installer medium and a preseed file. Packages are installed and only after that, regular users are created. In this way, the newly created user gets all the MintPPC specific tweaks. As we now start from a system where user(s) are already set up, installing these MintPPC specific packages will not affect those users.

You have to either create a new user, or do a trick (in that case skip the following step).

So, in order to have a nice desktop, we have to create a new user which will be you. Give that user administration rights and then after everything is set up, delete the old user account. Users can be created and deleted from the Menu, Preferences, Users and Groups. After the new user is created, logout from this session (Menu, Logout and click Logout).

If you don’t want to create a new user you have to copy everything from /etc/skel into your home folder. Go to your home folder and issue:
cp -r /etc/skel/* .
cp -r /etc/skel/.* .

Now log into into LXDE with your new user account and choose the Mint-LXDE session. You will then see the MintPPC desktop. For some reason I don’t know yet, the file manager PCManFM does not display the icons the first time I log in. After logging out and in again, you will see the nice icon set in the Home folder. There is one thing I don’t like, which I have to fix, is the background. Right click on the desktop and click Desktop Preferences (can also be done via the Menu, Preferences, Desktop Preferences). Choose Wallpaper mode ‘Stretch and crop to fill the monitor area’.

To get sound working install alsa-utils and launch alsamixer sudo apt install alsa-utils
alsamixer

Then hit fn+F6 (SoundByLayout)
go to the right and make sure you have PCM at 80<>80
ESC to exit alsamixer

You should have sound now…

Do not do the following in virtual emulated environment (qemu):
To tweak Debian to Linux Mint Debian, install debian-system-adjustments:

sudo apt install debian-system-adjustments

Make sure you also edit /etc/apt/sources.list and remove or add an # in front of the deb-src entry for Debian, as there is none in Debian-ports.

To make SeaLion browser work in MintPPC64 do the following in /usr/lib/powerpc64-linux-gnu:
sudo ln -s libffi.so.8 libffi.so.6
SeaLion was compiled in an older version of Debian, therefore we need to soft link the old library to the newer one.

Reboot into MintPPC. At Grub you now see LMDE 6 Faye if you are not in an emulated (qemu) environment. Boot into MintPPC and that’s it folks.
Enjoy your MintPPC desktop!

I hope that you will enjoy your new desktop. Please give me feedback!