title:Installing Fedora on Power9
date: 2023-03-06 13:30
tags: fedora power9 raptor talosII
summary: The TalosII pretty much works on XFCE.
---

My friend has a [TalosII](https://www.raptorcs.com/TALOSII/) machine. He currently uses void linux, but void has
dropped their [Power ISA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_ISA) support. So I convinced him to give Debian Gnu/Linux a
try.  First we downloaded the [debian](https://www.debian.org/) image:

We navigated our way around the website to download a [complete debian DVD image](https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/ppc64el/iso-dvd/),
which was about 5 GB. We then tried to figure out how to [verify the installer
image](https://www.debian.org/CD/verify), which basically means, to check that the file we downloaded was not
malware.

Well let&rsquo;s first import the debian GPG keys:

    gpg --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-key \
        "1046 0DAD 7616 5AD8 1FBC  0CE9 9880 21A9 64E6 EA7D"
    
    
    gpg --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-key \
        "DF9B 9C49 EAA9 2984 3258  9D76 DA87 E80D 6294 BE9B"
    
    
    gpg --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-key \
        "F41D 3034 2F35 4669 5F65  C669 4246 8F40 09EA 8AC3"

Let&rsquo;s double check that we have those signing keys:

    gpg --list-keys | grep debian

    uid           [ unknown] Debian CD signing key <debian-cd@lists.debian.org>
    uid           [ unknown] Debian CD signing key <debian-cd@lists.debian.org>
    uid           [ unknown] Debian Testing CDs Automatic Signing Key <debian-cd@lists.debian.org>

Sweet. Now what? How do we actually and practically, via what commands,
verify the installer images? Well the debian page is not specific about
what to do next. So I had to searching the internet for how to verify debian
images. And I found this awesome [blog post](https://danilodellaquila.com/en/blog/how-to-verify-authenticity-of-downloaded-debian-iso-images).  Here&rsquo;s how we do it:

    wget https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/ppc64el/iso-dvd/SHA512SUMS
    wget https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/ppc64el/iso-dvd/SHA512SUMS.sign

    gpg --verify SHA512SUMS.sign
    gpg --verify SHA512SUMS.sign SHA512SUMS

    sha512sum -c SHA512SUMS 2>/dev/null | grep debian-11.6.0-ppc64el-netinst.iso

    debian-11.6.0-ppc64el-netinst.iso: OK

We then tried to boot the usb debian power image.  That failed to boot.  Then we
tried burning that image to a DVD.  That did not work.

So I am guessing that Debian GNU/Linux will work on power, BUT the graphical
installer does not currently work on Debian (I found out later that the Debian
ncuruses installer does work on power).

My friend then installed Ubuntu server. Ubuntu server's installer actually
worked! Then we just turned Ubuntu server into a Xubuntu like environment via
command like: `sudo apt install xfce -y`.

Then we rebooted and everything worked! Well, `Gnome` did not. And `Xubuntu` did
not, but then we used `gdm` to log into `xfce` desktop. That worked flawlessly.

The `netsurf` web browser also worked really well!  Which meant we could use any
website that had virtually no javascript.

Then I thought, it would be great to have a modern web browser working on my
friend&rsquo;s desktop...

Well it looks like Firefox can run on Power9!

<https://www.talospace.com/search/label/Firefox>

The latest blog post says that you can run Firefox version 110 on
Power9.  You can either add in a `--disable-webrtc` in your
`.mozconfig` or you can compile Firefox with a tiny patch.

AND nonguix has a recipe for building Firefox.  Let&rsquo;s see if I can
just install `guix` set up the `nonguix channel` and build Firefox that way!

If the nonguix packaged Firefox doesn&rsquo;t work, then I can try to set
build firefox from source via this video:

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx42tyEWPxk>

Devaun was also a possiblity.  That is a fork of debian that does not use
`systemd`.  My friend is not a big fan of systemd.

I was also told that Fedora is probably the easiest linux distribution, in which
to run GNU/Linux on Power9.

Well installing Fedora was actually easy.  The installer just worked.
(Apparently Debian GNU/Linux disables the ast driver by default, which means a
VGA display will not work).  And I have a working Firefox.  Apparently I can run
a slightly older version of firefox that has a [working javascript JIT.](https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/sharkcz/talos/)

My friend now has a working Xfce desktop courtesy from [Fedora GNU/Linux](https://getfedora.org/). My only
concern is that this [blog post](https://www.talospace.com/2022/12/fedora-37-mini-review-on-blackbird-and.html) seems to suggest that updating Fedora on a Power9
machine is going to be quite annoying. I would not want to have to re-install
Fedora every time they upgrade. I personally no longer have any issues upgrading
my laptop to my distro latest release, because I have found that GNU Guix System
just works really well.  And if an upgrade breaks, then I can always roll back
to the previous known working system during the boot process.

It looks like Fedora can support something like this:

<https://sysguides.com/install-fedora-36-with-snapper-and-grub-btrfs/>

Maybe it is already enabled by default.  Who knows.

I would personally love to recommend my friend to use GNU Guix System, but
currently you cannot boot Guix System from Power9.  The next step for me in this
journey to help my friend set up his TalosII is to make sure his AMDGPU works.
This [wiki article](https://wiki.raptorcs.com/wiki/Troubleshooting/GPU,) should help with that.

Also from the `#talos-workstation` chat log on irc, I found out that the Linux
kernel is having some issues with the graphics drivers on Power9.  Currently the
user is required to do some manual fiddling.  However those workarounds should
not be necessary by kernel 6.3ish.  So until my friend runs Linux 6.3, he will
probably have the best desktop experience in Xfce or KDE.  Gnome has some minor
issues apparently.

