Brent Baude

There are new stage 4’s available on the Gentoo mirrors today. These stages include updated packages and are built against a newer snapshot of the portage tree. I have also built new GRP packages and those are working their way out to the GRP repository as OpenOffice compiles.

I have also decided to begin posting the snapshot I used to build the stage4 repository. This will be in a similar location as the GRP packages. For example, the snapshot used to build the current stages can be found at http://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/gentoo-ps3/snapshots/ and I will update the install instructions (http://overlays.gentoo.org/proj/cell/wiki/InstallGentooOnPS3).

I’m still getting positive feedback about the stages and install instructions. If you are using the stages, feedback is appreciated. I use the feedback to improve both the documentation and stages. Best way to get me is on IRC as I can generally work through the feedback pretty quickly.

Well after a battle for the ages, I have now released the 64bit-userland stage4 for PS3. You can find the stage in the experimental section on the Gentoo mirros such as:

http://overlays.gentoo.org/proj/cell/wiki/InstallGentooOnPS3

This stage has glibc-2.5, gcc-4.1.1-r1, and binutils-2.17; all very new toolchain components for ppc64 on Gentoo. And like the 32bit-userland stage4, it has X, vim, and fluxbox already compiled and ready to go.

The instructions for installing the stage can be found at:

http://overlays.gentoo.org/proj/cell/wiki/InstallGentooOnPS3

I'll be updating the instructions with some additional information and user feedback over the course of the weekend.

32bit and 64-bit userlands

Let me also take a moment to discuss the general difference between 32bit-userland and 64bit-userland as this has seemed to cause confusion with some of our new users and those not familiar with ppc64 proper. Both the 32bit and 64bit-userlands run a 64bit-kernel and kernel modules. In the case of the 32bit-userland, the user-space applications (an example of which could be X, Gnome, Firefox) are 32bit. The 32bit-userland does has enough of a toolchain to create 64bit kernels however. In the case of the 64bit-userland, the kernel and all userland applications are 64bit.

The next question we are getting is which userland is better? I'd be foolish to say anything other than “it just depends....” It depends on what you are doing with it, how much memory you have available, whether you need what 64bit applications offer weighed against 32bit, are the applications you want 64bit stable, and so on. If there was a clear-cut answer on the matter we would only be creating one userland.

What is next

I'm working on updating both the 32 & 64 bit repositories. That will likely be the premise of my next blog post.

I've been working fairly steadily on creating the 64bit stage4 tarball I previously mentioned. I won't be buying any lottery tickets soon as it seems my luck is on the downslope. I have hit a number of unique, obscure bugs; many of which are in core packages. If I was simply trying to hack together a stage, it could be done by now but I'm making every effort to turn out quality stages; and stages that can be rebuilt without significant hackage.

So for those who are chomping at the bit for these 64bit stages, know that I am working hard to get them out; that it has been frustrating; and that when it does come out, the quality will be worth the wait.

In the meantime, please keep trying the 32bit-userland stage and provide feedback. A number of folks have given great feedback on the stage and I was able to immediately incorporate their comments into a fix in the stage or a fix in the documentation. That reminds me, check the documentation for the install out at -> http://overlays.gentoo.org/proj/cell/wiki/InstallGentooOnPS3 .

I have also rebuilt the GRP packages numerous times. As of this writing, the 32bit GRP contains 445 pre-built binaries totaling almost 626 MB. Recent additions include things like tightvnc, OpenOffice, and Gnumeric among others. I am also actively soliciting people for packages they would like added to the repository, so your feedback on that topic is welcome too.

As we speak, a 32bit-userland stage4 tarball is working its way through the Gentoo mirrors. The stage4 contains a ready to go operating system and kernel for the PS3 along with X and the fluxbox window manager. The instructions for installing from a stage4 can be found on the Cell wiki at:

http://overlays.gentoo.org/proj/cell/wiki/InstallGentooOnPS3

Special thanks to the OSUOSL crew! They have provided us with space to host our GRP packages. This means that after you complete your stage4 install, you will be able to add-on things like Gnome, GAIM, audacious, KDE, etc without having to actually compile the packages. Packages for these applications have already been posted and I will continue to add new ones as they turn up or people request them. Instructions for installing from this GRP repository will be posted at the aforementioned URL when I complete this entry.

The 64bit-userland is still a work in progress but it is IN progress. I'll post when the tarball and 64bit GRP are ready as well. In the meantime, give it a whirl and give us feedback.

-Ranger

As I write this, the OSUOSL mirror now has a BETA version of the minimal install CD for PS3s on it. For those of you who are experienced Gentoo users, this is the minimal CD you know and love. For those who are unfamiliar with minimal install CDs, this CD will boot up to a fairly full-featured commandline interface where you can install Gentoo on the PS3. As with the LiveCD, it contains the ps3pfutils too.

I had hoped to release stage4 tarballs in both 32-bit and 64-bit userlands at the same time, but PPC64 has some problems in its profiles that are breaking the builds for public consumption. I'll need to convince a fellow dev to clean the profiles up as I generally avoid them.

I'll also tip my cards as for the future of PS3 on Gentoo and what we plan to release in support of it. We now have a beta LiveCD, beta InstallCD, and the soon-to-be-released aforementioned stage4's. The stage4s contain everything in a stage3 (os, tools, compilers, etc) but also libspe packages, ps3pfutils, X, fluxbox, some required utilities, hacked fstab, bootloader examples, and a prebuilt kernel. The idea here is to reduce the amount of compilation done on the PS3 given the shortage of RAM.

After the stage4's are out, we'll turn our attention to releasing a bunch of GRP (pre-built binary packages). Things like KDE, open-office, Gnome, XFCE4, Firefox, Thunderbird, and so on would be candidates. The idea here is that a user could emerge these packages, preferably over the network, and have Gnome (or whatever) installed in very little time. I have done this with my PS3 here at home and can have a full system with Gnome installed in just about 15 minutes. Optimally we would like to host these via http somewhere but it does not look like Gentoo mirrors are going to be a possibility. If you are interested in hosting or mirroring these GRP packages, please let me/us know.

The entire team and I have been posting content as quickly as we can at http://overlays.gentoo.org/proj/cell/wiki. Check it out...

Happy New Year,

Ranger