The FreeBSD/ppc project pages contain information about the FreeBSD port to the PowerPC® architecture. As with the port itself, these pages are still a work in progress.
The FreeBSD/ppc port is still a Tier 2 platform. That means it is not being fully supported by our security officer, release engineers and toolchain maintainers. However, it is supported by portmgr (package building).
The most up-to-date information about supported hardware is currently being maintained on the wiki.
ISO images of FreeBSD &rel.current; are available for download, for details on how to obtain these see the release announcement.
The easiest way to use ports on FreeBSD is to use portsnap. +
The easiest way to use ports on FreeBSD is to use portsnap (if + running &os; &rel114.current; or &rel121.current;) or + Subversion (if running &os; -CURRENT). Refer to the Handbook if you need assistance to use the Ports Collection.
The powerpc64 port provides a 64-bit kernel and userland, and is supported on all 64-bit CPUs. Users of 32-bit CPUs (Apple G3/G4) must use the 32-bit powerpc platform, users of 64-bit CPUs that support 32-bit operating systems (Apple G5) have a choice, and users of 64-bit CPUs that do not must use powerpc64. For those users with a choice, powerpc64 provides some additional features (the ability to use more than 2 GB of RAM and ZFS support). Like other 64-bit platforms, FreeBSD/powerpc64 supports running 32-bit binaries as well as 64-bit ones.
The FreeBSD/ppc mailing list is the main resource.
The most up-to-date information about supported hardware is currently being maintained on the wiki.
The FreeBSD/ppc port should run on any New-World Apple machine (any Apple machine with a built-in USB port), as well as the Sony Playstation 3.
People have previously reported that FreeBSD runs on the following machines:
| Manufacturer | Model | Submitter (optional links) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple | iMac G3 350 MHz | Martin Minkus | Rage 128VR |
| Apple | iMac G3 DV Special Edition | David S. Besade (dmesg) | None |
| Apple | iMac G3 Revision B | Peter Grehan | Rage 3D Pro 215GP, accel disabled |
| Apple | eMac 700 MHz | Peter Grehan | Nvidia GeForce2 MX |
| Apple | Mac Mini G4 1.4 GHz | Tilman Linneweh (dmesg) | None |
| Apple | Powerbook G4 1.33 GHz | Peter Grehan | Nvidia GeForce G5200 |
| Apple | Aluminium Powerbook G4 1.5 GHz | Andreas Tobler | None |
| Apple | PowerMac G5 | FreeBSD 8.0 | |
| Apple | iMac G5 | FreeBSD 8.0 | |
| Apple | Xserve G5 | FreeBSD 8.1 | |
| Apple | PowerMac G5 (late 2005) | FreeBSD 8.1 |
To subscribe to this list, send an email to <freebsd-ppc-subscribe@FreeBSD.org> or visit the mailman interface.
0 > boot hd:loader hd:0At this point, you can set currdev and manually load a kernel:
OK set currdev="hd":14 OK load /boot/kernel/kernel.save
The &os; installer programs allow the Ports Collection to be installed at the same time as the operating system. See bsdinstall for &os; 9.X and later versions, or sysinstall for &os; 8.X and earlier versions.
If the Ports Collection is not initially installed, it can be added with portsnap - or Subversion.
+ (if running &os; &rel114.current; or &rel121.current;) or Subversion + (if running &os; -CURRENT).