Installing T2 Linux 26.5 on SGI Altix, with GPU

Published: 17-May-2026 - Last Updated: 17-May-2026

Below are instructions for installing T2 Linux on an SGI Altix with a custom kernel that includes Altix support and patches to enable PCI GPUs to work.

Create the ISO

Download the script from here and follow it's instructions. The vanilla T2 iso will not boot on Altix.

https://github.com/nsafran1217/sn2-kernel-tools/tree/main/T2-SN2

Installation

Boot the DVD or hard drive as you would any other disk on an Altix. The serial console is already defined for you in the grub boot entry.
note that the timeout doesn't work on grub2 on Altix, so you need to press enter

After pressing enter, the screen will be blank while the kernel loads. Give it time.
The boot will take a while... Be patient. It will likely get stuck at some points when starting services.
It will hang on ldconfig.service/start for a while.
Don't panic if you see a stack trace or two.
If you get a kernel panic, reboot and try again. It appears unstable, but that might be my CD-ROM drive

• Once booted, login with username=root, password=password
• Run stone install to start the T2 installer.
• Select Edit partition table of whatever disk you want
• Select Classsic Partitions
• Erasing all data
• Choose how big to make /. the rest will be swap
  I use ext4 for my root filesystem.

After this, you should see the partitions are mounted.

• Select Install the system
• Select Start Package Manager

This will install all the packages. It will take a while.
It needs to copy ~8 GB

• Create a user and passwword
• Select your timezone
• Select a locale (C or English)
• Yes configure grub

When installing grub, select "edit grub.cfg" and add the following to the linux line:

rootwait modprobe.blacklist=amdgpu,radeon systemd.unit=multi-user.target

• select Continue
• Create a ssh host keypair
• select Continue

Quit and reboot the system.
If you ever want the setup menu again, just run stone

If you're running Version 26.3, after first boot, fix some issues. T2-26.3 shipped with a bad SVN database. This is not needed on any other version.

cd /usr/src/t2-src
sqlite3 .svn/wc.db "delete from ACTUAL_NODE"

• Run t2 up
• Now you can install applications with t2 inst.

for example:

t2 inst btop
t2 inst fastfetch

Package list is here: https://t2linux.com/packages/

GPU Setup

See this post for tested GPUs and PCI-e bridges.

The GPU MUST be installed in the top PCI slot. There must not be any card installed in the slot directly below it. Follow the instructions for installing T2 on Altix.

After first boot, load your graphics drivers if you have a card installed. Depending which card you have, you will either run modprobe radeon or modprobe amdgpu.
Watch your serial console while loading. If its successful, the VGA console should change resolution.

• run stone
• select x11 config.
• select Run XcfgT2 (the T2 LiveCD auto configuration)

For me it selected the wrong driver, and I had to manually change it.
Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and confirm the correct driver, either radeon or amdgpu, is listed in Section "Device"

Due to a bug in glibc, we need to set LD_PRELOAD for 3D acceleration to work. Run this command before starting X:

export LD_PRELOAD="/usr/lib/libgallium-26.0.6.so /usr/lib/libGLX_mesa.so.0 /usr/lib/libEGL_mesa.so.0.0.0"

You can add this to your ~/.profile.

And launch X: startx

This will load TWM. Confirm that you have 3D acceration:
glxinfo | grep render

You should see Direct rendering: Yes and your GPU driver as the renderer.

After this, remove the modprobe.blacklist from /boot/grub/grub.cfg for both drivers and reboot. Make sure the system comes up.
You should probably add a fallback option in grub that has the blacklist if you have problems.

After rebooting, you can try plasma. Make sure LD_PRELOAD is set before starting plasma or you will only have software acceleration.

startx /usr/bin/startplasma-x11

Known Issues

• Wayland does not work
• The login manager does not work (it uses wayland)
• The GPU driver sometimes crashes under very heavy load
• SN2 devices (IOC4) must be built into the kernel. They do not work as modules.