Debian on 7200 -- Success!
Installing Debian GNU/Linux on a PowerMac 7200
This is how I got Debian to install on my PowerMac 7200/75. This
computer is pretty much the factory setup. It has 24mb memory & a
500mb hard drive. The only non-standard addition is an Ansante
10/100 ethernet card (for 2 network cards, this is going to be a
firewall).
I went the BootX route. I know, I'm a complete weenie but I really
didn't feel like struggling with the screwed up Open Firmware that
the 7200 has. If you decide to try something else, just remember to
not even try yaboot it's for new world macs, the 7200 is an old world
mac -- yaboot won't work on it.
I wanted the MacOS partition to be as small as possible. To do this
I decided to use System 7.5.3 available for free (as in beer) from
Apple's ftp site.
I built a bootable cd-rom with the tools i would need to install
debian. I assembled the tools in a disk copy image first. I dragged
the System folder from my PowerComputing PowerCenter 210 installer cd
(it's OS 7.6.1, but I imagine the System folder from any bootable cd
will work, except maybe OS 9). Then I added the following:
Mac Tools
- System 7.5.3 CD Installer (ftp://ftp.apple.com/)
- BBEdit Lite 4.6 (free as in beer. http://www.barebones.com/)
- BootX 1.2.2
- Disk Copy
- Drive Setup (I used 1.9.2)
- ResEdit 2.1.3
Linux Stuff (all from the disks-powerpc/powermac directory, I used
the 07/17 set)
- ramdisk.image.gz
- linux kernel
Boot from cd. Use Drive Setup to repartition the drive (this wipes
everything on the drive! permanently!) I created a 32mb partition for
the MacOS (this was the smallest partition i could create with Drive
Setup -- another partitioner like pdisk may allow smaller), 48mb for
the swap and the remainder for the root partition. Create them as
MacOS Standard, A/UX Swap and A/UX Root types respectively.
Install System 7.5.3 to the MacOS partition. Do a custom install and
install just the minimum for this macintosh, plus the cd-rom driver
(it's under the multimedia section). After the install you can trash
the audio cd-player and other stuff you don't need.
Copy the BootX extension into the extensions folder. Copy the
(empty) Linux Kernels folder into the System Folder. Put the linux
file from the powermac disks section of the ftp site into the Linux
Kernels folder. Put the ramdisk.image.gz file in the System Folder
(loose in the System Folder, not in the Linux Kernels folder).
Use resedit to get info on folder/file on the BootX extension on the
hard drive. Change the Type setting from scri to INIT (case is
important). Save the change and exit resedit.
Reboot. In the BootX dialog box turn on the ramdisk with a setting
of 8192 (probably on by default) and attempt to boot linux. It
should boot into the installer.
Some additional notes:
I did an FTP install. ftp.us.debian.org is broken. The sid
directory isn't replicating correctly. I installed from
ftp.ca.debian.org instead. The http.us.debian.org does work
correctly for the portions of the installer that require http
connections.
I couldn't get the boot disks to work (7/17 or 7/20) originally I had
a problem with the 7/17 one where it would spit out and not boot from
it. This problem went away after downloading from ftp.ca.debian.org
and using a different floppy to put the image on. But it then
exhibited the same problem the 7/20 image has -- boot to a black
screen. This symptom is also exhibited by the BootX extension, until
you change the Type with ResEdit to an INIT from an scri. Not sure
if this fix can be applied to the boot disks or not.
Kevin
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