Re: Test-DFS for PowerPC
On Sat, Jun 05, 2004 at 04:36:00PM +0200, Sven Luther wrote:
> On Sat, Jun 05, 2004 at 10:58:25AM +0200, Robert Jordens wrote:
> > [Sat, 05 Jun 2004] Sven Luther wrote:
> > > Also, i doubt it will work out of the box on old world, Robert, what is
> > > the kernel size, and could you include a miboot image of this if it is
> > > small enough ? Not sure the kernel or initrd fit on a floppy though.
> >
> > Could you help me with that? I neither have the hardware nor the
> > experience.
>
> Well, you would need to use the powerpc-small kernel, and build an
> initrd which include some additional modules and which loads them, and
> that this initrd fits on on a floppy (compressed). What size has the
> initrd right now ?
If only it were that simple. In order to boot mac-style on an old world
model, the ROM has to recognize your image as a valid, Mac boot system,
which requires more than just a blessed HFS volume.
The boot process on an old world Mac looks something like this:
1) power-on
2) load OF
3) boot from default boot-device (/AAPL,ROM)
4) load and run Mac ROM code
5) look for bootable device (first from setting in PRAM, then a search)
6) load the drivers for the device (floppy: in ROM, CD/HD: driver partitions)
7) load and run system file from blessed folder
The problem is step 6. There isn't a freely available driver, so we can't
put one on a Debian install CD. Apple did document it enough to write one,
but I know I don't have the time for that, since I have a pretty big list
of stuff I'd rather write.
And just in case you're wondering, on an old world Mac, the 'c' key to
force CD boot is implemented in the Apple ROM, not OF like in new world.
Brad Boyer
flar@allandria.com
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