James Longstreet wrote:
Hello, I'm attempting to install debian-m68k on my Performa 400, which is, as you probably know, essentially an LC II. Specs are: 16 MHz 68030 10 MB RAM 1.1 GB full-height SCSI HDD (the top of the case is off and the HD has a huge AMD heatsink/fan on it) Mac OS 7.6.0 on 64 MB partition SCSI SyQuest 88MB cartridge drive for installation media (base system is on one cart, the rest of CD1 is split between 5 more) Farallon EtherMac LC-TP 592a-TP NIC in PDS slot I'm having a few problems. Penguin boots fine, after a few minutes I'm at the installer. I have set up a 64 MB partition for Mac OS 7.6.1 on /dev/sda3, a 64 MB partition for swap on /dev/sda5, and the remainder of the drive for linux root on /dev/sda4. The SyQuest cart mounts fine on /dev/sdb5 and installs the rescue image just fine, then installs drivers.tgz just fine. When it gets to Packages.gz, it hangs, and continues to hang... I've let it run about 12 hours. Is this file just that big that it will take several hours or even a day or more to decompress and install? It also doesn't appear (from the indicator LEDs) to be reading/writing to or from the HD or SyQuest during this hanging. If this fails, I will probably attempt to set up an NFS share, which brings me to my second problem. The debian installer recognizes the Farallon NIC, but DHCP does not work, so I can't get the network configured correctly. I just purchased (for $4) an Asante NIC from eBay, which should be arriving within a week or so, so I'll see how that works. Until then, any suggestions? Thanks, James Longstreet
Hi James and others,Apart from that is indeed does take a long time, it sometimes does seem frozen just because the CPU is processing. Thats why there is no disk-activity. But no disk-activitiy for 12 hours is very long in my experience. But my only experience is with 69040 based Mac's so thats a difference from your Performa. There used to be a SCSI-related problem with kernels used in debian 2.2r0 (and later?). Depending on the kernel woody uses for the install, this problem maybe is still there. In the older kernel that is in the 2.2r0 macinstall.tgz there are SCSI disconnect problems that will bite you when using multiple SCSI devices/disks (like you are). These issues can be fixed by using at least a 2.2.20 kernel and a kernel commandline option to turn of SCSI disconnects. This argument only works correctly in these newer kernels. If the kernel is not in the current Woody (which I think it is), you can find kernels on linux-mac68k.sourceforge.net. If you use a kernel (and modules) from sourceforge you'll see messages indicating that no modules are present for this kernel, when you first boot into you installed linux. You'll have to unpack them yourself after it has booted. The kernel command line option needed differs with the amount of SCSI buses the Mac has, so the Quadra900/950 need a different argument from al other systems. For all systems except Quadra900/950 it is: "mac53c9x=1,0". For Quadra900/950 it is: "mac53c9x=2,0". Have written all this I now see in the original message that this problem will only bite you on 68040 Mac's, but maybe it's worth the try.
HTH, Erik -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Erik C.J. Laan elaan at dds.nl Please reply below the message, please cut unrelevant pieces from a reply. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------