Bug#515678: [powerpc] netboot failure on installation
On Tuesday 17 February 2009, Christian Garbs wrote:
> The "yaboot" section 4.5.4 only refers to "NewWorld Power Macintosh
> machines". According to 2.1.2.2 that's something different from a
> PReP machine (2.1.2.3).
I'm not a PowerPC user myself and it subarchitectures and various
bootloader systems are unfortunately a huge mess.
For the PowerPC installation guide, the most important page is probably
the warning at its very start:
http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/powerpc/
Unfortunately PPC is one of our worst supported ports when it comes to
actual involvement and contributions...
> (The "gtk" subdirectory propably is the graphical installier?)
Yes.
> The initrd.gz won't be bootable, I think, the mini.iso does not work
> (see above) and trying to boot the vmlinux kernel image results in an
> ELF image error (as I only did a boot using VGA, I can't copy the
> complete error message at this moment).
> Also, I don't see how a kernel image could load the initrd or the
> installer after having booted, as the installation instructions don't
> mention the setup of an e.g. NFS server to provide these files.
Both kernel and initrd should be on the tftp server. The BIOS or firmware
or bootloader of the machine should be set up to load both, possibly by
first fetching some (yaboot?) config file.
> In any case, I will test the "yaboot" way tomorrow. If it works, I
> think the documentation should be altered slightly.
Patches are welcome, but preferably reviewed by people who know the
architecture.
> I'll add this reply to the bug and then refer to it in the
> powerpc-list.
The powerpc list should have people who know how to set things up
correctly. If you find actual errors, then feel free to file a new
installation report. At this point you're just shooting in the dark and
installation reports are not the correct method to ask for a light.
The fact that the system fails to boot when it's not getting instructed
correctly it only logical.
Cheers,
FJP
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