Re: PowerPC Base Files

[Alex Romosan <romosan@caliban.lbl.gov>]

Hartmut Koptein <koptein@et-inf.fho-emden.de> writes:

> Direkt bootstrapping isn't possible (for hd). Untaring to harddisk and starting
> is not possible, because the /etc/fstab doesn't exist and also for e.p. quik
> doesn't know from where it should boot.
> 
> This is different to floppy or ramdisk, we know then where it is. 
> 
> Bootstrapping from another os then linux (for powerpc) is also possible,
> but i don't know enough for this (yet).
> 
huh? maybe i don't understand what you are trying to say, but
untarring to hard disk and starting _is_ possible. i've done twice
now, once on my desktop and once on somebody's laptop. let me try to
explain what i did:

1)  i used the linuxppc redhat based installer. followed the
    instructions, pretended i wanted to install linuxppc over the net,
    gave it my ip address, and then instead of following through with
    the installation i switched to the console (alt f2)

2)  on my desktop it was simpler because it recognized the ethernet
    card. first i nfs mounted the disk where i had the base tar file.
    then i mounted the partition where i wanted to untar the base file
    and i used cpio (since there is no tar on the installer) to unpack
    the base file. also there is no mv, so i used cat to copy a
    previously created fstab file (from the nfs mounted partition). i
    also used cat to copy the vmlinux-2.1.1xx and cpio to unpack the
    modules file. i went back into macos, installed quik from there,
    told open firmware where to boot from, rebooted, and there i was
    using debian linux on a ppc.

    on the laptop it was a little bit trickier because the linuxppc
    didn't want to recognize my ethernet card (i tried both, the
    standard installer and the installer+tulip one). so what i copied
    the boot tar file onto the macos partition, the fstab file, and
    the kernel + modules. then i did exactly the same thing as before,
    with the excpetion that instead of mounting an nfs disk i mounted
    the local one. it took me a while to figure out how to mount an
    apple partition (mount -t hfs /dev/xxx /target).

all this is using the old base file, but it shouldn't be any different
using the newest one. hope this helps somebody, and if you have any
questions don't hesitate to ask. btw, my desktop (trinculo.lbl.gov) is
running only linux (purged any vestiges of macos), the laptop is dual
boot (macos/linux using the openfirmare prompt).

--alex--

-- 
| I believe the moment is at hand when, by a paranoiac and active |
|  advance of the mind, it will be possible (simultaneously with  |
|  automatism and other passive states) to systematize confusion  |
|  and thus to help to discredit completely the world of reality. |