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Re: PowerBook



Nelson Abramson wrote:

Brendan Simon wrote:

> Harold G. Stevenson wrote:
> >
> > 2- any suggestions on installing and running debian?
> Get a bootable CD if one exists.   When I installed Debian there was no
> CD available so I _HAD_ to install MacOs on a small partition (1GB), put
> yaboot, the kernel from Ben H and the base2_2.tgz on the Mac partition,
> then use Open Firmware to boot into Linux.  A boot CD is the easiest way.

Don't forget firewire disc mode; it's quite convenient.  The downside is that it
requires a 6-6 pin firewire cable (not standard but still available), and
another Apple firewire machine w/ the newest ROM running MacOS.

AFAIK, Debian hasn't released a bootable cd for ppc yet (although I think you
can still make your own); there do exist bootables from other distros, but then
you have to go through the hassel of getting it setup and then reinstalling;
although it may be easier than using MacOS.

If you have access to a USB or internal zip, you could probably use the
MacOS bootable cd to partition the drive, and then place the necessary files on
the machine w/o actually installing MacOS.....
I don't know anything about firewire disk mode but it sounds like a remote boot system. I installed Debian on my G4 machine (without installing MacOS) by copying all the relevant files to a zip disk and booting the Zip disk via Open Firmware.  This is a good solution for G4 machines which have zip disks built in as standard.  I'm sure a similar think could be done with the PowerBook using an external zip disk.  I'm not sure how easy it is to boot a USB Zip drive via Open Firmware but I'm sure it can be done.  Some of the experts on the list will probably know how.  BTW, I used an intel machine and hfsutils (thanks to Ethan Benson's instructions - search the list for them) to format the zip disk and copy the relevant files to it.  You can use what ever you like (PC or Mac).  If you have access to a CD Writer you could also burn a CD, but the zip disk is quick and flexible.

Brendan.



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