problems in getting linux to boot on a newworld Mac
I am having some problems in getting a newworld mac (PowerMac G4) to
boot.
It was working, but in a an attempt to install a newer kernel, I hosed
the bootprocess, then a co-worker hosed the HFS partition and now we
are trying to start all over, installing Debian from scratch (using
CD's release 2.2 rev2).
But I have not been able to come very far, so I hope I can get some
insightfull help.
I am trying to install yaboot, and I am not particularly interested in
dual booting, it is the linux we need and will use.
Firstly, I have reformatted the disk, installed MacOS 9, and
repartioned the free space for linux, using fdisk.
In the install procedure from the CD's I tried the "make linux
bootable from the harddisk" step, but the mac still boots into MacOS.
I then tried going to the console and mess around with ybin and
mkofboot but have had no luck so far.
The partition layout is like this:
....mac system partitions... /dev/hda9 (HFS) /dev/hda10 (linux root) ....XXX
where the XXX's are still more linux partitions.
When I am working with the Debian CD, I have hda10 mounted under /target.
My assumptions about how yaboot needs is something like this: the
process is started from the OF software, so yaboot needs to be
installed somewhere where OF is able to access, and this seems to me
to mean hda9. It also needs a kernel image which is situated at
/target/boot/vmlinux-2.2.18pre21.
This lead me to the command options
-b /dev/hda9 -o hd:9 --partition 10 --root /dev/hda10 --image /target/boot/vmlinux-2.2.18pre21
which I have tried both with `ybin' and `mkofboot'.
Ybin complains about "read-only filesystem" (from `hcopy' I think it
was) and mkofboot insists that there "No such file or directory",
which I guess means that it can't find the kernel I am specifying
(this is from memory, so bear with me on the details).
Am I on the right tracks at all, or what else can I do to make the Mac
boot into linux?
PS
On a side note: cfdisk and the CD booting both complains about the
partition signature being bad. Is this normal?
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Christian Lynbech | Ericsson Telebit, Skanderborgvej 232, DK-8260 Viby J
Phone: +45 8938 5244 | email: chl@tbit.dk
Fax: +45 8938 5101 | web: www.ericsson.com
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Hit the philistines three times over the head with the Elisp reference manual.
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