On Fri, Jan 12, 2001 at 09:25:55PM +0100, lynbech@tbit.dk wrote: > > 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. why? you just said you are not interested in dual boot so why install MacOS? you don't need it for any part of the install or the bootstrap on a newworld box. i would suggest repartitioning again to remove all Apple drivers and MacOS partitions. they are clearly a waste of space in your case. > 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. read the documentation, do not run that step, it does not work on newworlds. > 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. this is not very clear, is /dev/hda9 your macos partition? if so this will not work. you need to create a proper Apple_Bootstrap partition no larger then 800K. please see the installation docs and http://www.alaska.net/~erbenson/doc/mac-fdisks-basics.txt > 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. correct, OpenFirmware cannot load a bootblock, and only understands HFS filesystems on apple partition maps (or MSDOS filesystems on MSDOS partition tables) for this to work you need to create an 800K Apple_Bootstrap type partition at the beginning of the disk, since you do not want macos this should be partition 2, partition 3 and on should be linux partitions to the end of the disk. > 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 read the install documentation, you need to also have -m /usr/lib/yaboot/ofboot this is the first stage loader, without it OF will refuse to boot. teh rest of it looks correct, except you don't need the -o hd:9 ybin can determine that automatically. > which I have tried both with `ybin' and `mkofboot'. read the install documentation, use 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). ybin will never destroy a partition, which is necessary to create a filesystem on a new bootstrap partition. usually it will find no HFS filesystem and refuse to continue, in this case it looks like you are using a HFS+ MacOS partition, this will not work, you need a 800K Apple_Bootstrap partition. > Am I on the right tracks at all, or what else can I do to make the Mac > boot into linux? close, you just need to read and follow the installation instructions which clearly explain the procedure to make newworlds bootable. > PS > > On a side note: cfdisk and the CD booting both complains about the > partition signature being bad. Is this normal? don't use cfdisk, it creates only MSDOS partition tables which require a very different bootstrap setup, don't do this unless you REALLY know what your doing. use mac-fdisk instead. -- Ethan Benson http://www.alaska.net/~erbenson/
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