Re: GNU/Linux, NetBSD and Mac OS X
On Tue, 22 May 2001, Ethan Benson wrote:
> > It appears that the NetBSD bootstrap system is very similar to that
> > used by yaboot/ybin, so it may not be difficult to make ybin work with the
> > NetBSD bootloader as well.
>
> this has been something i have yet to get around to doing... i was
> going to look at this but OpenBSD barfed when it saw this scsi card in
> my blue g3.
>
> can someone send me more info on exactly how the netbsd bootstrap
> partition is setup?
This page has fairly detailed explanation, and I'm sure the NetBSD
developers will be happy to fill you in on any more details:
<http://netbsd.org/Ports/macppc/faq.html#boot-support>
[This FAQ also has a very excellent OF reference and tutorial,
worth checking out.]
> do they still require that the disk use msdos partition tables?
Only on oldworld machines. On machines with OF version 2.4 or 3, it can
boot from MacOS formatted disks with HFS partitions, ala yaboot.
OF 3 can even boot the kernel directly, with no extra bootloader.
> it would be quite easy for me to add a netbsd= option to the ybin boot
> menu, i just need more info on what file i need to execute.
Excellent! Hopefully this will give you a start.
It would also be a service to NetBSD/macppc if someone could port ybin to
NetBSD, for configuring and installing the kernel and bootstrap files.
On multi-boot systems a single HFS-formatted bootstrap volume could be
used for both the NetBSD kernel and yaboot. Might it be possible to port
ofpath also?
If no one has picked up these ideas in a few months (when I have access to
my newworld machine again), I'll give it a try.
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