Re: call for testers: new-powermac installer (yes, this means you!)
On Sat, Dec 15, 2001 at 03:47:47PM -0500, Colin Walters wrote:
> A while ago, it was decided that PowerPC, like most other
> architectures, would use the 2.2 kernel. However, this kernel simply
> does not work on newer PowerMac hardware, and it is also less than
> ideal even on older systems.
>
> So I've been working on a "new-powermac" installer, which will use the
> 2.4 kernel. Currently, I'm using benh's tree. Please, please test
> this installer! I've done a few successful installs with it, and I've
> gotten other success reports as well. There are just two minor
> problems, which I'll mention below. But first:
>
> http://people.debian.org/~walters/debian/installer/new-powermac
>
> The biggest problem that I haven't been able to figure out is that
> "reboot" is a noop. You'll need to reboot manually at the end with
> Control-Command-Power. The second problem is that you might see
> strange characters while the base files are downloading; these can be
> safely ignored.
>
> Please let me (or debian-boot@lists.debian.org) know of any other
> problems! My modifications should make it into the mainline installer
> after 3.0.18 is released.
Ok, I bit. It worked surprisingly well.
1) We need to compile hfs support into the supplied kernel. I still
couldn't mount hfs disks (where a Mac user would have put his drivers
and rescue.bin). I mounted a linux partition where I had a copy, and
used that. Then when I got to Configure Modules I added the hfs module
and presto! I could mount hfs volumes.
2) The harddisk installation dialog is really hosed, whether I choose
harddisk or already-mounted. I tried dozens of different valid paths,
it kept telling me were invalid, the only way I could get it to work
was using the harddisk option (so it knew what partition it was using
at least), and just putting a single / in the path, then using the
... to browse to the directory I wanted. Its bad.
3) I used the basedebs.tgz from Dec04, and it worked very well. The
base system was installed in less than 3 minutes.
4) More disk space: 225 MB was not quite enough to install the standard
packages (after tasksel without selecting any tasks). I'll update the
docs to point this out.
5) base-config went into an infinite keymap loop at the end. Filed
#124148 on base-config.
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| Chris Tillman tillman@azstarnet.com |
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