Netbooting Woody on an Imac [Revised]

[Antoine Brenner <brenner@via.ecp.fr>]

Hi !

I just network installed a debian 3.0 (woody) on an Apple
Imac (G3 350MHz) with 128 MB of RAM, and here are some 
tips for doing it.


PREAMBLE:
This is my second report of installation, using the
root.bin file from the "powerpc" disk set instead of
the "prep" disk set (contrary to the documentation).
The installation was just fine this time...

LICENCE:
The text of this email can be used to improve the
Debian Installation manual.



Hardware Nota Bene: IMAC
antoine@imac:~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
cpu             : 740/750
temperature     : 50-52 C (uncalibrated)
clock           : 350MHz
revision        : 2.2 (pvr 0008 0202)
bogomips        : 697.95
machine         : PowerMac2,1
motherboard     : PowerMac2,1 MacRISC2 MacRISC Power Macintosh
L2 cache        : 512K unified
memory          : 128MB
pmac-generation : NewWorld



Here a small howto for whoever might need it:


STEP ONE: CONFIGURE YOUR SERVER
Of course you need a dhcp (or bootp) server and also a
tftp server.
Here are the config files I used on the PC server (mandrake): 
For the tftp server, add in /etc/inetd.conf:
tftp    dgram   udp     wait    root    /usr/sbin/tcpd  /usr/sbin/in.tftpd -r blksize -s /tftpboot

For the dhcp server, adapt the following /etc/dhcpd.conf:
---DHCPD.CONF BEGIN---
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
server-name "server";

subnet 192.168.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0{
    range 192.168.1.101 192.168.1.250;
    default-lease-time 86400;
    max-lease-time 172800;
    ddns-domainname "mylan";
    ddns-rev-domainname "1.168.192.in-addr.arpa";

    option domain-name "mylan";
    option domain-name-servers 192.168.1.1;
    option routers 192.168.1.1;
    option netbios-name-servers 192.168.1.1;
    option netbios-node-type 8;
}

group {
    use-host-decl-names on;
    host imac {
        filename "yaboot";
        hardware ethernet 00:0A:27:7C:3E:C4;
        fixed-address 192.168.1.141;
    }
}
---DHCPD.CONF END---


STEP TWO: GET THE REQUIRED FILES FOR TFTPBOOT
Moreover, you need a readable /tftpboot with the 4 files:
linux.bin  root.bin  yaboot  yaboot.conf

Here is my /tftpboot/yaboot.conf:
---YABOOT.CONF BEGIN---
device=enet:
partition=0
timeout=50
init-message="Debian GNU/Linux Network boot"
default=linux

image=linux.bin
    label=linux
    initrd=root.bin
    initrd-size=8192
---YABOOT.CONF END---

I used the linux.bin from
debian/dists/woody/main/disks-powerpc/current/new-powermac/linux.bin
I used the root.bin from new-powermac, as indicated by Chris Tillman 
in his email dated 1st of july 2003 in the debian-powerpc mailing-list:
debian/dists/woody/main/disks-powerpc/current/new-powermac/images-1.44/root.bin
And I used the yaboot from 
debian/dists/woody/main/disks-powerpc/current/new-powermac/yaboot


STEP THREE: NETWORK BOOT THE IMAC
To network boot the Imac, I needed to press at the same time
at startup the following 4 keys:
(APPLE) + (ALT) + (o) + (f)
This opens an openfirmware prompt.
Then (finding the right syntax was a problem) I had to enter:
boot enet:,yaboot linux

Hint: just net booting with 'n' at startup did not load the
yaboot, even with the right dhcpd.conf: I had to manually
enter the exact line above.
Hint Nr 2: the "linux" parameter above is given to "yaboot"
as default image to run (cf label=linux in yaboot.conf)


STEP FOUR: CONFIGURE YOUR BASIC DEBIAN SYSTEM
Run the usual debian installer until you reboot for
the next step.
This worked fine with me with the new-powermac
boot floppies (I had problems with yaboot with the
"prep" boot floppies)


STEP FIVE: CONFIGURE THE REST OF YOUR DEBIAN SYSTEM
I found a nice XF86Config-4 for my Rage 128 RL on 
the debian powerpc mailing list from Chris Tillman
dated 04/30/2002.  Cool !
Other than this, all is just fine thanks to dselect 
and apt-get...

Regards,
Antoine