Re: Guide for Oldworld Powermac d-i test using BootX and netinst CD
On Thu, Oct 16, 2003 at 03:59:08PM +0200, Goswin von Brederlow wrote:
> Sven Luther <sven.luther@wanadoo.fr> writes:
>
> > On Wed, Oct 15, 2003 at 10:32:35PM -0700, Chris Tillman wrote:
> > > I tested d-i using BootX.
>
> Greate. Your destined to test disk boots for powerpc then.
You make 'em, I break 'em.
> > Cool. Tell me again though, there are some oldworld pmacs which can't do
> > this and need miboot, right ?
> >
> > > 1) Burn a CD from
> > >
> > > http://gluck.debian.org/cdimage/testing/netinst/powerpc/
> > >
> > > (I used the sarge-powerpc-netinst iso).
>
> Joeyhs loopback detection udeb _will_be_ helpfull there. Just dump the
> image to harddisk and hope it finds it. :)
I'll need to figure out how this works.
> > > 2) Boot into MacOS, insert the CD, and copy linux.bin and root.bin
> > > from /install/powermac/ to your Linux Kernels folder in the System Folder.
> > > Of course, if you already have files there, you might want to rename
> > > these.
>
> Can they be left on the cdrom?
> > > 3) Start BootX. Set the Options to use a root disk, and Browse to the
> > > root.bin you just copied in. Make sure the no-video-driver box is
> > > _not_ checked (at least on my box). Add the boot argument:
>
> And this configured to use them from cdrom?
>
I tried browsing to the root.bin on the CD, and yes that did work. But
BootX constructs a menu of kernels from files placed in the Linux
Kernels folder, so the kernel has to be copied.
> > > modules also :) ... as it was, I just
>
> udpkg -i bla.udeb
That's what I tried, but AFAICT it installed stuff into my ramdisk,
not the target. And it wasn't successful doing modules debs at all. I
wasn't sure if maybe I had to --configure after -i.
> > > cp -R /lib/modules /target/lib/modules
> > >
> > > Ah, the joys of busybox with autocompletion, history, and cp -R !!
>
> Yes. I loved that too.
>
> > > 7) Use reboot in console 2 to quit the installer.
>
> Didn't I hear something about a reboot menu item being created now?
Yes, it's coming.
> > > 8) There is no quik-installer yet, but you can boot your installed
> > > system by using BootX again. Un-check the root disk option, remove
> > > init=/linuxrc, and type in the designation of your root partition such
> > > as hda6 in the space provided. I actually got it booted; my bogus
> > > modules didn't load, no automatic base-config yet; but we're getting
> > > there!
>
> Can the CDrom contain an icon that will start the installation when
> clicked? Can BootX be on the CD or is that a system component allways
> available?
No, I don't think so. Well, maybe. The CD is an hfs/iso, so in theory
one could put BootX on it (both resource fork and data fork). But in
practice, it might not work well. The first issue that arises is: what
kind of Linux script can build a CD with the proper MacOS resource
fork for the app? There are some ancient apps around that can
translate from macbinary, but when I've tried them they don't work
well.
Also, the BootX preferences are saved on the Mac partition, and the
Linux Kernels folder should go in the System Folder ... it's probably
best, especially considering the relatively small audience, to just
continue to have BootX.sit on the CD and have people unpack it on
their MacOS partition. Also keep in mind we should have a floppy-based
'plug-it-in-and-go' solution.
--
Debian GNU/Linux Operating System
By the People, For the People
Chris Tillman (a people instance)
toff one at cox dot net
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