PowerPC kernels, partitioning on macppc

[James Buchanan <jamesb.au@iinet.net.au>]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the PowerPC platform, and tried to install Sarge netinst this 
evening.  My experience with the printk messages being suppressed during 
package installation is in another post to debian-powerpc and debian-boot 
lists.

Can someone tell me what the various partitions are for on the macppc?  I 
couldn't partition the disk without using guided partitioning.  The guided 
partitioning selects a small ~35K partition labelled "Apple" or something, 
and a NewWorld boot partition of 1MB for yaboot, I think.  Why these 
partitions and why the sizes selected?  Is this required for OF or something?

Also when the system starts, it prints the address of the framebuffer.  Is 
this saved into /var/log/messages or anything like that?  I would certainly 
like to learn more about the PPC architecture.  Is there a good book on 
assembly language for the PPC with details of I/O, how to access/discover 
hardware, how to set up paging with the MMU, etc?  Is using OF necessary past 
the boot stage?  Can it be ignored after that as the BIOS is ignored after 
booting on x86 platforms?  Is there any documentation on the Debian port to 
PowerPC for beginners interested in system level software and kernel 
development?

Are there reserved memory regions for the PowerPC on the mac?  How does the 
kernel discover how much memory is installed?  Perhaps through a call to OF?  
The kernel seems to be loaded to some arbitrary location, as I've seen 
somewhere.  If this is so, how is the kernel linked?  Must it somehow 
relocate itself?

And how to handle interrupts on the MacPPC, and all that stuff the kernel 
does... books, docs on the net, etc.

Thanks for your help. :)
James