Re: help installing on powerbook6,8 w/ dead cd drive
I have not tried an external CD-ROM, but I have tried various external
hard disks, including ATA, SD and CF.
Spurred by such reports, I have tried every combination of usb* (using
devalias and dir) in Open Firmware, to no avail. I don't think it works
with all models.
What is your Powerbook's Machine Model in System Profiler?
Thanks for the advice.
Ross
> I used to boot my Powerbook G4 just fine with USB CD drive. The only
> problem was to find a correct device path in the OF device tree.
>
> Otherwise, you should be able to netboot easily -- the setup is quite
> well documented on the web.
>
> On 3/22/09, Ross Gohlke <developer@grinz.com> wrote:
>> Greetings,
>>
>> I have tried and failed to install Debian on my powerbook. Please review
>> my procedure and suggest revisions.
>>
>> SPECIFICATIONS
>> powerbook6,8 - 1.5 GHz PowerPC 12"
>> Mac OS 10.4
>> Dead SuperDrive
>> No USB Boot (Open Firmware doesn't recognize external disks)
>> Internal 150GB drive formatted with Disk Utility years ago into 2 drives
>> -- 1 UFS, 1 case-sensitive HFS+. Disk Utility also created an 8MB
>> Apple_Boot partition for each of these partitions, for a total of 4
>> partitions.
>> Open Firmware only recognizes Apple_Boot partitions. Presumably it does
>> not see my HFS+ partition because it is case-sensitive.
>> I cannot rewrite the disk partition map because I cannot run off-disk
>> (no
>> CD drive, no bootable external drive).
>> Debian distro: debian-500-powerpc-businesscard-1.iso, downloaded from
>> http://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/
>>
>> SITUATION
>> The downloaded yaboot assumes the rest of the files are on the same
>> partition. Open Firmware only sees Apple_Boot partitions, which are too
>> small to hold vmlinux AND initrd.gz. Modifying yaboot.conf/yaboot
>> requires
>> ybin, which requires a running Debian, which I don't have.
>> Manually loading the kernel should work:
>> http://www.debian.org/ports/powerpc/inst/yaboot-howto/ch9.en.html#s9.3 I
>> should be able use root=/dev/hda5 (case-sensitive HFS+ partition).
>>
>> PROCEDURE
>> MAC OS X
>> Double-click Debian ISO to mount it.
>> In Terminal, mount first Apple_Boot partition and copy vmlinux to it: %
>> mkdir /Volumes/apple_boot
>> % mount -t hfs /dev/disk1s2 /Volumes/apple_boot
>> % cp -a /Volumes/Debian:PowerPC_lenny/install/powerpc/vmlinux
>> /Volumes/apple_boot/
>> % cp -aR /Volumes/Debian:PowerPC_lenny/install /
>> Reboot into Open Firmware (cmd-opt-o-f)
>> 0 > boot hd:2,\vmlinux root=/dev/hda5 initrd=/install/powerpc/initrd.gz
>> initrdsize=10240 append="--"
>>
>> Loading ELF
>>
>> Claim failed.
>>
>> This happens whether I put initrd.gz on HFS+ or on 2nd Apple_Boot.
>>
>> I also looked into netbooting, but documentation is inconsistent and I
>> could not find netbootable binaries.
>>
>> QUESTIONS
>> Is /dev/hda5 right for root=?
>> Is HFS+ drive being case-sensitive the reason Open Firmware, vmlinux or
>> both cannot see it?
>> Even if I could boot the kernel, would the installer be able to use the
>> UFS partition?
>> Am I using the wrong distro?
>>
>> Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
>>
>> Here's to dipping into Debian!
>> Ross
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
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>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Regards, Wartan.
>
--
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