Re: Want to install lenny on older Powerbook G4 mac
On May 16 2009, Mark Hoff wrote:
> I am trying to install Debian Linux version 5 (lenny) on an old G4
> Powerbook (Titanium, 1GB memory, 667Mhz cpu, Machine model version
> 2.1) that is running Mac OS X 10.2.
This is great. I wish I had one of those. :-)
> Some of my constraints:
> 1) It is not possible at this time to upgrade to a more recent version
> of OS X.
This is an excellent example of why Free Software doesn't let you down
when you need to get things working, letting you run the latest and
greatest software as you wish, in general.
> 2) I do not have a wired internet connection from this Mac.
> 3) The only WIFI access is to a WPA connection (no control over the router either).
Right.
> More Background:
> a) The mac software works just fine (just no internet access due to above).
Does the fact that you have Mac OS X working but no internet connection
mean that you don't have wired connection *nor* wifi connection, despite
having a router?
The situation isn't clear here.
> b) I do have internet access to the wireless router from two other machines:
> - Windows Vista notebook PC (but no Administrator access on this computer)
> - Windows 7 notebook PC (full access to this computer)
OK.
> What I have tried so far:
> 1) Downloaded Net Boot CD iso image (from debian.org) and burned a CD with it.
> The install went just fine, until it found several deb files that were 'corrupt'.
> So I downloaded fresh copies of them off the debian web site.
> I just don't know how to integrate them into the install process.
You can try to "merge" them both with the jigdo-lite program.
> 2) Downloaded the first CD iso image from
> [ http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/5.0.1/powerpc/iso-cd/ ].
> Then I burned this CD using the same computer and software as above
> (IsoBuster on a Windows XP machine that has no internet access).
> That CD would not boot on my Powerbook - it has a 'read error'
> when trying to load the kernel.
I sincerely have no idea how to use Windows and I can't help you here. :-(
> What can I do to get Linux installed on my Powerbook?
The problem is that you don't have a network connection. Otherwise, you
could do a "medium-less" installation of the distribution, as documented
in, say, Branden Robinson's ibook installation page. :-/
I would guess that you could try again with burning another CD (this
time, using MacOS X, if possible), so that you know that the powerbook
can read it latter (test the burn, either way).
And before installing, whatever is the situation (burning the CD on
another computer or not), use Disk Utilities to see if you can read the
whole CD as an ISO image and compare the md5sum against what is in the
repositories.
Hope this sheds a bit of light, Rogério.
--
Rogério Brito : rbrito@{mackenzie,ime.usp}.br : GPG key 1024D/7C2CAEB8
http://www.ime.usp.br/~rbrito : http://meusite.mackenzie.com.br/rbrito
Projects: algorithms.berlios.de : lame.sf.net : vrms.alioth.debian.org
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