[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: powerpc/iBookG4 sid-iso (yaboot failing)



Hi Adrian,

On 2017-10-11, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz <glaubitz@physik.fu-berlin.de> wrote:
>> Today I downloaded the latest powerpc/sid netinst iso[0] in order to
>> revive my iBookG4 (and hopefully help bring PowerPC back to
>> Debian/testing). Unfortunately the ISO image (burned to CD) would not
>> boot, causing various errors such as "Decrementer exception". Using
>> qemu, I can boot the CD medium, so the CD should be fine. Also, if I
>> use older yaboot-based ISO images, such as jessie or the openSUSE ISO
>> image mentioned (below), I have no problems. Searching around I found
>> multiple sites that claim the yaboot version 1.3.17 is to blame.
>
> No changes were made to the CD generation process in this regard.

This was my first try using yaboot 1.3.17. So that version probably
never worked on my iBook.

> Before we go start digging into the sources, please make sure your
> CD-ROM drive is working properly and the CD you burnt is ok.

The CD and drive are fine. The problem is yaboot 1.3.17. Rather than
create a new sid netinst iso with an older yaboot, I decided to just use
the yaboot 1.3.16 from the latest jessie netinst iso to springboard into
the sid installer. In case anyone is interested, the procedure was:

1. download jessie powerpc netinst iso[1] and dd it to a USB stick

2. boot into open firmware

3. start yaboot 1.3.16 from jessie usb stick
   boot usb0/disk@1:2,\install\yaboot

4. from yaboot 1.3.16, switch to sid netinst (CD-ROM)
   conf device=cd file=/install/yaboot.conf

5. run installer
   install32

This allowed me to install sid on my iBook/G4. I'll see if I can bisect
where yaboot broke on my iBook.

>> 1. Can someone point me to some documentation (or scripts or anything)
>>    so I can look into building my own powerpc/netinst for sid using an
>>    older yaboot? I need some way to effectively debug this issue.
>
> https://parisc.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/How_to_create_Debian_unstable_iso_images

Thanks! I'll start getting this setup. I'll document my procedure in
case anyone else is interested.

John Ogness

[0] http://jenkins.kfreebsd.eu/jenkins/view/cd/job/debian-cd_sid_powerpc/ws/build/debian-unofficial-powerpc-NETINST-1.iso

[1] https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/archive/8.9.0/powerpc/iso-cd/debian-8.9.0-powerpc-netinst.iso


Reply to: