Re: Error Installing from PowerPC CD (was Re: Updated installation images 2019-01-21)
I tried to install the updated PowerPC CD for Debian 10/sid,
located here:
"https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/2019-01-25/";.
I tried installing on a PowerBook G3 Lombard and on a PowerBook
G3 Series Wallstreet. Both systems previously had Debian 7.8
installed. Earlier, I had installed Debian 8.11.0 on the Lombard,
but it didn't work well -- the network didn't come up, and the
Apple driver for the internal disk had to be re-installed from
the Mac OS 9.2.2 installation CD so a Mac OS 9.2.2 installation
could be seen and booted (so there might be something about the
yaboot installation in 8.11.0 that trashes the disk driver). At
that time, I returned to Debian 7.8.
So, here are my results today attempting to install Debian 10/sid:
*** 1) Lombard (New World) ***
As expected, the CD booted. The CD drive was detected, and
everything seemed to be working. The base system installed,
except for this:
"No installable kernel was found in the defined APT sources.
You may try to continue without a kernel, and manually install
your own kernel later. This is only recommended for experts,
otherwise you will likely end up with a machine that doesn't
boot. Continue without installing a kernel?"
I knew I could copy a kernel (and modules) later from a backup
installation, so I selected "Yes".
Next, while "Configuring apt", I picked the defaults for a
mirror: United States, deb.debian.org -- this failed. So I
went back and tried ftp.us.debian.org, which also failed. I
then tried entering the information manually: "deb.debian.org"
with the archive mirror directory "/debian-ports/", which also
failed. So I must not be using the correct mirror/directory.
Ignoring the above error, the only software available for
installation was "standard system utilities". So I selected
that. Next error was "[!!] Install the GRUB boot loader on a
hard disk. Unable to install GRUB in dummy Executing 'grub-
install dummy' failed. This is a fatal error." I selected
"Continue" then "Continue without boot loader". I'm not sure
why it didn't try to install yaboot instead of grub, but I
have a working AppleBoot partition from Debian 7.8 that should
still work.
System then rebooted; I booted into my backup partition and
copied a 4.19.9 kernel and modules to /boot and /lib/modules.
Trying to boot this kernel also failed, so I give up for now.
Note: Since /lib is a symbolic link to /usr/lib, the default
installation seems to require that everything be installed in "/";
i.e. no separate "/usr" (if /usr isn't mounted, then executables
such as /bin/dash and /bin/bash fail looking for a shared library).
*** 2) Wallstreet (Old World) ***
As expected, the CD didn't boot, but BootX in Mac OS booted
the vmlinux and initrd.gz from the powerpc directory on the
CD, and the installation proceeded normally.
The errors were the same as on the Lombard; booting back into
Mac OS, this time I tried to boot one of Finn's known working
kernels (vmlinux-4.20.0-00021-g57230c7d7f2a). This worked (and
would likely have worked on the Lombard as well), though of
course there wasn't much installed and nothing more could be
installed without configuring the apt sources.
Probably if the installation selected an appropriate kernel and
if the mirror selection worked, the installation would succeed.
Also, the installation of yaboot needs to work for New World
systems, and installation of GRUB should not be attempted.
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