Re: Performing installer tests on PowerMac with USB sticks
Fienix is by Casey Cullen, not Christian Zigotsky.
Likewise for the instructional video.
On May 1, 2019, at 9:00 AM, Stephan Hubers wrote:
> Hi,
>
> From what I know about Macintosh and it’s Open Firmware, FireWire is
> set as a default boot-option since OF 2. Therefor any G3 or G4
> Macintosh will boot from firewire using the Command+Option boot-key.
> The Open Firmware will recognize the FireWire boot-sector by
> default. So, yes… trying different images works best on a FireWire
> drive.
>
> However, PowerMac 6,4 should be abled to boot from USB. What I am
> thinking is going on with your system, is that the USB-stick does
> not have a valid AFS boot-sector for Apple; which is definitely
> needed to boot from USB. Christian Zigotsky has done extended
> research on this issue with his Fienix distribution. He also
> explains it very clearly in his YouTube video on booting his G5 from
> USB.
>
> I hope this’ll help you along a bit further.
>
> Regards,
>
> Stephan
>
>> Op 1 mei 2019, om 12:18 heeft aggaz <aggaz@paranoici.org> het
>> volgende geschreven:
>>
>> Thanks for all the information you are providing.
>>
>> Despite my efforts I still am not able to boot my eMac G4 (Apple
>> PowerMac6,4) by USB.
>>
>> After reading your email I was able to see that with a USB stick
>> inserted at boot a disk device indeed shows up in the device tree
>> (visible by using the command "dev / ls"), but I am still not able to
>> list its files by using the command "dir".
>>
>> By the way, the USB stick contains a dd'ed debian ISO image and it is
>> possible to browse its files on a PowerMac G5 (PowerMac11,2).
>>
>> I think I am using the correct OF path, derived by looking at the
>> device
>> tree and by comparison with the working path on the G5.
>>
>> I can confirm it has OpenFirmware 3 as shown by the following
>> command on OF:
>>
>> 0 > dev /openprom
>> 0 > .properties
>> name openprom
>> device_type BootROM
>> model OpenFirmware 3
>> relative-addressing
>> supports-bootinfo
>> boot-syntax 00000001
>>
>>
>> This is not the first time I bang my head against OF and USB boot.
>> Eventually I ended up using NetBoot for a G3 and this G4 (which was
>> not
>> easy anyway especially on the G3).
>>
>> For what is worth, I think that a developer in need to test several
>> CD
>> images without burning them should consider investing in a FireWire
>> HD.
>> As far as I know booting from FireWire should be much easier, but I
>> never tried it.
>>
>> Regards
>> A.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Il 30/04/19 21:56, Linux User #330250 ha scritto:
>>> Am 30.04.19 um 12:54 schrieb John Paul Adrian Glaubitz:
>>>> Hello! I have dug out one of my iBook G4s now so I can perform
>>>> installer tests on the PowerMac target. While the machine has a
>>>> built-in optical drive, I would avoid having to burn CDs for every
>>>> installation test run (even when using CD-RWs), so I was
>>>> wondering how
>>>> well booting from USB sticks works on these machines. Does anyone
>>>> have
>>>> experience creating bootable USB media for PowerMacs to install
>>>> Debian? Adrian
>>>
>>> Despite what others said, it should really work with every Macintosh
>>> that has the NewWorld bootrom and thus at least Open Firmware 3.0,
>>> i.e.
>>> starting with the iMac "Bondi" 1998 and the PowerBook G3 "Lombard"
>>> 1999.
>>>
>>> And, it's all already written down in a nice way.[1] Don't read on
>>> when
>>> you are happy with this official guide.
>>>
>>> Or read this:
>>> * http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20060301112336384
>>> * https://lists.debian.org/debian-powerpc/2012/08/msg00042.html
>>> *
>>> https://sites.google.com/site/shawnhcorey/howto-boot-apple-powerpcs-from-a-usb-drive-in-open-firmware
>>>
>>>
>>> The long read: I wanted to share my own experience as well...
>>>
>>> Apple did not provide an easy way, like holding a key for this
>>> kind of
>>> boot selection. The possible keys are, a selection[2]:
>>> * c – boot from CD-ROM (or any other /internal/ optical drive)
>>> * d – forces boot from first hard disk drive (like it normally
>>> would anyway)
>>> * n – network boot, looks for suitable BOOTP or TFTP network boot
>>> source
>>> * r – (PowerBooks) resets stored screen size to internal default
>>> * t – target disk mode
>>> * mouse button held down – forces eject for media in internal
>>> optical drive
>>> * option – shows Open Firmware boot selection
>>>
>>> Sadly, Apple decided to include FireWire in the automatic search for
>>> bootable volumes but to leave out USB. The capability is there
>>> nonetheless, only that there is no key for it to press and hold,
>>> like in
>>> easy, quick and comfortable...
>>>
>>> The solution is to enter the Open Firmware (OF) command prompt by
>>> holding Option + Command + O + F until you can read the Open
>>> Firmware
>>> greeter on your monitor. Then you need to find the device and load
>>> the
>>> boot file from there. In essence it is the manual way of what the
>>> other
>>> options do for you automatically.
>>>
>>>
>>> The syntax is like this:
>>>> boot <dev>:<partition>,<file>
>>>
>>>
>>> Examples for <dev>:
>>> 1) /pci@f4000000/ata-6@d/disk@0
>>> 2) /pci@f2000000/mac-io@17/ata-3@20000/disk@0
>>> 3) bridge/ACARD,6280M@4/@2
>>>
>>> Only, on most Macs there are aliases for this long and complicated
>>> device paths. So, for example, all of those above could be just:
>>> 1) hd (is set to the faster first HDD, should be the same as ultra0)
>>> 2) cd (set to internal optical drive, e.g. ide0)
>>> 3) ide0, ide1 (ATA bus)
>>> 4) ultra0, ultra1 (UltraATA bus)
>>> 5) usb0, usb1
>>> 6) ud0, ud1 – only on later PowerPC-Macs (like the Power Mac G5 or
>>> the
>>> iMac G5, starting around 2003)
>>>
>>> So, to replicate the boot from CD-ROM (holding the "c" key on system
>>> start-up) from the default partition (automatic), you can use the
>>> following from the Open Firmware prompt:
>>>> boot cd:
>>>
>>> To choose a specific partition, with a specific file as the initial
>>> bootloader:
>>>> boot cd:2,yaboot
>>>
>>> To use the blessed bootloader on a specific parition, in this
>>> example
>>> partition 3 from the hard disk drive:
>>>> boot hd:3,\\:tbxi
>>> The <file> "\\:tbxi" is not a real file, instead OF will look for
>>> the
>>> one file that is blessed on this partition, that is the one file
>>> that
>>> has specific attributes to it. For Mac OS X this will be bootx, for
>>> Linux normally yaboot or grub2. To my knowledge this only works on a
>>> partition with HFS.
>>>
>>>
>>> So, now we want to boot from USB. First you need to identify the
>>> path of
>>> the USB device you want to boot from. Then you need to know the
>>> partition number. And, maybe, also the name of the bootloader (or
>>> try
>>> :tbxi).
>>>
>>> To find out what aliases your Mac already has defined, run the
>>> following:
>>>> devalias
>>>
>>> To see the full device tree without aliases:
>>>> dev /
>>>> ls
>>>
>>> Other usefull commands in Open Firmware:
>>> * lsdev
>>> * .properties
>>> * devalias, devalias <alias> <device-path>
>>> * nvalias
>>> * printenv, printenv <variable>
>>> * set-env
>>> * set-default <variable>
>>> * set-defaults
>>> * dir <devicepath or alias>:
>>> * eject cd:
>>> * mac-boot (will boot the standard)
>>> * reset-nvram (same as Cmd+Opt+N+V)
>>> * reset-all (will reboot)
>>>
>>>
>>> If you somehow messed up your Open Firmware settings, you can always
>>> reset/zap the NVRAM and the parameter memory (PRAM):
>>> * Hold Cmd+Opt+P+R to zap the PRAM
>>> * Hold Cmd+Opt+N+V to zap the NVRAM
>>> hold the keys until you hear the startup chime. I always held the
>>> keys
>>> until I heard the chime /again/ and /again/ 3 times in total. It's
>>> said
>>> that it has to be done this way.
>>>
>>>
>>> I think that on my Power Mac G5 (PowerMac11,2) from 2005 I was
>>> able to
>>> boot from the USB drive with:
>>>> boot ht@0,f2000000/pci@4/usb@b/disk@2:2,\\:tbxi
>>> or
>>>> boot ht@0/pci@4/usb@b/disk@2:2,\install\yaboot
>>> I found some notes, this must have been last year or so.
>>>
>>>
>>> I just tried 2019-04-24/debian-10.0-powerpc-NETINST-1.iso on my
>>> iBook G3
>>> (original Clamshell, 1999) and it did not boot with:
>>>> boot usb0/disk@1:2,\\:tbxi
>>> I got "can't OPEN: cd:,\install\yaboot"
>>> I then tried
>>>> boot usb0/disk@1:2,\install\yaboot
>>> and this worked.
>>>
>>> BTW, in yaboot I get this warning:
>>>> WARNING: Bootstrap partition type is wrong: "Apple_HFS"
>>>> type should be: "Apple_Bootstrap"
>>>
>>>
>>> One more note on the USB boot front: I use one of those sticks
>>> that can
>>> be write-protected by a physical slider on the side of the stick.
>>> WHEN
>>> the stick is read-only, OF is unable to access it properly. Not
>>> even the
>>> dir command works. Without write-protection everything works fine
>>> with
>>> the same stick/same data on it.
>>>
>>>
>>> For what it's worth, USB booting on a Power Mac is alwayy trial and
>>> error. Write down what works. I heard that it should be possible to
>>> define a new devalias somehow... Also, setting boot-device in
>>> nvram[4]
>>> could make the boot selection permanent (until the PRAM is zapped
>>> or the
>>> battery dies).
>>>
>>>> setenv boot-device usb0/disk@1:2,\install\yaboot
>>> Only, in the case of an external USB pen drive, I would advice
>>> against
>>> it...But I can confirm that this also works!
>>>> mac-boot
>>> will then boot from the USB pen drive, as will every restart as
>>> long as
>>> the stick remains plugged in.
>>>
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Linux User #330250
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> [1]https://www.debian.org/releases/sarge/powerpc/ch05s01.html.en
>>> [2]https://whircat.centosprime.com/startup-keys-boot-options/
>>> [3]https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/2019-04-24/debian-10.0-powerpc-NETINST-1.iso
>>> [4]http://www.macfreek.nl/memory/Open_Firmware
>>>
>>
>
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