Debian SID PowerBook Pismo Installation
I tested a basic (text-only) installation on a PowerBook G3 Pismo, using
the following ISO:
https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/snapshots/2023-05-28/debian-12.0.0-powerpc-NETINST-1.iso
The installer created these default partitions (using the entire disk):
# mac-fdisk -l
/dev/sda
# type name length base (size) system
/dev/sda1 Apple_partition_map Apple 63 @ 1 ( 31.5k)
/dev/sda2 Apple_HFS untitled 500001 @ 64 (244.1M)
/dev/sda3 Apple_UNIX_SVR2 untitled 247574219 @ 500065 (118.1G)
/dev/sda4 Apple_UNIX_SVR2 swap 1995347 @ 248074284 (974.3M)
/dev/sda5 Apple_Free Extra 49 @ 250069631 ( 24.5k)
# parted -l
Model: ATA LITEON LMH-128V2 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 128GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: mac
Disk Flags:
Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 512B 32.8kB 32.3kB Apple
2 32.8kB 256MB 256MB hfs untitled
3 256MB 127GB 127GB ext4 untitled
4 127GB 128GB 1022MB linux-swap(v1) swap swap
Comments:
1) During installation, I deselected X desktop and Xfce and added
ssh-server. Please add a disk partitioner to the default base
installation. Either parted or mac-fdisk would work (I used apt-get to
install both).
2) Partition /dev/sda2 above is the bootstrap partition. Its type should
be Apple_Bootstrap instead of Apple_HFS. Either way it's an HFS
partition, but as type Apple_HFS, it won't be distinguished from any
other HFS partition in Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X (though of course neither of
those is installed here).
3) The mounted filesystems include /dev/sda3 and /dev/sda2:
# df -k
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
udev 498148 0 498148 0% /dev
tmpfs 102116 432 101684 1% /run
/dev/sda3 121257500 1064744 113987020 1% /
tmpfs 510568 0 510568 0% /dev/shm
tmpfs 5120 0 5120 0% /run/lock
/dev/sda2 249988 11296 238692 5% /boot/grub
tmpfs 102112 0 102112 0% /run/user/0
tmpfs 102112 0 102112 0% /run/user/1000
IMO, /boot/grub should only be mounted when GRUB is being updated or
installed. If the system crashes, /dev/sda2 could become corrupt, and I
don't see an "fsck.hfs" or equivalent to fix it in Debian. Users could
add "noauto" to the /etc/fstab line for /boot/grub and manually mount
/boot/grub only when updates are needed. Or maybe the grub* executables
in /usr/sbin could look for an Apple_Bootstrap partition and mount it
automatically if one is found.
4) Selecting the GNU GRUB icon from the Apple boot selector (holding the
option key at boot) doesn't work (the screen just goes blank). Booting
works as expected using the GRUB menu.
Other than those issues, everything seems to work ok.
-Stan
Reply to: