I have tried to install Debian on my Power Computing PowerBase 180 (PCI
expansion boards / MacAlly ethernet card). The Open Firmware version is
2.0.
The floppy image from the 2.2.18 stable potato release behaves as
described. The machine becomes unresponsive after the request for a root
disk.
I obtained the previous version (2.2.17) boot floppy from a link on the
debian-powerpc mailing list. This floppy does boot and continues to
accept the 2.2.18 root.bin floppy image.
However, I ran into more problems trying to use the old version's boot
floppy to install the current release. In particular, after attempting to
install the drivers.tgz file, depmod reported that the modules.dep file
could not be created in /lib/modules/2.2.17. (Because the directory there
was named 2.2.18pre21 instead). I did get the installer to run without
errors, by creating a lib/modules/2.2.17 directory on the partition prior
to installing the kernel.
Note: the messages seen by choosing Command-F3 are confusing in this
situation. A messaeg appears stating "kernel and modules install
successful" even though the final message is "Can't open
/lib/modules/2.2.17/modules.dep for writing". Since the modules can't be
located unless the modules.dep is successfully written, I suggest holding
off on the success message until that file has been created.
After completing the base install and configuration, I attempted to make
my hard disk bootable. I have an external SCSI disk attached to my system
(sdb) which was partitioned and formatted completely within Linux. This
operation also failed, saying the Debian/PowerPC system cannot make the
hard disk bootable yet. The partitions were: Apple_Bootstrap 10M type
A/UX, root 64M type A/UX, swap 64M type A/UX, user 1.9G type A/UX.
I attempted to use quik from a shell to manually install the boot blocks,
and it gave an error also, saying it could not write the partition. I
also tried to use dd as mentioned in the quik.spec source, that also
failed. I also tried Quik for the Mac V1.3.0, and it returns read error
-7918 reading blks 1..1 .
I also tried booting via BootX, it froze every time I tried to launch
Linux.
ybin and yaboot refuse to even consider my Mac.
I also tried System Disk 2.6.2 and an older version, and both said they
would be ineffective on my Mac, and just beeped when I tried to Save.
The NetBSD documentation on OF states that OF 2.0.X will not boot from
any old partition on a hard disk, that it must be partition 0 (the
beginning of the disk where the partition map normally resides). NetBSD
has a bootxx first-stage and ofwboot.xcf second-stage bootloader which
resides there, but requires a load-base 600000 setting within Open
Firmware, Boot Variables, or nvsetenv to accommodate the loader. Is it
possible that quik or yaboot could accommodate the OF 1.05/2.0 macs using
a similar approach?
Chinook Software
US Distributors of SpEd, *the* Stored Procedure Editor
Chris Tillman, mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.speditor.com/default.asp?sig
5150 E. Riverhouse Road, Suite E
Tucson, AZ 85718
--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
