On Wed, Apr 05, 2000 at 01:53:53PM +0000, Vivek Balasubramanyam wrote: > I managed to get linux running on my new powerbook, but I'm not doing too > well with LinuxPPC. Does anyone have instructions to either convert my > installation to Debian or blow it away and install debian over my existing > kernel? > > Thanks, > Vivek
its more then the kernel that is broken in linuxppc, i would blow the whole thing away and install debian clean. this is really not that difficult if you get past these two challenges: finding working boot floppies (i have no idea at the moment sorry) bootstrapping your system. this can be tricky since usually there is no floppy and you probably don't have access to a CD burner to make a bootable CD. the internel hard disk probably needs to be repartitioned too. once you get past those two you can pretty much follow the intel install instructions except for the bootloader. your partitioning should be as follows (in this order): bootstrap partition, 800K, type: Apple_Bootstrap linux root partition type: Apple_UNIX_SVR2 additional linux partitions (/usr /home ...) type: Apple_UNIX_SVR2 macos partition (if you want macos) type: Apple_HFS like all other OSes on other archetectures say to do, you should use the fdisk that goes with the OS to create its' partitions, ie: use apple's Drive setup for macos partitions, and linuxs' mac-fdisk to create the linux/bootstrap partitions. trying to use drive setup for linux partitions is problematic, as is using mac-fdisk to create macos partitions. if you want macos you need to use drive setup first to create two ordinary HFS partitions, the first should be the total size all of your linux partitions will take, you will delete this partition when to boot linux and create the real linux partitions in its place. if you don't want macos then just use mac-fdisk exclusivly, initialize the map to clear out any junk partitions littered on the disk. once you have the base system installed get yaboot and hfsutils to setup the bootstrap partition. my ybin utility simplifies this (its a linux only utility) it includes some instructions on how to initialize and install yaboot onto the bootstrap partition. right now you need preferably a bootable CD (i can make bootable images provided a working kernel and an up to date root image), but if you do not have access to a CD burner you need to get some other form of (bootable) external media. if you plan to install macos you can make the partitions as mentioned above for macos and temporarly load yaboot from there until you setup the bootstrap partition from linux (allowing for transparent booting usually without tinkering with OF) -- Ethan Benson http://www.alaska.net/~erbenson/
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