Hi, I'm new to linux and have just received the 2.2 CDs and have successfully installed it on my rev a B&W G3. My goal is for a normal boot to load Mac OS 9.0.4 which resides on my internal HD and alternately be able to boot linux which is installed on my external SCSI ORB drive attached to my Adaptec 2930U pci card by holding down shift-command-option-delete.
I want to do this because my internal HD is only 6GB and I don't have room to partition it and I don't want to buy a bigger HD yet if I can keep from it. Also the rev a G3 doesn't have the ability to add a second ide internal drive like the rev b does. First of all I'd like confirmation that what I'm trying to do as described above is possible. I can boot linux fine when I boot into OF and use the command: boot /[EMAIL PROTECTED]/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ADPT,[EMAIL PROTECTED]/@0:4,\\yaboot However, when I try to get it to boot automatically by holding down shift-command-option-delete I can see the access light flicker very briefly every few seconds as if it's probing the ORB drive but nothing ever happens. I just get the standard flashing folder "?" icon on the Mac screen as if it's still looking for an eligible boot partition or system folder. It's getting quite tiring booting into OF and typing that long boot command every time that I want to boot linux. Which brings me to my next problem. I've been unsuccessful in my attempts to add an OF devalias. Here what happens: setenv use-nvramrc? true nvalias sd /[EMAIL PROTECTED]/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ADPT,[EMAIL PROTECTED]/@0 nvstore At which point if gives me the following error message: nvramrc not valid I've tried this at least a half dozen times and the results have been the same each time. Anyone know what's going on here? One other question. What's the difference between mkofboot and ybin? They are the same program as far as I can tell but does it do something different depending on whether it was invoked using ybin as opposed to mkofboot? It's a little confusing because the install docs talk about mkofboot in one paragraph then ybin shortly thereafter as if you need to use both to prepare your bootstrap partition. Can someone set me straight on that please? Before I close just let me say a big that you to everyone that has worked on the debian project and the powerpc port in particular. This stuff looks great! Michael W. Wheeler, [EMAIL PROTECTED], OpenVMS, Windows NT, and Macintosh Systems Support, News, & WWW Administrator, Tennessee Technological University
