Hi, I am the "buddy", who is helping Dean.
First of all, I need to say that some of the instructions are ... incorrect. The manual (http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/powerpc/ch-init-config.en.html) mentions nvsetenv `ofpath /dev/sda2` but that doesn't work: 1) there is no path to nvsetenv 2) ofpath is not found-able (find /|grep ofpath) 3) missing "boot-device" in the command 4) missing /dev/nvram So, I symlinked /dev/nvram to /target/dev/nvram (ln -s /target/dev/nvram /dev/nvram), on my Pentium machine copied ofpath from downloaded yaboot package to vfat (mcopy) floppy, modprobe-d vfat on the Mac, mount-ed /dev/fd0 /floppy and issued: /target/sbin/nvsetenv boot-device `/floppy/ofpath /dev/sda3` after "Make Linux Bootable Directly From Hard Disk" (our root partition is on /dev/sda3). After reboot, the computer stays "dead" - monitor's LED goes green for few seconds and then back to orange. Combinations like Alt-Cmd-P-R or Alt-Cmd-O-F don't do anything. Could you, please, help? What did I do wrong? Is there any way to "reset" CMOS (NVRAM or what is it called on Macs)? Is there a way to boot from rescue.bin with parameters? I am unable to to that as well (you know, from lilo prompt "linux root=/dev/sda3" that we can do on i386). Any suggestions are welcome, especially since the computer seems to be unusable ATM. - Peter.
