Hi all, I've finally managed to net-install Debian woody on the IBM RS/6000 7025 F50. Here are some details for what they're worth.
I've had to compile a kernel from sources obtained via rsync from the linuxppc_2_4_devel tree: rsync -avz source.mvista.com::linuxppc_2_4_devel This tree is based on kernel 2.4.20-pre5. I previously tried 2.4.15, 2.4.18 and 2.4.19 from kernel.org, with and without the powerpc patches from the same source (2.4.19 unpatched only), but I couldn't compile an image that would boot on this machine from any of them. I am net-booting via DHCP/BOOTP; I have not yet had much of a stab at making the machine bootable from the disk. The system console is on the serial port, because configuring all the graphical-console stuff out of the kernel was the only way the previous kernel sources I used would even attempt to boot. I don't know yet if the sources I'm using now will fix that problem, too, if I configure the graphical-console stuff back in. I used minicom on another woody machine to connect to the serial console on the RS/6000 via null-modem cable. The serial port used with minicom was set to 9600 8N1 and the modem initialisation string used was ~^M~ . The kernel was given the boot parameter console=ttyS0,9600 . The original kernel was cross-compiled on an Intel Debian woody machine. Building the cross-compiler was simple (in retrospect); here's the drill I followed for any interested party: - Compile binutils for a ppc-linux target: cd /usr/local/src apt-get source binutils Find the original binutils source tarball in the directory where apt extracts the sources and untar it in /usr/local/src. Then make a separate build directory for binutils in /usr/local/src. cd /usr/local mkdir binutils-build cd binutils-build ./<binutils source dir>/configure --target=ppc-linux make make install - Compile a gcc cross-compiler for a linux-ppc target, for the C language only, without libc support: cd /usr/local/src apt-get source gcc-2.95 Find the original gcc tarball in the directory where apt extracts the sources, untar it in /usr/local/src, and edit the file gcc/config/t-linux in the gcc source tree to change the line TARGET_LIBGCC2_CFLAGS = -fPIC to TARGET_LIBGCC2_CFLAGS = -fPIC -Dinhibit_libc so that an already cross-compiled libc is not required to build gcc. The gcc build process will complain at the end that the compiled libc cannot create executables, but we don't care because we're going to use it to build a kernel, not executables. Then make a separate build directory for gcc in /usr/local/src: cd /usr/local/src mkdir gcc-build cd gcc-build ../<gcc-source-dir>/configure --target=ppc-linux --enable-languages=c (so we only build a C compiler, which is all we need for a kernel, and not a complete suite) make make install You can now get your kernel sources, edit the top-level Makefile and change the lines setting the two following variables so that they read: ARCH := ppc CROSS_COMPILE := ppc-linux- (note the dash at the end of ppc-linux-) Then configure and compile a kernel as usual: make (menu)config, dep, zImage etc. To start the Debian installer, I used the root.bin floppy image from the powerc-chrp Debian woody floppy set as suggested by Rolf Brudeseth (copied to arch/ppc/boot/images/ramdisk.image.gz in the kernel source tree and made into a combined image with the kernel using make zImage.initrd). After compiling a kernel and getting it to net-boot, the Debian net-installation is routine. As I was net-booting, I skipped the steps about installing the kernel and about making the system bootable from disk. I also compiled everything I needed for the net install into the kernel, so I skipped the step about installing the modules, too. A modular kernel with more features was successfully compiled and installed on the machine itself after installation, using the make-kpkg utility from the kernel-package Debian package and the same sources. I will keep the list posted of further developments. Many thanks to all those who gave me various insights on the RS/6000 and who shared their own experiences installing Debian woody on these machines. Best regards, | George Karaolides Planitis Communications Ltd., | | tel: +357 22 45 65 00 Office 102, 11 Florinis Street, | | web: www.planitis.net Nicosia CY 1065, | | email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Republic of Cyprus. |
