Hi, Frank. On Sep 08 2009, Frank Rubinsky wrote: > I have an old PowerPC 8500/132 (actually, I think it was upgraded - > 150 maybe??). I'd like to install Debian on it (my first experience > with Linux).
Since this will be your first experience with Linux, installing on an OldWorld PowerPC won't be as easy, but still quite doable and, in fact, a way to "rescue" such machines, as Apple doesn't seem to care about them. > The HCL at http://kmuto.jp/debian/hcl/Apple doesn't list the 8500 - > the oldest machines on it seem to be G3s. > > So what's the best version of Debian to install? Others may suggest you to boot into MacOS (the classic version, not MacOS X), use BootX and then load Linux. It seems that a version of MacOS 7.x can be downloaded legally somewhere from Apple's site (please, if you go that route, it would be a good thing if you posted the link here to the list). OTOH, I prefer to use something that doesn't require another OS to run Linux. In that situation, I would use either a boot floppy made with a tool called miboot or boot using quik (which is, in some ways, similar to using LILO). Unfortunately, the OldWorld machines have some problems with their "bios" (actually called "Open Firmware") and they don't always show you what is going on if you activate it (pressing the combination Command + Option + O + F right after the chime when the machine is turned on). Unfortunately #2, for legal purposes, it is not allowed to distribute bootable CDs for OldWorld machines (like yours), which is, essentially, what makes this a patience exercise. If it were not for that, then installing Linux on your powermac would be as easy as on "PCs". I don't know if modern versions of Debian support installation on your machine, but you can surely install anything if you get Debian's woody version of the boot floppies, install a minimal system from there and just upgrade things to a newer release (having the world of Free Software at your fingertips). What I described in the paragraph above is not for the faint of the heart, but it used to work (I have to get the dust off my PowerMac 9500/180MP which has a G3 upgrade card). > Any special hints/pointers for a newbie appreciated. Do yourself a favor and read at least a tiny bit of NetBSDs guide to Open Firmware and the partitioning guide that Branden Robinson wrote about installing Debian on his old iBook. Despite the fact that the iBook has a slightly different procedure to boot the system, once you are running the system, things are much more similar. > Thanks for your help. Hope this helps, Rogério Brito. -- Rogério Brito : rbr...@{mackenzie,ime.usp}.br : GPG key 1024D/7C2CAEB8 http://www.ime.usp.br/~rbrito : http://meusite.mackenzie.com.br/rbrito Projects: algorithms.berlios.de : lame.sf.net : vrms.alioth.debian.org -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-powerpc-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
