setup needed for PowerPC assembler programming
I want to learn PowerPC assembler programming and figure I will buy a used G4 mac on ebay, then install debian linux on it. Will that give me all that I need? I ordered debian 3.02 from this site: http://agileos.com/ They say I will receive 6 CDs. So I should receive GNU C and C++, right? Anyone have an idea if PowerPC programming will be doable with that compiler or anything else that is likely to be on CDs I will receive? On the hardware front I am looking at a G4 desktop system on ebay. Prices seem to be a bit high - $300 for a used G4. I would get a G3 model but the hard drive seems small ( 10 GB ) and the prices of $200 for a 5 year old systems is very high. Is it possible to get lower priced hardware for what I am looking to do? thanks, -Steve
Re: setup needed for PowerPC assembler programming
Well I won an auction on ebay for a G3 iMac. Its blueberry colored! $120 + $40 shipping. Not bad. I am looking forward to seeing how far I can go with this. I have an IBM as400 which is powered by a 64 bit PPC with some special instructions only used on that system. The as400 uses 16 byte pointers and an architecture that is called "single level store" that is different than what you see in Linux and Windows. http://lwn.net/2001/features/OLS/pdf/pdf/iseries.pdf http://www.domsys.com/bookshop/i/IBM_AS_400/Inside_the_AS_400_Second_Edition_1882419669.htm thanks for the help, Steve Richter On Sat, 11 Sep 2004 23:54:32 -0300, Michael D. Crawford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Here's some helpful PowerPC references: > > "Optimizing PowerPC Code" by Gary Kacmarcik > > It's rather out of date by now, and doesn't cover today's powerpc > models, but it does a real good job of teaching the assembly code, and > some of what you need to make the code as efficient as possible. > > The book is too old to cover AltiVec though. > > "PowerPC Compiler Writer's Guide" > > You can get it in PDF form at: > > http://www-3.ibm.com/chips/techlib/techlib.nsf/techdocs/852569B20050FF7785256996007558C6 > > and in HTML form at: > > http://the.wall.riscom.net/books/proc/ppc/cwg/cover.html > > "Hacker's Delight" by Henry S. Warren > > This book was rather unfortunately labeled as being about computer > security by the publisher, so you won't find it where you would expect > it in the bookstore. It's full of little snippets of assembly that get > lots of work done in as little time as possible. I haven't read it yet > though. > > My article "ARM Assembly Code Optimization?" at Kuro5hin, while not > being about the PowerPC, nevertheless has some good followup comments by > the readers on a variety of microprocessors: > > http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2002/12/14/94342/446 > > As for me, what I'd like is to find a page that explains the GAS' > register syntax. GAS will do some manner of automatic register > asssignment for you, so it is in some sense an optimizing assembler. > But I've never been able to make sense of how it works. I have read the > info manual on it. It still leaves me clueless. > > Besides using GAS, you can also use inline assembler in C or C++ code > with gcc. That's probably the best way to get started, rather than > writing entire assembly source files from scratch. > > Regards, > > Michael D. Crawford > GoingWare Inc. - Expert Software Development and Consulting > http://www.goingware.com/ > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Tilting at Windmills for a Better Tomorrow. > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >
scratch install debian on iMac G3
I have an iMac G3 ( OS 9.2 ) newly arrived via ebay. The system did not come with the system disks, so I do not have the Drive Setup software I think I need to create a 2nd partition on the Mac to install Debian into. To install debian on this iMac do I have any options other than the purchase of the OS 9 CDs?I dont need to keep the Mac OS on the system. Is it possible to scratch the OS from this system and replace it with Debian GNU/Linux? thanks, Steve Richter
yaboot error - load size is too small
I am following the instructions for "hard disk installer booting for NewWorld Macs" to install debian linux for powerpc on an iMac G3. The 4 files ( yaboot, yaboot.conf, root.bin, linux.bin ) have been copied to the root level of the hard drive. boot the iMac to the open firmware prompt run the command: boot hd:0,yaboot and I get an error: not supported load size = 0 load size is too small any ideas? I dont have pdisk so I am not sure what partitions are on this system. When I try to boot from a different partition number the error says partition not found. Would that mean I only have a partition 0? ran "printenv". it displayed something about "partition : common" I also have not created a separate partition for debian on this iMac. I would like to replace the MAC OS with Debian. thanks, -Steve
Re: yaboot error - load size is too small
On Sat, 25 Sep 2004 08:55:41 -0400, Derrik Pates <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Steve Richter wrote: > > The 4 files ( yaboot, yaboot.conf, root.bin, linux.bin ) have been > > copied to the root level of the hard drive. > > > > boot the iMac to the open firmware prompt > > > > run the command: > > boot hd:0,yaboot > > There's no partition 0, _ever_, with an Apple partition map. It doesn't > exist. You should do 'boot hd:,\\yaboot' instead. Not specifying a > partition number will cause it to search for a volume with a filesystem > it knows, and \\ tells it "look in the blessed directory" - which trust > me, is important... I do trust you! at the firmware prompt I typed: boot hd:,\\yaboot got back: cant OPEN: hd:,\\yaboot Why cant it open yaboot? is there an open firmware command that shows all the file systems? The contents of the Mac HD folder ( the root folder? ) on this system is: System folder Applications yaboot yaboot.conf linux.bin root.bin thanks, -Steve
Re: yaboot error - load size is too small
On Sat, 25 Sep 2004 12:26:52 -0400, Derrik Pates <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Steve Richter wrote: > > got back: > > cant OPEN: hd:,\\yaboot > > > > Why cant it open yaboot? > > Because it wasn't in the blessed folder, I guess, based on what you're > telling me below. > > > is there an open firmware command that shows all the file systems? > > > > The contents of the Mac HD folder ( the root folder? ) on this system is: > > Oh... you didn't install it the "proper" way. If it's in the FS root, try: > > boot hd:,\yaboot > > instead, and see if it manages to boot. it did! You are legend. now I am hacking my way thru mac-fdisk and the partitioning the hard drive. I'll be back ... -Steve
not sure if system is hung or not
just installed debian on imac g3. I login and get some sort of a debian prompt. I dont know what to do at this point, so I start typing some commands that might show a directory tree. One command is "pr". "pr" produces one line of output and does not return to a prompt. I can type, but everything just scrolls on the screen, no more command prompt. press ALT-F2 for 2nd signon. Signon, change directory to USR, type "dir" to see contents of the directory, change directory to "games". Type the file name of one of the games, press enter, and again nothing seems to run and I am not returned to the command prompt. I am obviously clueless on Linux. Is there a graphical desktop I can run to help me navigate the system? I would like to get to an IDE for the c++ compiler and figure out how to do some PowerPC assembler programming. thanks a lot, -Steve
yaboot error - load size is too small
I am following the instructions for "hard disk installer booting for NewWorld Macs" to install debian linux for powerpc on an iMac G3. The 4 files ( yaboot, yaboot.conf, root.bin, linux.bin ) have been copied to the root level of the hard drive. boot the iMac to the open firmware prompt run the command: boot hd:0,yaboot and I get an error: not supported load size = 0 load size is too small any ideas? I dont have pdisk so I am not sure what partitions are on this system. When I try to boot from a different partition number the error says partition not found. Would that mean I only have a partition 0? ran "printenv". it displayed something about "partition : common" I also have not created a separate partition for debian on this iMac. I would like to replace the MAC OS with Debian. thanks, -Steve
Re: Open Firmware "boot" parameters -- Was: yaboot error - load size is too small
On Sun, 26 Sep 2004 00:03:36 -0400, Rick Thomas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Saturday, September 25, 2004, at 08:55 AM, Derrik Pates wrote: > > > Steve Richter wrote: > >> The 4 files ( yaboot, yaboot.conf, root.bin, linux.bin ) have been > >> copied to the root level of the hard drive. > >> boot the iMac to the open firmware prompt > >> run the command: > >> boot hd:0,yaboot > > > > There's no partition 0, _ever_, with an Apple partition map. It > > doesn't exist. You should do 'boot hd:,\\yaboot' instead. Not > > specifying a partition number will cause it to search for a volume > > with a filesystem it knows, and \\ tells it "look in the blessed > > directory" - which trust me, is important... > > > > -- Derrik Pates > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Derrik, > > Can you tell us where the syntax and semantics for this stuff is > documented -- what one puts after "boot" in talking to Open > Firmware, and how it interacts with the related environment > variables? > I would add that the documentation appears to be wrong on this. http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/powerpc/ch-rescue-boot.en.html 5.4.3 Booting NewWorld Macs from OpenFirmware You will have already placed the linux.bin, yaboot, yaboot.conf, and root.bin files at the root level of your HFS partition in Hard Disk Installer Booting for NewWorld Macs, Section 4.4.2. Restart the computer, and immediately (during the chime) hold down the Option, Command (cloverleaf/Apple), o, and f keys all together. After a few seconds you will be presented with the Open Firmware prompt: 0 > At the prompt, type 0 > boot hd:x,yaboot replacing x with the partition number of the HFS partition where the kernel and yaboot files were placed, followed by a return. On some machines, you may need to use ide0: instead of hd:. In a few more seconds you will see a yaboot prompt boot:
guidance needed - starting a browser, other items
I have successfully completed a scratch installed of debian 3.0 rev2 "woody" on an iMac G3. After I boot the PC I get a debian text prompt. I have a few questions, any help is appreciated. - I am getting a "I cannot start the X server" error right away after the boot. When I take the troubleshooting option it tells me I have an old version installed. I installed from a set of CD I just received from www.agileos.com. So I figure I need web access to download the latest version. - how do I get into a graphical environment? - how do I config this PC for the internet? I skipped the internet config steps when I did the install. I want to run some sort of a graphical browser. thanks for any assistance, -Steve
shutdown exception
debian 3.0 rev2 "woody" installed on iMac G3. everytime I shutdown the PC I get an exception message: ide0: unexpected interrupt, status=0xd0, count=1 the shutdown command I am running is: - switch to superuser: su - - shutdown -h now Any ideas what the unexpected interrupt is? At this point when I get the message I manually shutdown by pressing and holding the power button. thanks, -Steve
Re: shutdown exception
On Sun, 17 Oct 2004 22:42:13 +0200, Marc <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Op 17-okt-04 om 20:26 heeft Steve Richter het volgende geschreven: > > > debian 3.0 rev2 "woody" installed on iMac G3. > > > > everytime I shutdown the PC I get an exception message: > > > > ide0: unexpected interrupt, status=0xd0, count=1 > > > > I do get this message with a maxtor 40gb disc, not with > others (in fact an old Caviar 2540 515Mb gives the same > > Did you replace the original disc? no, the machine is a used iMac G3 that I bought thru ebay. It is a small drive, 9 GB I think. The system had OS 9.2 on it. Ever since I did the scratch install of debian woody I have been getting that exception on shutdown. -Steve
