Jeff, thanks for all of your help. Funny that, there is a very
knowledgeable and helpful guru over on the SuperMacs list called Jeff as
well- must be something with the name:-).
My biggest problem looks like it was using the "automatic" file download
format in Fetch rather than going for binary. Although beta and probably
aimed at the hard core experienced user, I picked up the info about the new
Mandrake PPC candidate from some fairly popular Mac sites (xlr8yourmac,
macfixit, macintouch etc.) so probably several other newbies like me that
thought why not (look under the hood of Unix before buying OSX, see if you
really need OSX, start on the Linux train that has been gaining momentum for
a long time). Therefore a simple line before the download link saying to
download in binary and some other simple pointers would have saved me a fair
bit of time. I'm aware that Linux is meant to be a fairly steep learning
curve, but wasting time on reinventing the wheel on the very simple intial
stuff when it can be avoided will only discourage new users. I understand
and appreciate all of your comments about it being beta, but ....
Anyway, my config's:
UMAX SuperMac S900 (US version of this machine)
Powerlogix G3 22/110/512 overclocked and stable for years at 300MHz
Ultimate Rez graphics card
Apple ROM'd 600i (4x) CD-ROM
ACard ATA-66 PCI IDE controller with 2 Maxtor 60GB 5400rpm HD's attached
Generic firewire and USB PCI cards
Generic 10/100 Base-T ethernet PCI card
UMAX Pulsar S900 (Japanese version of this machine)
XLR8 MPe carrier ZIF card with Apple 233MHz G3 ZIF
Twin Turbo 8MB graphics card
E100 (dual Ultra-SCSI and 100 Base-T ethernet)
Generic firewire PCI card
Quantum Atlas 2GB UltraSCSI HD
Apple ROM'd 600i (4x) CD-ROM
Any troubles expected with the IDE PCI controller and the generic PCI USB
card??
Anyway, real world work (the stuff that pays the bills) has already started
to beckon me, so probably next weekend before I can tinker much, but will
try out all of your suggestions as soon as I can and appreciate any other
further advice you can offer.
Thanks very much, Pete.
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> From: jeff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Date: Sun, 24 Jun 2001 11:46:53 -0500 (CDT)
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: Madrake on older G3 upgraded Macs
>
> A few more points that might make things easier.
>
> First, about your upgrade card. IIRC (and my memory is usually pretty
> good ;) many of the upgrade cards require you to use an extension in your
> MacOS Sytem Folder. The extension has too boot very early in your
> booting. So typically, folks rename the extension by adding a ~ before
> the name, and that makes MacOS load the extension right before Bootx
> loads. So if the extension is called UpgradeCard, rename it to something
> like ~aUpgradeCard and it will boot before ~BootX.
>
> The iso and Old wowrld machines. The problem is this. Old World machines
> must use bootx, they can't use yaboot. The installer on the iso disks
> forces you to use yaboot. So at the end of the install, when everything
> is almost done (except xconfiguration), the installer says "You can't
> proceed because I can't see your yaboot-required bootstrap
> partition" (more or less ;) So, you have to reboot, and you'll have a
> functioning sytem, but it won't have a configured xwindows environment.
>
> Another issue is this: your old world machine does not have built-in usb.
> So when you start the first time, you must use chkconfig to make the usb
> not start. Do this:
>
> reboot after the install.
> Set your root partition in bootx--you'll see how to do this, but if not,
> ask.
> Then add kernel arguments:
> failsafe textboot
>
> That will eventually get you to a shell. Then you need to:
> chkconfig --list
> You'll see that usb is set to run at boot on several runlevels.
> Then:
> chkconfig --level 2345 usb off
> Then reboot. And you should be good to go.
>
>
> I also think there may be a kernel argument needed to get the installer
> running on Old World machines.
>
> root=/dev/ram3 textboot
>
> I'm not positive about that, but if you have problems getting the
> installer to run, that may help (add it to kernel args in bootx).
> I have 2 Old World machines that I installed this cooker release on,
> so I confuse them a little.
>
> HTH
>
> Jeff
>
>
