Hi !
We successfully installed a debian system on a js20 blade (2.2 powerpc 970FX). We first tryed the d-i pseries.img from cajus without success, we thought this was due to a conflic between the SOL configuration and the eth0 interface (we have only one switch in our blade center), after we tryed the d-i cdrom from 12.01.2005 and after the same cdrom + last daily build kernel without much more success... We so used a method from Chris Tillman (http//www.burgettsys.com/stories/59455/), we installed a suse entrerprise 9 downloaded from novel site for evaluation. During installation we only have to do a "special" partionning :
hda1 ppc prep boot 0.5 MB
hda2 swap 1.4 GB
hda3 10 GB linux ext3 (/ for debian /debian for suse)
hda4 extended
hda5 10GB linux ext3 (/home)
hda6 15.7 GB linux ext3 (/ for suse )
This disk partionning doesn't reboot with yaboot, so we rebotted with the CDROM (install nointrd root=/dev/hda6) and then copy
/etc/yaboot.conf to /debian/etc/yaboot.conf
/boot to /debian/boot
modify /debian/etc/yaboot.conf the device part has to move partition 6 to 3.
All of this because yaboot.chrp try to find kernel+yaboot.conf on the first linux primary partition
Once you have done this, you have a suse able to boot from hard disk, from my powermac under linux I aliend debootstrap to rpm, and with this do a debian install...
for booting debian one shouldn't forget to copy
/lib/modules/2.6.5-7.97-pseries64 to the /debian partition and edit
/etc/modules in order to have a bcm5700 line in it.
packages to install also : module-init-tools
ssh is also a must...
also edit /etc/inittab and add this line if you want sol console :
hvc0:1235:respawn:/sbin/getty -L 9600 hvc0 vt100
comment the getty usual lines
We have still 6 JS20 to install and I want to do and test a full install with d-i on one... I prefer to test d-i on CDROM but the d-i CDROM I produced wasn't able to boot even a powermac, so if somebody can point me a link to produce an up to date CDROM I'll be happy to test it on my last JS20 to install (others will be simply cloned).
Hope it will help, xavier
