Nelson Abramson wrote:
Brendan Simon wrote:
> Harold G. Stevenson wrote:
> >
> > 2- any suggestions on installing and running debian?
> Get a bootable CD if one exists. When I installed Debian there was no
> CD available so I _HAD_ to install MacOs on a small partition (1GB), put
> yaboot, the kernel from Ben H and the base2_2.tgz on the Mac partition,
> then use Open Firmware to boot into Linux. A boot CD is the easiest way.
Don't forget firewire disc mode; it's quite convenient. The downside is that it
requires a 6-6 pin firewire cable (not standard but still available), and
another Apple firewire machine w/ the newest ROM running MacOS.
AFAIK, Debian hasn't released a bootable cd for ppc yet (although I think you
can still make your own); there do exist bootables from other distros, but then
you have to go through the hassel of getting it setup and then reinstalling;
although it may be easier than using MacOS.
If you have access to a USB or internal zip, you could probably use the
MacOS bootable cd to partition the drive, and then place the necessary files on
the machine w/o actually installing MacOS.....
I don't know anything about firewire disk mode but it sounds like a
remote boot system.
I installed Debian on my G4 machine (without installing MacOS) by
copying all the relevant files to a zip disk and booting the Zip disk
via Open Firmware.� This is a good solution for G4 machines which have
zip disks built in as standard.� I'm sure a similar think could be done
with the PowerBook using an external zip disk.� I'm not sure how easy it
is to boot a USB Zip drive via Open Firmware but I'm sure it can be
done.� Some of the experts on the list will probably know how.� BTW, I
used an intel machine and hfsutils (thanks to Ethan Benson's
instructions - search the list for them) to format the zip disk and copy
the relevant files to it.� You can use what ever you like (PC or Mac).�
If you have access to a CD Writer you could also burn a CD, but the zip
disk is quick and flexible.
Brendan.
