I have not tried an external CD-ROM, but I have tried various external hard disks, including ATA, SD and CF.
Spurred by such reports, I have tried every combination of usb* (using devalias and dir) in Open Firmware, to no avail. I don't think it works with all models. What is your Powerbook's Machine Model in System Profiler? Thanks for the advice. Ross > I used to boot my Powerbook G4 just fine with USB CD drive. The only > problem was to find a correct device path in the OF device tree. > > Otherwise, you should be able to netboot easily -- the setup is quite > well documented on the web. > > On 3/22/09, Ross Gohlke <[email protected]> wrote: >> Greetings, >> >> I have tried and failed to install Debian on my powerbook. Please review >> my procedure and suggest revisions. >> >> SPECIFICATIONS >> powerbook6,8 - 1.5 GHz PowerPC 12" >> Mac OS 10.4 >> Dead SuperDrive >> No USB Boot (Open Firmware doesn't recognize external disks) >> Internal 150GB drive formatted with Disk Utility years ago into 2 drives >> -- 1 UFS, 1 case-sensitive HFS+. Disk Utility also created an 8MB >> Apple_Boot partition for each of these partitions, for a total of 4 >> partitions. >> Open Firmware only recognizes Apple_Boot partitions. Presumably it does >> not see my HFS+ partition because it is case-sensitive. >> I cannot rewrite the disk partition map because I cannot run off-disk >> (no >> CD drive, no bootable external drive). >> Debian distro: debian-500-powerpc-businesscard-1.iso, downloaded from >> http://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/ >> >> SITUATION >> The downloaded yaboot assumes the rest of the files are on the same >> partition. Open Firmware only sees Apple_Boot partitions, which are too >> small to hold vmlinux AND initrd.gz. Modifying yaboot.conf/yaboot >> requires >> ybin, which requires a running Debian, which I don't have. >> Manually loading the kernel should work: >> http://www.debian.org/ports/powerpc/inst/yaboot-howto/ch9.en.html#s9.3 I >> should be able use root=/dev/hda5 (case-sensitive HFS+ partition). >> >> PROCEDURE >> MAC OS X >> Double-click Debian ISO to mount it. >> In Terminal, mount first Apple_Boot partition and copy vmlinux to it: % >> mkdir /Volumes/apple_boot >> % mount -t hfs /dev/disk1s2 /Volumes/apple_boot >> % cp -a /Volumes/Debian:PowerPC_lenny/install/powerpc/vmlinux >> /Volumes/apple_boot/ >> % cp -aR /Volumes/Debian:PowerPC_lenny/install / >> Reboot into Open Firmware (cmd-opt-o-f) >> 0 > boot hd:2,\vmlinux root=/dev/hda5 initrd=/install/powerpc/initrd.gz >> initrdsize=10240 append="--" >> >> Loading ELF >> >> Claim failed. >> >> This happens whether I put initrd.gz on HFS+ or on 2nd Apple_Boot. >> >> I also looked into netbooting, but documentation is inconsistent and I >> could not find netbootable binaries. >> >> QUESTIONS >> Is /dev/hda5 right for root=? >> Is HFS+ drive being case-sensitive the reason Open Firmware, vmlinux or >> both cannot see it? >> Even if I could boot the kernel, would the installer be able to use the >> UFS partition? >> Am I using the wrong distro? >> >> Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. >> >> Here's to dipping into Debian! >> Ross >> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [email protected] >> with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact >> [email protected] >> >> > > > -- > Regards, Wartan. > -- -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [email protected] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [email protected]
