I'm not sure what the problem is here scot? Why are you wanting to install onto a usb drive when you can just use the internal harddrive of the mini? I fixed the mini that I was asking how to take apart back in early december and its currently running ubuntu for ppc perfectly fine untill I can find someone that wants to buy it. Admitidly, orca does have issues, but in your situation, it shouldn't matter since you'd be doing a fair bit of ssh?
I'm probably missing something really obvious here, but I really don't get why when your not using the drive on the mini you can't install it to the internal as apposed to a usb? On 11/01/2010, Bryan Smart <bryansm...@bryansmart.com> wrote: > Power PC system won't run many distros. Most distros are Intel, I think. > Besides that, don't think that the Power PC machines can't emulate a BIOS. > > If you're running on that old machine, you'll need to search for a distro > that is specifically designed for Power PC Macs. > > Bryan > > -----Original Message----- > From: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com > [mailto:macvisionar...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Scott Howell > Sent: Monday, January 11, 2010 3:53 PM > To: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com > Subject: Re: Bootable flash drives [was Re: using fdisk] > > Bryan, > > According to what I've read, it is possible to make a bootable Linux > disk > for the Mac and even get it to load. Now the details I'm not to clear on > and my intent was to setup a Debian distro on an old Mac Mini. Of course > why would I want to do this? Well because it's an older PowerPC chip and not > much I can do beyond Leopard. Of course not saying Leopard is of no value, > but instead to say I might be able to put the machine into service as a > server without having to upgrade or purchase Leopard Server. :) However, > regardless, if I manage to make it happen, I'll let you know how and what it > took. > On Jan 11, 2010, at 3:44 PM, Bryan Smart wrote: > >> The Mac can boot a USB device, but I don't think that you'll have luck >> booting anything other than the Mac OS without a lot of work. If you want >> to boot Linux, then BIOS emulation has to be going before the Linux distro >> boots. Maybe some of them can boot with EFI, but I'm not knowledgeable >> enough to say. I doubt that a majority of distros would, though. >> >> A good way to start would be to dig in to how BootCamp modifies the system >> on a low level in order to boot Windows. There is probably a flag that is >> set on a partition to tell the Mac boot loader to start BIOS emulation >> before attempting to boot the OS on that partition. >> >> You could almost certainly install Linux directly on the hard drive by >> setting up for BootCamp, and then installing Linux instead of Windows. >> However, if you figured out the flag or other tech detail that flags a >> partition as needing BIOS to boot, then you could manually tweak your >> flashdisk to appear that way to the boot loader. >> >> I'd love to hear about what you discover. Besides using flashdisks, it >> would be even better if we could use the same trick to install Windows or >> Linux on an external USB hard drive. >> >> Bryan >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com >> [mailto:macvisionar...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Esther >> Sent: Monday, January 11, 2010 12:52 PM >> To: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com >> Subject: Bootable flash drives [was Re: using fdisk] >> >> Hi Scott, >> >> I think if I were trying to set up a bootable Linux distribution on a USB >> flash drive I would do this on a Linux machine. However, for your >> entertainment, you might want to read Ted Landau's old MacFixIt column >> (from April 2008) titled, "Create a Leopard Startup Flash Drive": >> >> http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20080422095414936 >> >> Note that I haven't tried this myself, and have no idea whether it's >> doable for Snow Leopard. >> >> Cheers, >> >> Esther >> >> >> On Jan 11, 2010, at 06:57, Scott Howell wrote: >> >>> Hi Sandi, >>> >>> Thanks for the clarification. If I unmount the drive, it no longer >>> can be referenced by the device node in /dev, which is interesting. >>> It is as though once unmounted, the OS forgets about it, but I >>> suspect it has something to do with the disk subsystem and how it >>> handles devices. Well I'll keep digging because the info is out >>> there somewhere . :) >>> >>> THanks, >>> On Jan 4, 2001, at 3:18 PM, sandi sørensen wrote: >>> >>>> first of all, have never used fdisk under osx so i can be very wrong. >>>> but when i have done it on linux i usually unmount the drive i wanna >>>> fdisk and then takes contact with it from the dev folder. >>>> Therefore i said as i did. >>>> try eventually before you mess with it too see how huge it is with >>>> fdisk. >>>> /sandi >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> On Jan 11, 2010, at 7:29 AM, Scott Howell wrote: >>>> >>>>> Sandi, >>>>> >>>>> Sorry, I'm not clear on what you are saying here. The device, / >>>>> dev/disk1 does exist, but unlike a "normal" or static /dev file >>>>> system, I assume that perhaps this works more like the DevFS found >>>>> in some LInux distros? I have to admit that I am not that familiar >>>>> with the newer file systems, which is my fault for letting my >>>>> knowledge get rusty. >>>>> Can you please clarify what you mean? >>>>> >>>>> THanks, >>>>> On Jan 4, 2001, at 1:41 PM, sandi sørensen wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> try getting a hold of it from /dev/ >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> On Jan 11, 2010, at 6:17 AM, Scott Howell wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>> James, I perhaps should be more clear. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> The issue is I cannot find a way to address the device. To >>>>>>> explain further, the flash drive when mounted, shows up as /dev/ >>>>>>> disk1s1. >>>>>>> However, to properly address the device with fdisk, the device >>>>>>> must be umounted, but when attempting to address the device by >>>>>>> fdisk /dev/disk1 I receive a "file not found" error. So, my >>>>>>> assumption is that the disk subsystem handles unmounted devices >>>>>>> differently than I gather most OpenBSD systems perhaps. I of >>>>>>> course do not know for sure and any thoughts you have would be >>>>>>> appreciated. The man page did not provide any information on how >>>>>>> to address the problem. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> THanks, >>>>>>> On Jan 11, 2010, at 6:24 AM, James & Nash wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Hi Scott, >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> You wrote: >>>>>>>>> Have any of you used fdisk from the Terminal in order to set >>>>>>>>> the boot flag on a file system, which is contained on a USB >>>>>>>>> flash drive/Thumb drive? I want to creat a bootable usb stick >>>>>>>>> that I can load a small Linux distro on. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> I haven't, but I will look into it for you if you like. In >>>>>>>> theory, there should be no problem using fdisk as the Terminal >>>>>>>> is pretty accessible with Voice Over. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> TC >>>>>>>> James >>>>>>>> On 11 Jan 2010, at 02:01, Scott Howell wrote: >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Folks, >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Have any of you used fdisk from the Terminal in order to set >>>>>>>>> the boot flag on a file system, which is contained on a USB >>>>>>>>> flash drive/Thumb drive? I want to creat a bootable usb stick >>>>>>>>> that I can load a small Linux distro on. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> tnx,-- >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "MacVisionaries" group. >> To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. >> >> > >
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