Re: beige g3 etch install
[ Notice to Mac users: remember to wrap long lines please ... ] > error anyway, since I have selected ext3 file system that is not > supported in quik. I therefore say to carry on without a boot loader. > Everything goes fine all the way to rebooting into the new system. > However, when I do that, OS9 will not boot up. I just get the flashing > disk symbol with a question mark on it. Popping the OS9 CD and booting > off that and then running disk setup shows me that the HD has somehow > been altered so it is not recognised properly as a mac HD. During the > partitioning step, I did not alter anything other than hda7 and 8. > > I have found that I can reinstall the apple hard disk driver onto the > disk and this then gets OS9 up and working. However, I cannot then boot > into Debian, since the boot process gets a little way in and then I get > a kernel panic at the point where it tries to mount the file system > (error about no file system at /dev/hda7). My guess is the etch installer deleted the driver partitions and installed something else in that place (maybe the OF bootstrap partition, maybe the Linux root partition). OTOH the partition numbers for driver partitions should be lower than 7. Did the installer misdetect the size of the disk, perhaps? That could have resulted in a bogus partition table written to disk. Are data on the OS9 volume unchanged? What would be helpful to have in this case is a dump of the partition table, both before and after etch installation (note that you need to be able to write to USB stick or flopy media from the installer to pull that one off). dd if=/dev/hda of=somefile bs=512 count=1024 should be sufficient. Michael -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: beige g3 etch install
On Thursday 15 November 2007 16:24:04 Nicholas Helps wrote: > Hello all, > > I have been working with Debian for quite a few years now and using > powermac G3 machines with extra network cards in them as routers and > firewalls, etc. These machines were set up back in the days of Woody and > have been kept uptodate with security updates, but otherwise pretty much > left untouched. Due to the issues around the firmware in these machines and > because it was useful, I always set them up to boot initially into mac OS9 > then use BootX to hand over the Debian. This worked a treat. > > However, I thought it would be good come up to date by installing Etch > instead. just a quickie... why didn't you upgrade? > I used a free machine that was not actually in use and ran the > install using the current network install ISO. Things have changed since > the days of woody and it now seems that floppy images (boot image and root > image) are no longer used. Hence, I copied the initrd.gz file over to the > mac HD and set that as the ram disk for the install. I also copied across > the linux kernel and put that into the kernels folder in the system folder. > Using that allows me to boot into the installer and using the installer I > deleted the previous linux partition (hda7) and swap (hda8) and made new > ones. Then installed the base system, etc,etc all the way through to where > it runs tasksel. I just leave that at the basic system for now. Following > on some more, finally we get to the point of trying to install Quik (which > I don't need) and it gives an error anyway, since I have selected ext3 file > system that is not supported in quik. I therefore say to carry on without a > boot loader. Everything goes fine all the way to rebooting into the new > system. However, when I do that, OS9 will not boot up. I just get the > flashing disk symbol with a question mark on it. Popping the OS9 CD and > booting off that and then running disk setup shows me that the HD has > somehow been altered so it is not recognised properly as a mac HD. During > the partitioning step, I did not alter anything other than hda7 and 8. > > I have found that I can reinstall the apple hard disk driver onto the disk > and this then gets OS9 up and working. However, I cannot then boot into > Debian, since the boot process gets a little way in and then I get a kernel > panic at the point where it tries to mount the file system (error about no > file system at /dev/hda7). it seems like you are missing support for root partition.. or maby the other thing witch mac uses .. the partition thingy, about to sleep now, and only 5% brain activity, so I won't go lookin it up. > > I have done this several times now and the same thing happens every time. > The install goes fine but then I end up with a completely unusable machine. happens every time i forget something crusial. ;D to tired to explain and help right now. > > I am wondering if I am going about the install process wrongly (ie using > the initrd.gz file). I can't find anything really useful in the install > manual or using Google. I will probably end up looking really stupid when > someone points out an obvious mistake I have made, but I can live with > that. > > If anyone has got etch installed on the beige g3 (its a 266 mhz machine, > but I can't tell you the firmware version, etc. Would need to find out how > to get at this) and can share their expertise, it would be most > appreciated. > > Thanks in advance, > > Nick. > > > > * > > Dr. N.R. Helps > Medical Research Council Protein Phosphorylation Unit > College of Life Sciences > MSI/WTB/JBC Complex > University of Dundee > Dundee > DD1 5EH > Scotland > > t: 44 (0)1382 384745 (office) > t: 44 (0)1382 388019 (lab) > f: 44 (0)1382 388729 > e: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > w: http://www.dnaseq.co.uk/ > w: http://www.dundee.ac.uk/lifesciences/mrcppu/ > > -- --- Børge Holen http://www.arivene.net
Re: beige g3 etch install
Comments bottom posted... On Nov 15, 2007, at 10:24 AM, Nicholas Helps wrote: Hello all, I have been working with Debian for quite a few years now and using powermac G3 machines with extra network cards in them as routers and firewalls, etc. These machines were set up back in the days of Woody and have been kept uptodate with security updates, but otherwise pretty much left untouched. Due to the issues around the firmware in these machines and because it was useful, I always set them up to boot initially into mac OS9 then use BootX to hand over the Debian. This worked a treat. However, I thought it would be good come up to date by installing Etch instead. I used a free machine that was not actually in use and ran the install using the current network install ISO. Things have changed since the days of woody and it now seems that floppy images (boot image and root image) are no longer used. Hence, I copied the initrd.gz file over to the mac HD and set that as the ram disk for the install. I also copied across the linux kernel and put that into the kernels folder in the system folder. Using that allows me to boot into the installer and using the installer I deleted the previous linux partition (hda7) and swap (hda8) and made new ones. Then installed the base system, etc,etc all the way through to where it runs tasksel. I just leave that at the basic system for now. Following on some more, finally we get to the point of trying to install Quik (which I don't need) and it gives an error anyway, since I have selected ext3 file system that is not supported in quik. I therefore say to carry on without a boot loader. Everything goes fine all the way to rebooting into the new system. However, when I do that, OS9 will not boot up. I just get the flashing disk symbol with a question mark on it. Popping the OS9 CD and booting off that and then running disk setup shows me that the HD has somehow been altered so it is not recognised properly as a mac HD. During the partitioning step, I did not alter anything other than hda7 and 8. I have found that I can reinstall the apple hard disk driver onto the disk and this then gets OS9 up and working. However, I cannot then boot into Debian, since the boot process gets a little way in and then I get a kernel panic at the point where it tries to mount the file system (error about no file system at /dev/hda7). I have done this several times now and the same thing happens every time. The install goes fine but then I end up with a completely unusable machine. I am wondering if I am going about the install process wrongly (ie using the initrd.gz file). I can't find anything really useful in the install manual or using Google. I will probably end up looking really stupid when someone points out an obvious mistake I have made, but I can live with that. If anyone has got etch installed on the beige g3 (its a 266 mhz machine, but I can't tell you the firmware version, etc. Would need to find out how to get at this) and can share their expertise, it would be most appreciated. Thanks in advance, Nick. Couple of points: 1) You can avoid the attempt to install quik by doing an "expert" install. In the "boot options" part of the BootX dialog box, in addition to the usual stuff, put "DEBCONF_PRIORITY=low" without the quotes. The installer will ask you a bunch more questions. For the most part, you can just bang on the key when it gets uppity. Most importantly, you will have an opportunity to skip over the attempt to install the bootloader. 2) The attempt to install quik is probably what messed up the boot block and prevented OS-9 from booting. When you reinstalled the apple hard disk driver from the OS-9 CD, that restored the OS-9 boot block. Skipping the "install boot-loader" step will keep that badness from happening again. 3) After the install is complete but before it reboots, you need to copy the kernel (whatever the /target/boot/vmlinux symlink points to) and initrd file (whatever the /target/boot/initrd.img symlink points to) from the /target/boot directory into the appropriate directory in the OS-9 partition. You'll have to go to the -F2 virtual terminal, chroot into /target, then mount the OS-9 partition as an HFS filesystem, so you can do the copy. 4) After rebooting into OS-9, configure BootX to use the kernel and initrd file that you copied just before the reboot. They will be different from the ones you got off the install CD. Since you are using an initrd, you don't want to tell BootX to use a "root=" parameter. With that, all should be well. 5) If you ever upgrade the kernel or due to some other cause you re- make the initrd, you will need to manually copy the new kernel and initrd to the OS-9 partition again, and configure BootX to use them. Hope it helps! Rick -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] w
