lubuntu-qa team mailing list archive

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fantastic idea! let's do it!

wxl

On Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:31:38 -0500
"Str8bs" <str8bslinux@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Prairie Zephyr,
> 
> I speculate many USB PPC boot troubles come from confusion because of two
> factors:
> 1. default devalias names change across different firmware versions and
> later versions include the disk in the alias path.
> (IE: usb@1/disk@1:2 vs UD:2, etc. ) Some don't even have an alias for the
> USB unless you create it yourself.
> 2. Depending on how the stick was formatted before the DD, there can be
> trouble finding the "blessed" partition.
> 
> I theorize the process could possibly be simplified with an instruction set
> that focused on using the full open firmware and file paths.
> This would mean a longer boot command for the end user, but fewer steps to
> get there and a more "universal" approach.
> If you are still interested in attempting a Wiki, I can outline the steps
> and take some Open Firmware screenshots to better illustrate what I mean.
> (I'm terrible at  instruction documentation.)
> 
> Maybe we could then get some people to test the instruction set to see if it
> is valid?
> 
> Regards,
> Str8
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: prairie zephyr [mailto:prairie_zephyr@xxxxxxx] 
> Sent: Friday, April 12, 2013 3:43 PM
> To: Str8bs
> Cc: lubuntu-qa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: ppc USB boot [Lubuntu-qa] 
> 
> 	Thanks! I'd heard rumours of usb boot workarounds before but never
> the recipe.
> 	I've done lots of firewire target mac installing (saved me a couple
> of times) but got nowhere aiming Linux ISOs at mounted FW targets trying
> from OSX Mtn Lion, getting less Unix all the time.
> 	G4/5 = Leopard-max / G3 Tiger-max, ppc needs Linux or die. These ATI
> cards are useless for video but 1.42 & 1.25 GHz are still half-decent
> machines, G5s can still do some heavy lifting. My G3 is more like toy
> status; I just reinstalled OS9 after a LVM install claimed ownership: what a
> blast from the past! (y2k) lol  All this info gives me incentive to try
> again to get the DVD-less testing, do what I can to keep ppc demand for
> distros alive - wish I'd gotten the 13.04 radeon cards tested in time to
> file better bug reports ...next time, thanks again
> 
> 
> On 2013-04-12, at 2:26 PM, Str8bs <str8bslinux@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> > ..Regarding graphics. IMHO, that problem is somewhat self-propagated 
> > by the PPC community in general downloading Xorg.conf workarounds or 
> > disabling drivers instead of letting developers know that PPC users 
> > exist and care by filing and following up on bug reports.
> > 
> 		Yes + Mac had <5% of the market in ppc era - they're not the
> target PCs are 4 Linux
> 
> > For creating the bootable USB, I always do it from within Linux and 
> > don't use the hdiutil stuff.
> > **CAUTION** dd will overwrite/destroy anything after the "of=" and it 
> > won't ask if you are sure first.
> > Make sure you are writing to your USB stick.
> > 1. sudo fdisk -l and note the location of your USB stick. Will be 
> > something like /dev/sdb (or /dev/sdc, etc.) 2. sudo dd 
> > if=/Downloads/Whatever/nameofyourdownloaded.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=1M; 
> > sync Where if=the path to your ISO download and of= the path to your 
> > USB stick.
> > 
> > **The following is specific to PPC.
> > 
> > Booting. I've never tried a G4 and haven't succeeded on G5 yet. I'll 
> > try a better detail later, but for now this is on a G3:
> > (Note: early G3's that do NOT have a firewire port generally do not 
> > support USB boot either.) 1. Hold <command><option><o><f> at power on.
> > 2. without quotes "dev / ls" and enter 3. You are looking at a tree 
> > view of the path. Note that anything indented will have a "parent" 
> > above it. In other words, to get the whole path you have to look at 
> > the lines above.
> > 4. Verify you can "see" inside the disk using dir and the path you noted.
> > Example: /pci@f2000000/usb@19/disk@1:2,\ 5. Once you see a directory 
> > listing, Just change it to "boot 
> > /pci@f2000000/usb@19/disk@1:2,\\yaboot" where the path matches yours.
> > 
> > You can also type "devalias" to get a list of short names and use 
> > those instead. The PPC FAQ has more on that.
> > 
> > Alternate method for booting oversize ISO's if you have more than one 
> > FireWire equipped Mac and one has DVD/SuperDrive.
> > You can use that Mac as an external DVD drive. "Backwards Target Mode"
> > 1. Put your burned DVD/DVD-RW in the MAC with DVD drive.
> > 2. Put it in "Target Mode" by holding down "t" at power on.
> > 3. Connect FireWire cable between that Mac and the one you are 
> > installing to.
> > 4. Boot this second Mac holding the alt key. You should see the DVD in 
> > the other Mac as a boot option.
> > 5. Select it and click the right arrow.
> > *Note. The installer will see the hard drives in BOTH Mac's. Make sure 
> > you pick the correct one to install on.
> > *Never install Linux TO a target, but only FROM. Unlike OSX, it is 
> > important the installer detects hardware on the machine it will be booting
> from.
> > I've only tested this using a first gen G5 as the "external target 
> > mode drive" installing to a G3.
> > 
> > Hope that helps.
> > Str8
> > 
> > From: Lubuntu-qa
> > [mailto:lubuntu-qa-bounces+str8bslinux=gmail.com@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] 
> > On Behalf Of prairie zephyr
> > Sent: Friday, April 12, 2013 12:40 PM
> > To: lubuntu-qa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Subject: [Lubuntu-qa] lubuntu/daily/ size larger than stated
> > 
> > ...If anyone in the ppc
> > world knows how to circumvent the ppc USB boot problem and has time to 
> > write a short primer for me, I'll post it (credited) on my ppc Lubuntu 
> > wiki so its recent googleable. I've looked and haven't found.
> 
> >   Every new Linux kernel seems to have a new reason why radeon doesn't
> work.
> > 
> 
> 
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