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[LUG] Linux on (oldworld) PPC?




Hi all.

Has anyone here had much experience on installing any PPC Linux distro onto oldworld 
PowerMacs?  I've managed to acquire a 5500/225 running MacOS 8.1 on a 2Gb harddrive. 
I have a copy of Mandy 9.1 PPC and YDL 2.3.  They both seem to support using BootX 
to install nicely, but this is problem.  I haven't got the installation CDs for any 
version of MacOS that is supported on this platform, so I can't partition the 
harddrive, so I'm looking into installing onto a fresh disk (probably a 6Gb I have 
spare).   I'll have to do a complete fresh install.

Has anyone here had much experience on installing any PPC Linux distro onto 
"oldworld" PowerMacs?  I've managed to acquire a 5500/225 running MOS 8.1 on a 2Gb 
harddrive.  The Mac's IDE cable appears to be "hardwired" onto the, erm, plastic 
thing the motherboard slots into (whatever that's called), and has only a single 
connector for harddrives, so it's either repartition or install onto a blank 
harddrive.  Since I haven't got the installation CDs for any supported version of 
MOS, I'm quite keen on simply removing the MOS harddrive (and keeping it safe) and 
using a spare 6Gb drive for Linux.  However, it would appear that unless you either 
have a "newworld" and can boot from CD, or you intend on running MOS alongside Linux 
in a BootX based dual boot, your options are somewhat limited.

What I'm really looking for is a PPC version of Linux that has PPC boot floppies and 
will enable me to actually boot the thing natively and not rely on BootX after 
installation.

I have been told before about Debian PPC, and it would appear to be just the ticket. 
However, if any of you has experience in PPC installations, I would very much like 
to hear any forewarnings or general advice.

Much appreciated.

Grant.

-- 
Artificial intelligence is no match for nuratal stidutipy.

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