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Re: [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.

Grant,

I'm about to do a similar project myself, having recently aquired 14
oldworld Macs.

When I return from Berlin on the weekend, I will begin to look at the
possibilities of putting GNU/Linux onto the machines, or alternatively
NetBSD.
mattl
Webmaster, Free Software Foundation



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