Re: Bootstrapping this PPC


Subject: Re: Bootstrapping this PPC
From: andu (undo@cloud9.net)
Date: Wed Apr 25 2001 - 23:28:30 MDT


Mike Melanson wrote:
>
> Hi everyone,
> It's me again. Pretend I don't remember any basics about using a
> Mac. Experienced Mac users will likely think the following message is
> pretty funny stuff...
>
> Okay, I'm really bootstrapping this PPC machine. So far, I've
> wiped the HD clean and re-installed MacOS v7.5.3. Now I need to get three
> files onto the machine: BootX, the ramdisk, and the Linux kernel. They're
> too big to fit on floppies (at least 2 of them are). I could transfer them
> via the network except that this OS doesn't come with even the most basic
> networking utilities. I'm trying to get the Fetch FTP program on the
> machine which is small enough to fit on a floppy. So I can get the .hqx
> file of the Fetch installer onto the Mac HD. But MacOS can't get past the
> idea that it's a "PC" file and doesn't know how to deal with it. I figured
> the .hqx extension is natively supported by MacOS, but apparently not. I
> downloaded StuffIt Lite in .bin form, but MacOS doesn't know what to do

Try .sea (self extracting) if available. Nothing is "natively" supported
unless there is an application to decode/encode the files.

> with that either. Like I said, pretend I don't know anything about this
> stuff...how do I install these basic programs that have to be copied via a
> MS-DOS disk?

Sounds like me installing windows 95...
Something is not right... I think Stuffit and such must be on the macos
cd if you don't have them on the hard drive already somewhere. If you
do, try drag-and-dropping the files on Stuffit expander.
If nothing works, get Netatalk on Linux (PC) and connect the mac to
linux via appletalk (in Chooser select appletalk). If you find some
Appletalk control panel make sure it connects via ethernet. Next get all
your mac files on linux first and transfer them to the mac.
Netatalk(asun) works great, I used to use it regularly.
Other then that I don't know, the OS is so old I don't remember what it
has or has not, without having it in front of me.

>
> This would almost be enough to make me get a CD-ROM distribution
> except that somewhere in the course of all this, my CD-ROM drive
> decided to quit working. And here I thought (or had hoped) that Wintel
> systems were the ones that arbitrarily broke. Note that the drive was
> still working after the OS reinstall; quit working around the time I
> started using the floppy drive, if memory serves.
>
> Any ideas? Thanks...
> --
> -Mike Melanson



This archive was generated by hypermail 2a24 : Wed Apr 25 2001 - 23:39:06 MDT