Subject: Re: Installing YDL
From: Nathan A. McQuillen (nm@steaky.dhs.org)
Date: Sun Oct 21 2001 - 14:06:18 MDT
Mark,
You might've gotten a response already, but nothing to the list, and I
know I've been irritated in newbier days by "unanswered" questions on the
list (probably answered in direct email instead) -- so here ya go.
I've got a beige G3 and "booted from" the 2.0 ISO first time (you actually
/don't/ boot from the CD on these machines, FYI -- see below. (Whether it
was helpful is another matter - but considering the serious kludge that
was my existing distro, I'm not surprised.) I'd check a few things: first,
find out whether your CD was properly burned. Second, remember that your
G3 (and mine) is not a New World ROM machine, and as such WILL NOT BOOT
straight from the YDL CD. You've got to use BootX, hit "Use RAM Disk",
select the boot RAM image and kernel from where you copied them into your
Mac System folder (you did copy the RAM disk and kernel onto your Mac
drive, didn't you? ;) ) and reboot. You refer to the installer, so
presumably you got this far, but I'd double check that you don't have your
old (LinuxPPC) kernel referenced in BootX.
I also would suggest using the text mode installer (I had only limited
success with the X installer, so I performed most of my install straight
from a mounted (loop device) ISO under YDL 1.2.) Maybe somebody can help
you determine how to select this...? People? Help the man.
I know it can be done. I've done it. Be patient, and a little more
specific if you can (e.g., any messages the installer kernel displays that
you can catch about SCSI devices? do /dev/sdX appear in the partitioning
stage? what exactly happens?) I'm at a loss for specifics 'cause I'm out
of town and away from my Linux box, so I can't recreate the boot sequence,
but more info would help us help you...
As far as OSX goes, if you want something as slick and Mac-like as OSX, by
all means get OSX. I run Linux on my beige G3 to serve information, not to
create graphics or music (which I use my Mac for) -- and deserved zealotry
aside, Gnu/Linux has come a long way, but it's not seamless the way
software developed with the full weight of a Fortune 500 company will be.
If you're willing to work with it, it's a great thing, but don't expect a
perfect consumer product. You've done the right thing writing to the list,
and when we've got a little more info, we'll do our best to help you out.
- Nathan
On Sun, 21 Oct 2001, Mark Brethen wrote:
> As a former LinuxPPC user, I purchased yellowdog 2.1. While waiting
> for it to arrive at my doorstep, I decided to downloaded 2.0 from the
> ftp site and install it just to familiarize myself with yellowdog.
> I've followed the install guide but have been unsuccessful in
> installing it on my second drive. I posted to this list two weeks
> before and received zero feedback, so I'll try again.
>
> For some reason, the installer does not give me the option to install
> from the hard drive, so I burned the files onto a cd. When I ran the
> installer again and selected cd/dvd (which is the only choice listed)
> it kept telling me to insert the cd (as if it was not able to read
> the cd).
>
> If this is what I have to look forward to with 2.1, I may ask for a
> refund and upgrade to OS X. Can anybody help me? I have a beige G3,
> two scsi drives, an internal cd and external yamaha 8424 cd burner. I
> have mac OS 9 on the first scsi drive and I'm trying to install
> yellowdog on the second scsi drive.
>
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