[Dclug] Linux on Ibooks

[Russell Evans]

On Tue, 30 Jan 2007 09:34:49 -0800
"Chris Otten" <ceodc00 at fastmail.fm> wrote:

> Hey Linux Peeps:
> 
> I have tried unsuccessfully to install Damn Small Linux and Ubuntu
> Power PC to my friends Ibook.  It's a 350Mhz 128 MB RAM Ibook which
> I'm trying to revive with Linux.
> 
> The thing is, it will never boot from the CD ROM despite my attempts
> at startup to hold down all the special keys I knew of from my google
> searches for booting from CDROM.
> 
> Am I missing something?
> 
> Does anyone have experience putting any flavor of Linux on an old Mac
> Ibook?
> 


It seems like you could do a target mode linux install.I'm making this
up, I have never done this or read that it is possible!

Thank you
Russell

Setup target mode
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583

edited directions from http://people.debian.org/~branden/ibook.html

Partition the disk
Use Disk Utility to create a partition at the beginning of the disk.
This partition needs to be big enough to house all of your planned
Linux partitions (including swap), plus an additional 800kB bootstrap
partition -- created later -- for use by the yaboot bootloader. Make
this area a single partition of type "MacOS Extended". Do not attempt
to use the "Linux" filesystem types provided by Apple in the Disk
Utility tool. I suggest naming this partition "Debian" to prevent later
confusion.

    * linux.bin
    * yaboot
    * yaboot.conf
    * images-1.44/root.bin

Put those four files into the "root" of the volume called "Debian".
"linux.bin", "yaboot", "yaboot.conf", and "root.bin" should all be
present in the root directory of that volume.

Restart the computer and hold down the four keys command + option + O +
F. This puts you into OpenFirmware, which is a kind of boot monitor. At
the OpenFirmware prompt, type the following: boot hd:9,yaboot The digit
in this command may differ for your system; see above. If you don't
know the number of the partition you have set aside from Debian, try
other numbers.

You will next be greeted with the prompt of the yaboot boot loader.
Type the following at its prompt: install

Note: Users of post-2001 iBooks with ATI Radeon Mobility M6 ("LY")
video chipsets will need to pass an argument to kernel when using older
Linux kernels, such as the one that is shipped with Debian 3.0: install
video=ofonly

In fact, the above parameter ("video=ofonly") is worth trying any time
you fail to get a working console when the Linux kernel boots. What it
does is instruct the kernel to use the OpenFirmware interface to the
video hardware, rather than chipset-specific functions. The upside to
that approach is that it's virtually guaranteed to get you a working
console. The downside is that OpenFirmware doesn't support accelerated
graphics operations (not even text scrolling in the console), video
mode changes, and so forth. For these reasons, most people who want to
run an X server on their Macintosh use one of the kernel's specific
video drivers. Still, OpenFirmware video is a lot better than no video
at all.

The Linux kernel will boot and launch you into the Debian installer.