My firmware only shows the following: usb@e
I believe it needs updating in order to recognize usb devices. Where can I get the file(s)?

I suggest you install MacOS 9 and do all the software updates from Apple. That will lead to a Lombard with the latest firmware.

OS 9.2 is installed. Where can I get the firmware update necessary to boot usb devices?

Maybe there is none...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1395

I have an external hd connected by a usb cable. OS 9 mounts it. Lenny sees it as /dev/sda. The open firmware does not see it. To prove this I used a Lenny CD to intall it to /dev/sda. Everything went well until it the d-i attempted to install yaboot and could not find the open firmware path to the drive.

If the problem was my hardware, I would not be able to use this hd, but I can. The only thing I can't do is boot from it. Is there an open firmware command which forces it to reexamine the available devices and write a new device tree?

I am not an expert in open firmware, I give you the links I collected over the years:

http://mac.linux.be/content/openfirmware
http://mac.linux.be/content/booting-open-firmware

You could make a /boot in ext2 and then use bootx from within mac os to boot from the external drive.* It isn't the best of solutions, but it should be rather foolproof.


*You will need that extension that allows mac os to mount ext2.

Lombard has New World open firmware. Thus, bootx can't be used.

I may have found a solution, although I need to get an OS X installer in order to try it. Anyway, the reason I was looking for an OF update was to get my system to recognize and boot from usb devices. Of course what I need is the drivers which allow OF to communicate with them. The answer, at least for usb disks, may be here:

http://blog.campodoro.org/?p=43

The idea is to use OS X usb drivers in OS 9.