to theos911:
Very cool. DHCP does work in some cases, but not others, I suspect it depends on the way DHCP is implemented on the server. Hooked up to the built-in DHCP on Mac OS X 10.5, it worked, same scenario with 10.4 was hit and miss. Both with all current updates, using the same G3 Wallstreet and even the same ethernet cable, so realistically everything else should have been the same.
I noticed the error about LVM too, seemed like it might lack some advanced features like fancier disk partitions or encrypted disks, but the basic partitioning worked ok. I actually tried to load lvm-mod several ways (modprobe lvm-mod, lvm_mod, lvm2-mod, lvm2_mod) with no success. I suspect it simply is not in the netboot kernel/ramdisk, or its path must be typed out explicitly, and I haven't bothered to find out what that path might be, no need so far. Re: noatime, take a look at:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/2099/is-it-worth-to-tune-ext4-with-noatimeMine complained about quik too, though I would note that it may fail to set up Open Firmware to boot quik, but the actual quik configuration seemed fine, i.e. once I got OF to boot from the proper disk partition, quik worked. The most failure prone step to booting without Mac OS, the Achilles heel so to speak is the Open Firmware itself.
to swordking:
I'm always open to including newer versions of such software on a new 'edition' of the CD, when I find it or others contribute.
My only concern is that System Disk has a reputation for not working with some Old World Powermacs, and I would think newer versions may exacerbate this potential problem. Since System Disk takes up relatively little space, I'd probably include both a newer and older version, perhaps saying 'use the newer one, unless it doesn't work on your setup, otherwise try the older one' in the FAQ.
to both: (or is that every reader of this thread?) (replying to more than one post at a time to keep the number of my replies to my own thread low)
I meant to update some of the information in the FAQ, regarding the startup sequence. When the CD actually boots without holding any keys down, it should, by default pass the kernel two boot parameters:
1) auto url=mintppc.org
2) video=ofonly
The first should be obvious to anyone who has read even part of the install instructions on mintppc.org.
The second of course uses only the Open Firmware framebuffer during install, which is slower than accelerated video, but also tends to be much more failsafe.
If you press shift, it passes no parameters, which gives a default Debian 6 Squeeze install, and (if available) accelerated video.
These can be altered by modifying the fake 'System' file in the system folder with ResEdit while booted into Classic Mac OS as mentioned in point 5 of the FAQ. (Another reason running Mac OS in MOL/QEMU/vMac/BasiliskII/Sheepshaver would be useful! Or maybe a way to alter Mac OS resources from within Linux?)
To go with all these possible changes/updates, JD I plan to respin my CD at some point, maybe make a even more mini rescue CD whose whole purpose is to reset OF boot parameters, and maybe mount disk partitions or the like (may have to be Darwin based at least initially to include Darwin specific commands like bless, unless they can compile under Linux easily). And of course at some point redo the whole thing with MintPPC 11, preferably after Debian 7 Wheezy is (more?) stable (from the standpoint of being less bleeding edge, not that it's crash-prone or anything).
hyenas
