Yaboot won't install, boot manually?

Hello. I'm trying to install Linux (Ubuntu) for the first time. I have
a DVD with Ubuntu and a DVD with Kubuntu. I'm trying to install onto a
brand new external hard drive. I've allowed the installation to
automatically partition the hard drive, I've tried doing it manually
(creating a boot partition just after the first partition on the drive,
which is a 32k apple partition, then creating a couple gigs as a swap,
and one as / formatted ext 3) for both DVDs. In all cases I get the
same problem:

Base files and additional files are installed with no apparent problem,
it asks me to set the time zone. Then it tries to install yaboot, as it
tries to install the boostrap it stops and says "failed to install
bootloader." I hit return and is says that it failed to install yaboot.
It tells me I will need to boot manually and gives me the needed kernal
arguments.

Does anyone know what the problem is, or if there is a way around it? I
don't know how to boot manually, all I know is if I hold down the c key
it boots from the CD, if I hold down option it gives me a choice of
what macintosh bootable partition to boot from.

Thanks.

[email]earthlingmike@yahoo.com[/email] writes:[color=blue]
>Then it tries to install yaboot, as it
>tries to install the boostrap it stops and says "failed to install
>bootloader." I hit return and is says that it failed to install yaboot.[/color]

The following is probably not your problem, but just in case: One
problem I had with installing yaboot is that ybin needs /dev/nvram
support (the way I (re)installed yaboot, I saw that, but I guess you
were using some automated way, that might not show you all the
messages). If your kernel does not have that, it won't work. I would
be surprised if the Ubuntu kernel missed that support, but you might
still want to check it. The NVRAM options in my kernel config are:

CONFIG_GENERIC_NVRAM=y
CONFIG_PPCBUG_NVRAM=y
CONFIG_NVRAM=y

and the kernel spits out some "nvram:" messages on booting.

- anton
--
M. Anton Ertl Some things have to be seen to be believed
[email]anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at[/email] Most things have to be believed to be seen
[url]http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/anton/home.html[/url]

On Fri, 20 Jan 2006 18:50:58 -0800, earthlingmike wrote:
[color=blue]
> Hello. I'm trying to install Linux (Ubuntu) for the first time. I have
> a DVD with Ubuntu and a DVD with Kubuntu. I'm trying to install onto a
> brand new external hard drive.[/color]

Yaboot won't boot from external hard disks.

Well, that explains it then, thanks!

Does this mean essentially that I need to have Linux entirely on my
master drive, or is it just Yaboot that I need to be concerned with?

On Sat, 21 Jan 2006 11:01:01 -0800, earthlingmike wrote:
[color=blue]
> Well, that explains it then, thanks!
>
> Does this mean essentially that I need to have Linux entirely on my
> master drive, or is it just Yaboot that I need to be concerned with?[/color]

not sure, you could try installing Yaboot on the master drive and try to
boot from the external drive. But I'm not completely sure if that will
work.
You won't be able to install Yaboot on the external drive though.

[email]earthlingmike@yahoo.com[/email] writes:[color=blue]
>Does this mean essentially that I need to have Linux entirely on my
>master drive, or is it just Yaboot that I need to be concerned with?[/color]

As soon as the Linux kernel runs, you are free to use any drive
(supported by Linux drivers) for the various mounted file systems.

I am not familiar enough with yaboot to tell if you can get away with
even less than the kernel on the internal drive (most boot loaders
have multiple stages, often with different capabilities wrt drives,
file systems etc.).

- anton
--
M. Anton Ertl Some things have to be seen to be believed
[email]anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at[/email] Most things have to be believed to be seen
[url]http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/anton/home.html[/url]

o.k. thanks.

<earthlingmike@yahoo.com> wrote:
[color=blue]
> ... partition the hard drive, I've tried doing it manually
> (creating a boot partition just after the first partition on the drive,
> which is a 32k apple partition, then creating a couple gigs as a swap,
> and one as / formatted ext 3) for both DVDs. ...[/color]

This is the partition map where my debian_ppc is stored:

kuxtu@g4l:~$ sudo mac-fdisk -l /dev/hdd
^^^^^^^^ aka /dev/rdisk0
/dev/hdd
# type name length base ( size ) system
/dev/hdd1 Apple_partition_map Apple 63 @ 1 ( 31.5k) Partition map
/dev/hdd2 Apple_Bootstrap untitled 1601 @ 64 (800.5k) NewWorld bootblock
/dev/hdd3 Apple_UNIX_SVR2 swap 1984376 @ 1665 (968.9M) Linux swap
/dev/hdd4 Apple_UNIX_SVR2 debian_ppc 9179688 @ 1986041 ( 4.4G) Linux native
/dev/hdd5 Apple_UNIX_SVR2 linux-home 1953126 @ 11165729 (953.7M) Linux native
/dev/hdd6 Apple_UNIX_SVR2 service 46917625 @ 13118855 ( 22.4G) Linux native

Block size=512, Number of Blocks=60036480
DeviceType=0x0, DeviceId=0x0


take care of bootstrap partition
- being the 1. partition after 'Apple_partition_map'
- having a minimum (!) length of more than 800kB
.... & follow the instruktions given by (IIRC -!) ybin to format the bootstrap partition.

DISCLAIMER:
1. Last time I was booting this G4/400 into debian_ppc all just went fine.
It has been months ago. Last install was about Nov. '04. So please be
careful on my 'IIRC' ;-)
2. 'yaboot' is managing startup process on this machine by my default:

,---[ /etc/yaboot.conf ]-------
| ## yaboot.conf generated by debian-installer
| ##
| ## ...
|
| boot=/dev/hdd2
| device=/pci@f2000000/mac-io@17/ata-3@20000/disk@1:
| partition=4
| delay=10
| defaultos=macosx
| timeout=60
| install=/usr/lib/yaboot/yaboot
| magicboot=/usr/lib/yaboot/ofboot
| enablecdboot
| enableofboot
| macosx=/dev/hda3
|
| image=/boot/vmlinux
| label=Linux
| root=/dev/hdd4
| read-only
| initrd=/boot/initrd.img
`------------------------------

hth &
--
regards

David Kimpe <dnaku-san@distrotalk.net> wrote:
[color=blue]
> On Sat, 21 Jan 2006 11:01:01 -0800, earthlingmike wrote:
>[color=green]
> > Well, that explains it then, thanks!
> >
> > Does this mean essentially that I need to have Linux entirely on my
> > master drive, or is it just Yaboot that I need to be concerned with?[/color]
>
> not sure, you could try installing Yaboot on the master drive and try to
> boot from the external drive. But I'm not completely sure if that will
> work.[/color]

IIRC (!): bootstrap partion and root partition have to be on the same
(physical) drive.
[color=blue]
> You won't be able to install Yaboot on the external drive though.[/color]

ACK
--
regards

Thank you!

I'm also wondering, I have two internal hard drives. Can the Yaboot and
root partitions work from the slave drive, or do they have to be on the
master drive?

<earthlingmike@yahoo.com> wrote:
[color=blue]
> Thank you!
>
> I'm also wondering, I have two internal hard drives. Can the Yaboot and
> root partitions work from the slave drive, or do they have to be on the
> master drive?[/color]

'/dev/hdd' _is_ (secondary) slave ... ;-)
--
regards