Since I have to do a reinstall of 3.7 to see if Chrysalis makes my G5 unstable, I figured I'd make use of my G5 with Debian and MorphOS.

Anyone have notes on this?

[ Edited by TheMagicM 16.08.2014 - 18:34 ]

Like MorphOS's "Boot" partition, Debian needs small bootstrap partition in Mac HFS (not HFS+) for correct startup, where placed Yaboot loader files - ofboot.b, yaboot, yaboot.conf. Nothing more. Total files size - less than 200 Kb. Yaboot makes little early textmode multiboot menu, where you can press some keys for loading some OS. And timeout for loading default OS.

Yaboot don't known about MorphOS, and cannot automatic add line in bootmenu. Needs some intervention by hands :) But config edition have some tips.

There is two config files - ofboot.b and yaboot.conf.
ofboot.b you can edit by usual way, after mounting bootstrap partition via command like "mount -t hfs /dev/sdX /mnt".

For yaboot.conf all little more difficult. You cannot just mount and edit yaboot.conf, becouse after this system cannot be bootable. You must do next - edit same file but in other place - /etc/yaboot.conf, then run "ybin" command. Config makes "blessed" after and system can boot. WARNING! During "ybin" start bootstrap partition must be not mounted!

Adding line for MorphOS - in my case this is

macos="/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SATA_ADATA_SX300_2D5220014393-part2"

This is knowns by Yaboot as classic macos, but path goes to my "Boot" partition of MorphOS - and then MorphOS can loading from Yaboot menu by pressing "m" key! :)

You can add another useful string in yaboot.conf:

defaultos=macos

For automatic MorphOS booting by default. In other case Yaboot loads Linux.

For some aestetic you can edit ofboot.b by way described above. ACHTUNG! After "ybin" command all ofboot.b changes will be flushed, so, create local copy of corrected ofboot.b and overwrite same on bootstrap partition after editing yaboot.conf and "ybin" command.

Aestetic i mean correct texts like:

...
: bootmacos " Booting MorphOS..." .printf 100 ms load-base ... blahblah
...

" Press l for Debian Linux,"(0d 0a)" .printf
" m for MorphOS,"(0d 0a)" .printf
" x for MacOSX,"(0d 0a)" .printf
" c for CDROM."(0d 0a)" .printf
...

I hope my notes can be useful. Sorry for my ugly english :)

[ Edited by clr666 17.08.2014 - 11:02 ]

Haven't tried Linux on a G5, but if you don't plan to boot into Linux every other day it should be enough to just let the installer run it's course and than select Linux from the GFX-menu that will appear when pressing "ALT" on powerup.

Yes, that second textmode OS selector is 100% useless, and would still be, if it as default didn't exclude MorphOS

I tried Lubuntu 14.04 and it seemed to lock up all the time when installing / scanning for disks. (got me to thinking that memory is bad or something)

Debian installed, then I had a message saying bad HD (this isnt the same HD 3.7 is installed on).

So I'll get another disk and try probably Lubuntu again if it doesnt crash, then I'll install MorphOS.

xBuntu afair officially not supported PowerPC arch anymore. Only semi-working builds somewhere by someone :)
I suggest investigate your HD trouble, connect another HDD/SSD for example. On all my PPC systems - PegII, MacMini, PB - Debian installs and works good.

Quote:

when you say "x"Buntu, you are also referring to Lubuntu, right? If so, 14.04 is the latest version, so I'm assuming it is supported, right?

Yea..I just had a 1TB HD laying around so I wanted 500GB Linux / 500GB MorphOS.. I'll go get another drive and try again.

If Lubuntu doesnt work, its ok, I have Debian on my personal laptop anyway so I'm find running that.

PowerPCFAQ

"Ubuntu for PowerPC is now a community supported platform (the announcement) so you can nolonger pay Canonical to support your PowerPC machine. This also means that ISO downloads have been moved to the ports section of the Ubuntu sever, and are no longer on most mirrors. In fact, it is often hard to find any reference to PowerPC on the main Ubuntu website or packages.ubuntu.com"

Yes, Ubuntu, Xbuntu, Ybuntu, Zbuntu and other ?#buntu :) It's all out of Canonical support now.
I am trying Lubuntu 14.04 too, and install process fails by reason i don't remember.

I had to do video=ofonly or something like that.