Re: [ProgSoc] Re: LinuxPPC (was More Raw Power)

[Ryan Heise <ryan@nospam.whitewolf.com.au>]

Matthew Flanagan wrote:

> My LinuxPPC CD arrived today. Let me know when you want to borrow it. I'm looking at what I need to do to get a reasonably recent kernel running (2.2.x) as the CD comes with a 2.1.x kernel.
> 
> Anyone had any experience in updating the kernel on LinuxPPC? (Ryan?) I need to use some of the newer networking modules.

Just download a pre-compiled binary from
ftp://samba.anu.edu.au/pub/linux-pmac/ .

This is where Paul Mackerras (the Australian guy who started the
linuxpmac port) puts his stable (and also development) builds. There are
also kernel binaries at http://ftp.linuxppc.org/kernels/ - this is where
you find the kernel for the Blue G3 (see my last email).

The procedure to replace your existing kernel depends on how you
installed Linux. If you use BootX to boot Linux, vmlinux is stored in
the MacOS system folder. BootX uses MacOS to kickstart, so it can use
the Mac ROM to draw a nice dual-boot prompt. You can boot (and dual
boot) directly from Open Firmware (OF) so you do not need MacOS
installed. However, some new machines (in particular, the iMac and Blue
G3, I think) are wierd and the kernel does not now how to initialise
them. In this case, BootX helps because it gives MacOS a chance to do
the initialisation "magic".

So, I have a feeling that you will need at least a minimal MacOS
partition (20-40 megs? Ask someone who has MacOS 8.x installed). The
good news is that Apple has released MacOS/X server as Open Source so
maybe we can see how the magic works.

-- 
Ryan Heise

http://www.progsoc.uts.edu.au/~rheise/
--
You are subscribed to the progsoc mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a
message containing "unsubscribe" to progsoc-request@nospam.progsoc.uts.edu.au.
If you are having trouble, ask owner-progsoc@nospam.progsoc.uts.edu.au for help.

This list is archived at <http://www.progsoc.uts.edu.au/lists/progsoc/>