install probs Mandrake 9.1 PPC on RS6000 43P 150 CHRP

ichJan1970 · 02-05-2005, 01:31 PM

Hello,

I want to use Mandrake Linux 9.1 on an IBM Workstation / PowerPC: RS6000 43P-150 CHRP

I downloaded the 3 CD's MandrakeLinux-9.1-CDx.ppc.iso
and followed the installation-instructions
of the README-File \rs6k\README-RS6K on CD1

I created the 2 boot-disks.
In Firmware prompt I keyed in:
boot floppy:\zimage fake_initrd root=/dev/fd0 rw load_ramdisk=1 ramdisk_size=36000
I see the progress character (spinning \|/)

But then the graphic screen changes.
In the upper left and right corner there is a black area with white symbols.
I think the symbols should be text from "Linux kernel boot, with the Mandrake logo" but it's not possible to read and to continue installation.

For better understanding I made a picture:
xxx.geocities.com
/ichjan1970/RS6K-install-problem.JPG
--> replace xxx with www

So my question is:
Are there advanced options for the boot-process, so that the screen gets readable?

Thanks
ichJan1970

waynejo · 04-01-2005, 05:10 PM

I am also setting up this machine.

I have found that the video card installed in my machines is not supported. I installed a supported card in a couple of my machines and they work better.

My Mandrake distribution has a corrupted version of the RS6K-Readme file. Could you post that for me?

Thanks
waynejo

ichJan1970 · 04-09-2005, 02:36 AM

Well,

in the meantime I gave up.

My intention was to learn something about LINUX
and not to learn "how many options are possible on IBM Firmware prompt".

The machine ins now running again AIX Operating System, set up by a friend.
In a few weeks I get an older i386-PC, on that I will try again installing LINUX. I hope with more success!

Because of that, I formatted all Floppy-Disks with PPC-Informations and deleted all Images ond other downloaded Files from my HDD.
So I can't give you the readme-file any more.

Sorry!
ichJan1970

Labacher · 04-13-2005, 03:26 AM

Hi,

here you get the readme File. It is important not to forget to create the PReP Boot partition!
Otherwise your RS/6000 won't boot.

Which one is the grafics adapter thats not working?

I'm asking because my 7043-150 is not booting.

Quote:

Installation on IBM RS6000 Mar 3, 2003
Stew Benedict <sbenedict@mandrakesoft.com>

Mandrake PPC 9.1 should run fine on an RS6000 7043-150
(In fact most of this distribution was built on one)

Please read this whole document before doing the install so you
understand the issues. Pay special attention to the bootloader
setup.

The files you need are in this directory. You will also
need 2 floppy disks, 1 of which needs to be DOS formatted.

Instructions are based on doing the work from a Linux system.

Boot disk:

Insert the 1st disk into the floppy drive.
mformat /dev/fd0
mcopy zImage.chrp-rs6k a:zimage

Stage1 disk:

Once the first floppy is finished, insert the 2nd disk.
dd if=all-rs6k.gz of=/dev/fd0

Boot/Install:

Insert the 1st boot floppy back the RS6000's drive.

Powerup the machine. When the IBM logo appears, hit F8
before the boot process begins. The screen may flash purple
and you will be left at the Open Firmware prompt. Enter:

boot floppy:\zimage fake_initrd root=/dev/fd0 rw load_ramdisk=1 ramdisk_size=36000

To boot the rescue image, append "rescue" to the above stanza.
To do a text install, append "text" to the above stanza.

It is also possible to set these values in Open-Firmware:

setenv boot-device boot floppy:\zimage
setenv boot-file fake_initrd root=/dev/fd0 rw load_ramdisk=1 ramdisk_size=36000
boot

You should see a progress character (spinning \|/), and then a typical Linux
kernel boot, with the Mandrake logo. When you are prompted to do so, remove
the boot disk and insert the stage1 floppy, and press Enter.

The remainder of the install will be much the same as the Apple machines.

Partitioning:

If your machine formerly had AIX installed, diskdrake will probably have
issues with the partition table and offer to erase all partitions. It
is best to go ahead and do this and create a DOS-style partition table
for the installation of Linux. Fdisk will also complain about the AIX
partition table.

Yaboot is purported to work on these machines. I had varying luck
getting it to do so. A workaround is to DOS format a small boot
partition. The problem with this approach is using an initrd. You more
or less need to have everything needed to load "/" built into the
kernel.

A basic partitioning scheme for yaboot would look like this. /dev/sda1
can be as small as 800K. Should you need to fall back on using a FAT
partition, you may want to make it a bit larger, to hold your kernel.

root@rs6000 root]# fdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 9100 MB, 9100369920 bytes
64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 8678 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 9 9200 41 PPC PReP Boot
/dev/sda2 10 143 137216 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 144 8678 8739840 83 Linux

Diskdrake knows of 'PPC PReP Boot' partitions, and you can create it
there or from the shell using fdisk on VT2. From the shell, the hard
drives aren't available until diskdrake runs, so you should probably
reboot if you do it manually from there, then restart the install.

As drakx stands now, for IBM machines, the bootloader setup is hardcoded
to expect /dev/sda1 to be the PReP Boot partition. The yaboot setup
will format and use this partition for the bootloader, so don't use sda1
for any system partitions!

Should you not be able to boot your installed system, we've provided a
kernel with integrated SCSI and ext2/ext3. The kernel is in this same
directory.

Boot disk:

Insert the 1st disk into the floppy drive.
mformat /dev/fd0
mcopy vmlinuz-rs6k-2.4.21-0.13mdk a:zimage

Finally, you can boot in a similar fashion as you did to install:

boot floppy:,zimage root=/dev/sda2 devfs=mount

Once the system is booted, you can try to address the yaboot config (see
/usr/share/doc/yaboot-1.3.9/README.rs6000 for info on using yaboot on
RS6000), or fall back to the FAT formatted partition technique.

FAT partition boot:

You can use your partition that was allocated for yaboot as a FAT partition
and place the boot kernel there for automated boot. You need to use the
vmlinuz-rs6k-2.4.21-0.13mdk kernel provided in this directory, with
integrated SCSI and ext2/ext3.

First you'll want to change the type of partition on sda1:

[root@rs6000b root]# fdisk /dev/sda

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sda: 9100 MB, 9100369920 bytes
64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 8678 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 2 2032 41 PPC PReP Boot
/dev/sda2 3 6002 6144000 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 6003 6502 512000 82 Linux swap
/dev/sda4 6503 8678 2228224 83 Linux

Command (m for help): t
Partition number (1-4): 1
Hex code (type L to list codes): 4
Changed system type of partition 1 to 4 (FAT16 <32M)

Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!

[root@rs6000b root]# urpmi mtools
installing /mnt/nfs/Mandrake/RPMS/mtools-3.9.8-3mdk.ppc.rpm

[root@rs6000b root]# mkfs.msdos /dev/sda1
mkfs.msdos 2.8 (28 Feb 2001)

Uncomment the entry for sda1 as "C:" in /etc/mtools.conf:

# First SCSI hard disk partition
drive c: file="/dev/sda1"

Using the floppy you booted the system with:

[root@rs6000b root]# mcopy a:\zimage c:\zimage

[root@rs6000b root]# mdir c:
Volume in drive C has no label
Volume Serial Number is 385E-F42A
Directory for C:/

zimage 1261891 1999-12-20 22:31 zimage
1 file 1 261 891 bytes
796 672 bytes free

Now, do a proper shutdown and use F8 again to get into Open Firmware and set
the boot settings:

setenv boot-device disk:,\zimage
setenv boot-file root=/dev/sda2 devfs=mount

Now you can boot from the hard-drive:

boot

On the next power-up, you should be able to boot from the hard-drive
automatically.

Greeting
Thomas

ichJan1970 · 04-16-2005, 02:10 AM

Hello,

it was a try to get it running, as I could get several of those machines, which was also interesting for some friends.

The Graphic-Card inside is an original IBM GXT2000 designed for CAD-tasks.

ichJan1970

Labacher · 04-18-2005, 02:06 AM

Hi,

did you get it work?

I got one with a GXT 3000 but it won't boot.
It stops everytime during boot.
No Error, nothing.

Greetings
Thomas

waynejo · 04-21-2005, 01:23 PM

I followed all of the instructions above and in the readme files.

I can boot the system from the Floppy created from vmlinuz-rs6k-2.4.21-0.13mdk using these instructions. I have edited my yaboot.conf. When I try to boot, I now get the messages:
Please wait, loading kernel. . .
Elf32 Kernel loaded . . .

Then, nothing. I heard that I was supposed to let it sit for a while. Overnight isn't long enough I suppose.

Is it Yaboot, or do I need a new kernel?

Suggestions are welcome!

Wayne

Labacher · 04-22-2005, 02:19 AM

Hi,

That is exactly the point where mine hangs too. I don't know why.

Letting it work Overnight didn't help.

Additionally I couldn't find any help in the Forums.

Failsafe boot does not help me moving on.

I also changed the graphics adapter from a GXT3000 to a standart IDE which should definetly be supported.

If I can find anything usefull i'll let you know.

greets
Thomas

waynejo · 04-25-2005, 02:53 PM

Obviously, I'm a newbie, but here is what I'm working on.

I had seen posts which lead me to believe that I could copy the kernel into the PReP partition. I tried this with the default kernel with no luck.

I copied the boot kernel from my distro cd and was able to boot the system with the following string from the Open Firmware prompt:

boot floppy:zimage root=/dev/sdb2 devfs=mount

sdb2 is my root partition.

Seeing that this functioned, I then copied this image to my PReP partition.

dd if=zimage of=/dev/sda1

In open firmware:
setenv boot-device disk
setenv boot-file root=/dev/sdb2 devfs=mount.

This boots my installation, but of course, this is a stripped down kernel.

My next step is going to be to recompile the kernel. I'll have to let you know how that goes.

As far as video cards are concerned, my RS6k came with an IBM card I've never heard of. Corvette something or other. I am using an S3 Trio 64+ card I was able to borrow from the local tech school.

If I get this kernel to run, I'm going to go back and try Yaboot.

Wayne

waynejo · 05-05-2005, 06:03 PM

It's booting! I recompiled the Kernel with SCSI, EXT3, and syn53c8xx all built in. That seems to be the key.
I also was able to get Yaboot to work correctly. The 'nonvram' option is key there.

yaboot.conf is

boot=/dev/sda1
partition=3 or whatever your root partition is.
root=/dev/sda3 my root partition
timeout=30
install=/usr/lib/yaboot/yaboot
nonvram

image=/boot/vmlinuz
label = Linux
append="devfs=mount"
read-only

Next comes X. My video card isn't supported so I'll have to find something else.

Good Luck

Wayne

ErichMoraga · 10-24-2005, 05:49 PM

I found a couple of the supported graphics adapters on page 119 of the IBM Redbook SG246033 ("Linux Applications on pSeries"):

2830 GXT130P
2848 GXT135P

-Erich

http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redbooks/pdfs/sg246033.pdf