Handbook Talk:PPC/Installation/Base

Installation instructions for Powerbook G4
Hi, I have installed Gentoo on a powerbook G4 using the ISO file with a USB drive. The process is a bit tricky and I can help include it in the wiki. Please let me know how do I add the info. Here is rough outline:

. mount the iso image on loopback . create fat32 partition on a usb . cp -r all files from the iso . edit yaboot.conf and change dev from "cd" to "ud" . use "devalias" to find the usb disk is name ud                                                                                           . dir ud:1,\ to list file system . boot ud:1,\boot\yaboot


 * Hi, thank you for the information. I will alert the PPC team. Because it contains installation critical information, the Handbook can only be edited by Gentoo developers. You did the right thing by opening a discussion here. Please remember to also sign your discussions with the Signature & Timestamp button in the edit menu. Kind regards, --Maffblaster (talk) 22:45, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

Cool. Thanks a lot! --Min.xu (talk) 22:49, 3 April 2017 (UTC)


 * I alerted them. Hopefully someone will eventually get around to replying to you! If not, you poke admins in the IRC channel: . :) --Maffblaster (talk) 22:52, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

Hi, I try to do the same thing and am to lazy to get out an old PC with a CD burner installed.


 * Nowadays the iso-image does not include yaboot anymore so the process is slightly different.

On another Linux computer do
. export USB_DRIVE=/dev/sdg # adjust this to your needs . # dump the iso on a USB drive for ex.: . dd if=install-powerpc-minimal-20190720T101002Z.iso of=${USD_DRIVE} bs=1M conv=notrunc,noerror,sync . # remove all partitions in the partition table otherwise the drive gets ignored during bootup . # see line "If disk and it has at least one partition, skip." in ppc32.igz:/etc/initrd.scripts . fdisk ${USB_DRIVE} .  -> d  .   -> w

Now connect the USB drive to the Powerbook G4 and start in OpenFirmware mode ⌘+⌥+🄾+🄵.
. # find the propper USB device - look for disk@1 . dev / ls . # in my case: found under /usb@1b . # find the propper alias - look for /pci@f20000000/usb@1b . devalias . # in my case: usb1 . # start the grub boot loader . boot usb1/disk@1:,\boot\grub\powerpc.elf . # be patient this takes 2-3 minutes . # choose in the grub menu: "kernel: ppc32"
 * Done. The LiveCD should now booting. MoeDathstern (talk) 10:14, 30 July 2019 (UTC)


 * This is great info. It saved my day. It initially didn't work for me. I found out that I had to `dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX` to wipe the entire USB stick first. Otherwise, grub fails to load the partition table or something related to unknown file system.