Handbook:PPC64/Blocks/Booting

Default: Booting the installation CD on an Apple/IBM
Place the installation CD in the CD-ROM and reboot the system. Hold down the key at bootup. A friendly message will show up together with a boot: prompt at the bottom of the screen.

On this prompt, the default Linux kernel (called gentoo) can be booted, which will boot up from the installation CD further.

Some kernel options can be tweaked at this prompt. The following table lists the available boot options that can be added:

At this prompt, hit enter, and a complete Gentoo Linux environment will be loaded from the CD.

IBM pSeries
On the IBM pSeries, the CD should autoboot, but sometimes it does not. In that case, set up the CD-ROM as a bootable device in the multi-boot menu. If a monitor and a keyboard is attached, then the multi-boot menu can be reached by pressing the key on startup. However, if the system is reached through the serial console, then press. Press the key when the beginning of the following line on the serial console is visible:

The other option is to jump into Open Firmware and do it from there:
 * 1) Boot into Open Firmware: same procedure as getting into multi-boot (described a few lines above), but use  and  instead of  and.
 * 2) Run the command
 * 3) Stand back and enjoy!

Setting keyboard layout
On the console, a root (#) prompt will become visible. It is also possible to switch to other consoles by pressing and holding + then, , or. Get back to the initial prompt by pressing ++.

When installing Gentoo on a system with a non-US keyboard, use loadkeys to load the keymap for the keyboard. To list the available keymaps, execute on the  directory:

Load the keymap of choice with the command:

Another common option would be the QWERTY PC110 key configuration: