Mandrake 8.2 on PPC 9600

[miggs]

Hey all,

This is my first post on this forum and I had a couple questions for the linux wizards...

I am extremely new to linux, only a couple of hours in, but I'm extremely excited about it. I am trying to install mandrake 8.2 on an old ppc 9600. I've finally figured out all the partition hoohah and gotten the hummer to install. When it is done installing, I reboot and then I have to figure out how to get back into linux. I guess my question is how do i launch linux after it's installed. I used boot-x to install, and i chose the ramdisk supplied by mandrake for installation. I just can't figure out how to have it boot to the disk i just installed to. SOrry if that doesn't make any sense.

Another question I have is:

Is it even worth it to install mandrake or linux on the 9600? My goal is to use it as an e-mail server and webserver for a small amount of people. i'll probably also use mysql. If you don't think that the machine is fast enough to handle this, maybe I should just use a newer machine and avoid some of these headaches.

Anyhoo, thanks in advance for your response, and i look forward to joining the wonderful yet sometimes confusing world of linux.

[solo]

Welcome miggs :D ! It's good to have another Mac person around here.

You should be able to boot back into Linux from BootX. Just make sure that the boot arguments for BootX do not mention the kernel for Mandrake, and it should boot just fine (otherwise, it may try to install Mandrake again). Follow the instructions for BootX, so that it will be the first thing you see when you first power up your Mac. Sorry, but it's been a while since I've used BootX, but I think it's got something to do with it being located in your system folder... Check your documentation to make sure though.


... Is it even worth it to install mandrake or linux on the 9600? My goal is to use it as an e-mail server and webserver for a small amount of people. i'll probably also use mysql. If you don't think that the machine is fast enough to handle this, maybe I should just use a newer machine and avoid some of these headaches....


That's up to you. Give Linux a try on this machine; setting everything up that you want to run. Only then will you know if the system will meet your demands.

[miggs]

Thanks for the response solo. I appreciate it.

Well, I think i have it setup right. I've got boot-x in the control panels, and i've got the boot-x extension in the extensions folder. I also have the kernel included on the Mandrake 8.2 PPC disk. (Not the one used for installation)


When I choose linux on the bootup, it launches into linux and shows me the following screen and it hangs there:

Linux 2.4.18-6.1mdk

PCI:01:0e.0: Resource 1: ff7fe400-ff7fe4ff (f=101)
Macintosh CUDA driver v0.5 for Unified ADB.
Linux Net4.0 for Linux 2.4
Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039
Initializing RT netlink socket
Thermal assist unit not available
Starting kswapd
VFS: Disquotas version dquot_6.5.0 initialized
devfs: v1.10 (20020120) Richard Gooch (rgooch@atnf.csiro.au)
atyfb: using auxilary register aperture
atyfb: 3D RAGE (GT) [0x4754 rev 0x41] 4M SGRAM, 14.31818 MHz XTAL, 170 MHz PLL, 67MHz MCLK
atyfb: monitor sense=60b, mode 15
Console: switching to colour frame bugger device 80x30
fb0: ATY Mach64 frame buffer device on PCI
MacOS display is /bandit/ATY,XCLAIM3D
input0: Macintosh mouse button emulation
pty: 256 Unix98 ptys configured
block: 128 slots per queue, batch=32
RAMDISK driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 4096K size 1024 blocksize
Uniform Multi-platform E-IDE driver Revision: 6.31
ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; overrider with idebus=xx



I don't know what all this means, but I'm thinking maybe it's not seeing my /root drive because i need to load in scsi drivers? It's just a thought. Any help would be most appreciated.

[solo]

Yeah... The 9600's HD is SCSI alright; but the installation should have taken care of that for you :confused: . Possibly I shouldn't speculate, as I've not installed the PPC flavor of Mandrake before.

See if you can boot 'Drake from the CD; if you can, check your modules to make sure SCSI support is loaded. If so... Then I'm at a loss for what to do next.

[miggs]

thanks for the response solo,

One other thing I tried was using the same kernel i used for install, but without the ramdisk. I specified /dev/sda6 as the root as before. I know this is right, because not only did i install it this way, but i double checked it with pdisk. It goes through to launch, but gets the error:

Kernel Panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 08:06

drat. so close.

I don't think i could boot from the cd. I had to unstuff items in order to install it originally. I would also then be beyond my limited linux knowledge base.

Too bad all this stuff doesn't work as easily as my old atari 2600. Cartridge in, button switched, and all the "river raid" action I could handle. I could even switch it to black and white and then back...no lock ups. Glorious.

Now i get scratched discs...too many buttons, and I'm networking my games. Although great, sometimes i just want river raid.

[solo]

... Too bad all this stuff doesn't work as easily as my old atari 2600. Cartridge in, button switched, and all the "river raid" action I could handle. I could even switch it to black and white and then back...no lock ups. Glorious. ...


Heh... Reminds me of my old Radio Shack Color Computer :) . Computers are very different now; but I do wish I'd kept my old co-co.