Anyone gotten Linux on a PowerBook 5300?

[Alex Cavnar, aka alc6379]

I've got a PowerBook 5300, and it seems like it's going to be impossible to get Linux on it. It doesn't have Open Firmware, so I have to use something like MkLinux to get it running.

Several people on line have said that they've gotten one of these machines running, but they don't provide any pointers or instructions... Has anyone here tried it? Any help anyone can give me would be appreciated. I've tried about 5 different kernels and 2 different bootloaders, but I've had no luck...

[Alex Cavnar, aka alc6379]

Okay, I finally figured it out, and let me tell you, it's a pain in the tail to get it going.

Once I get some spare time, I'm going to try to write up the steps I went through to do it. If I can, I'll even see if I can't get my local Linux User Group to host the HOWTO when I finish it!

[Ulixes]

I'd like to do the same. Do you have any tips or links? I actually don't really understand the MkLinux process...

[Alex Cavnar, aka alc6379]

Actually, it's easier than you might think to get MkLinux running.

Just some basic steps:

1.) Have another *NIX box with the MkLinux pre-R1 install media available by FTP. Use Fetch or some other Mac FTP software to copy over the files using binary mode with no post-processing and UNIX CR->LF conversion. You'll need nearly 600MB for this step.

2.) Grab the MkLinux Pre-R1 kernel with installer from nubus-pmac.sourceforge.net (http://nubus-pmac.sourceforge.net/). You'll also need the MkLinux booter.

3.) Use stuffit to unzip the bootloader, and the kernel you got. The kernel should be named "Mach Kernel". Put the bootloader files exactly where the instructions tell you to put them in MacOS. After you get those files copied, put Mach Kernel in your Extensions folder .

4.) Edit lilo.conf in your Preferences folder so that the line "root=" to "root=/dev/ram"

reboot, and from there you can follow the instructions on the MkLinux website. Again, I plan to try to make a full write-up HOWTO to post on my Linux User Group's website, and to the "How I did it" forum here. Only thing is, I don't know how long it will be, what with work and all...

[The_Stimpy]

Alex Cavnar, aka alc6379,
just curious, what distros did you try to use?

[Alex Cavnar, aka alc6379]

I boiled it down to two.

First, I used MkLinux. It's RedHat based, and it's outdated as CRAP. But, it was the only way I found to actually get Linux installed on the machine. I installed it onto a 250MB partition, so I could make a new Debian install in my free space.

After I did that, I used debootstrap to make a skeleton directory tree on a second partition. Then, I copied all of the debian Packages onto my MacOS partition to install from. Now I have a working Debian 3.0 system!

I haven't tried getting X to work, as I've been too busy. But, I did have it working in MkLinux, so I know that it is possible.

Getting Linux on this machine was a lot of work, but since I don't have the money to get another laptop, this was my only choice for a portable Linux box....