YDL 2.2 on PowerPC 5400 install problems

[Simon White]

Hello,

I am trying to install YDL 2.2 on a PowerPC 5400, 32Mb RAM, 2Gb disk. I
prepared the disk with 100Mb for MacOS 7.6.1 (only system CD I could get
my hands on), the BootX extension didn't work, but if I boot with
extensions disabled I can go to the System Folder, launch BootX settings,
and boot successfully into Linux. Note: the 100Mb had to be the first
partition because MacOS 7.6.1 Disk tools do not seem to allow me to set
anything else.

After trial and error I found the text install, plus 22000 for initial ram
disk size, plus no video driver works best for me. Kernel 2.2 will not
boot - the disk whirrs but I get no video no matter what I set, so I'm
using the 2.4 kernel.

So far so good. Then, the partitioning kept screwing up. It seems that
there is not enough checking in the partitioning routines, they seem
rather suspect. I was getting out of memory errors and other problems, but
these were avoided (eventually) by Option-F2 and then using parted. Using
custom install, I convinced the installer that the partitions were fine,
and all seemed to be going well... I can get to the package installing. If
I choose Custom Packages, it appears that there is no dependency checking
afterwards. I tried anyway and got crashes with a kernel oops as soon as
the first RPM started installing.

So I chose Home/Office and the same thing. Crash at the time it tries to
install RPMS, with a kernel oops.

My partitions are like this:

hda1-4 internal Mac partioning stuff
hda5 - 100MB  hfs  - MacOS 7.6.1
hda6 - 10MB   hfs  - linux boot
hda7 - 128MB  swap 
hda8 - 1750MB ext2 - linux

So the installer seems a bit strange, perhaps not quite fine-tuned enough.
Would appreciate a workaround solution. YDL is mounting the correct
partitions in the correct places (/dev/hda8 -> /tmp/root) and (/dev/hda7
-> swap) initialise correctly. Not sure about hda6 though.

-- 
[Simon White. vim/mutt. simon@mtds.com. GIMPS:83.85% see www.mersenne.org]
We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to
the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his
children smart.  -- H.L.Mencken