3.0 install w no CD?

Sun Sep 14 08:56:01 2003

Andrew:

I am a Linux newbie, so I don't know all your YDL answers. But, I own a  
Wallstreet PowerBook G3 (currently running YDL), so I might be able to  
address those questions.

On Sunday, September 14, 2003, at 12:34  AM, Andrew Stout wrote:
> I have a Wallstreet G3 Powerbook that I'd like to put YDL 3.0 on, so I  
> can take steps towards becoming a genuine linux user. The catch is,  
> this computer has seen better days:  the cd-rom drive and battery are  
> both shot, as is (I think) the clock battery.

As you suspect, you might be able to get by without the main battery  
(but you will be much happier with *some* battery power -- $80-90 on  
eBay). The clock battery (PRAM battery, actually) is a bigger issue,  
however. Many Macs will not even boot without a PRAM battery. If you  
are having problems beyond remembering the date and time, you might  
consider replacing the PRAM battery ($12 at Radio Shack).

> It's got a new hard drive (20 Gig) and plenty of RAM (288 Meg).

Nice!

> But the cdrom presents a bit of a problem. How can I get YDL onto this  
> computer?
>
> I have at my disposal, in addition to the target computer, the  
> following tools:
> - YDL 3.0 CDs, burned from iso 'cause I'm a broke student
> - An external SCSI CD burner (4x write, ?x read), which connects to  
> the Wallstreet
> - An external SCSI 8G hard drive, which also connects to the Wallstreet

There is no reason I can imagine that you cannot use the external SCSI  
CD to install YDL from the CD-ROMs quite normally. If, for some reason,  
that does not work, I believe you can copy the CDs to the internal or  
the external hard drive, and install from there (I am a little more  
fuzzy on the details for that approach).

> - A phat PBG4 running OS X, in good working order

Cool!

> - A Netgear ethernet switch, connected to a cable modem, and plenty of  
> patch cables

When you install YDL, it wouldn't hurt to be attached to the cable  
modem. This will help in configuring your network connection, greatly  
speed up the boot process, and allow you to install the many megabytes  
of updates to YDL that were made available since the disk images were  
burned. For instructions on installing updates, check out

<http://www.yellowdoglinux.com/support/solutions/ydl_general/yum.shtml>

> The most obvious solution would be if I could boot off the SCSI  
> interface...anybody know how to tell my Wallstreet to do that?

The Wallstreet is an "Old World" Macintosh, which means you must boot  
off a normal Mac OS partition for installation and every time before  
booting up Yellow Dog Linux. A Control Panel called BootX is essential  
for this process. This is less complicated than it sounds, and is  
described well in the Yellow Dog documentation (which you should read  
thoroughly!):

<http://www.yellowdoglinux.com/support/installation/ydl3.0_guide- 
double.pdf>

Good luck, and give us a report of your progress!

Best wishes,
Clint

-- 
Dr. Clinton C. MacDonald | <mailto:clint dot macdonald AT sbcglobal dot  
net>