YDL 4.0 install on OldWorld Macs

[David Wadson]

Well, I finally had some time today to try out the install on some of 
the old machines we've got kicking around. I wasn't documenting 
anything at the time so hopefully I got most of the details straight...

To begin, I copied all the files from the install CDs onto one of our 
XServes and shared them via NFS. Due to past troubles with the CD's, my 
plan was to do a network install.

First up was a Power Mac 4400/200 w/ 64MB RAM, 2GB hard drive and 
AsanteFast 10/100 NIC. I have a custom boot CD that contains Apple's 
Disk Utility and a disc image of an absolute minimal Mac OS 8.5 instal 
with BootX and YDL 3.0 kernels (install & boot) and the initial RAM 
disk image. I made a single 50MB HFS partition and copied the contents 
of my 8.5 image onto it. To the Linux Kernel folder in the System 
Folder, I added the RAM disk image from the YDL 4.0 CD and the 
vmlinux-2.6.8-1.ydl.7 kernel from...

http://shiner.info/?files/Yellow%20Dog%20Linux%204/kernel

Hopefully, my memory is accurate on this first attempt: Just booting 
regularly with BootX, the machine dumped into a weird screen with a 
"mon>" prompt and some debugging options. Assuming it didn't like the 
video hardware for a graphical installer, I rebooted and added "text" 
to the BootX options to force a text install. That worked and it booted 
into the installer. I chose NFS install and the machine asked me to 
choose a NIC driver or load one from a driver disk. This machine is 
"newer" than some of the others so I decided heck with the network 
install, I'd just try the CDs (the 4400s have been better with them). 
Plus, I was only going to do a bare minimal install so I figured it 
would only want one CD like YDL 3.0. But YDL 4 quickly foiled the CD 
install by saying I didn't have enough memory to install. Given that 
the last time I mucked with swapping RAM in a 4400, it literally drew 
blood, I said heck with this machine! Seriously...that all metal case 
with the various pieces and rails that have to be removed is a menace 
and I had no desire to slice my finger open again!

So, I moved on instead to a Power Mac 9500/120 with 80MB of RAM, 1GB 
hard drive (which I had to switch to a 2GB) and on-board ethernet. This 
one was already partitioned from a YDL 3.0 install so I just added the 
kernel and RAM disk image. The machine booted fine, again using text 
install (it's also much quicker than the graphical Anaconda). I tried 
again to do the net install, but it didn't recognize the onboard NIC. 
Not surprised...it's a rather old machine! So I added a Dlink DFE-530TX 
NIC (they're very cheap at Staples - only $19.95 CDN) how YDL 4 is no 
different than YDL 3 - it doesn't have the Via-Rhine driver built-in, 
so out with that card. I yanked a Farallon NIC (based on DEC 21140 
chipset) from a different 4400 and that was recognized.

However, I must have something configured not quite right with that 
particular XServe because I couldn't access the files for an NFS 
install. I had troubles with that when I installed the YDL 3.0 source 
onto our other Xserve. I tinkered with it a bit but still couldn't get 
the Linux box to access them. Instead I just enabled FTP access to the 
folder on the Xserve. That worked. I went through, selecting options 
the same as a YDL 3 text install. Went with a custom install and 
deselected all the options. Installing the files went fine, except that 
for some reason a bunch of the files copied to the XServe had their 
filenames chopped. I had to manually change the file names on about 15 
or 20 files but then they installed fine.

The only errors I got was at the end of the install. From the looks of 
the error message, it was when it was trying to change bootloader 
options. Being an OldWorld machine using BootX instead of Yaboot, that 
figures. Anways, I rebooted, disabled the RAM disk image, set the 
proper boot partition and it fired up. The built-in NIC was recognized 
while setting the network options during the install process so it 
appears that the YDL 4 boot disk image just doesn't have drivers for 
older machines.

Some other observations...there is no option to select individual 
packages. In order to really wean down the base install, the comps.xml 
file would have to be edited to trim down the defaults. I did that with 
YDL 3.0 in order to get only the essential system packages installed. 
Since some of my installs were on machines with minimal amounts of RAM 
and hard disk space, it's essential. The install size out of the box 
was just under 700MB. I had one aborted attempt on the 9500 when I 
tried using the 1GB drive that was in it. There wasn't enough room to 
do the install so I had to swap in a 2GB drive. The 9500 was a little 
weird about the CDs so I will be mucking with the NFS sharing on the 
XServe. Judging by the condition of the 9500's interior, there's 
probably a jumbo dust-bunny in the CD drive. :-) On the 1GB drive, it 
wouldn't autopartition for some reason so I used Disk Druid to manually 
do it. For the 2GB drive, it did auto partition.

There is only an option to set the root password - there is not option 
in the text installer to create user accounts. However, when I rebooted 
the machine, it won't login with the password I specified. Maybe I 
mistyped it or something, but it refuses to accept my login. I brought 
just the hard drive home to put into a 7200 I have sitting here so that 
I could futz with it some more - which would have worked seeing as when 
I got home and checked my email, there were posts today on how to reset 
the root password! However, the 9500 install on that drive doesn't boot 
the 7200. I see the penguin logo come up in the top left of the screen 
and that's it. Everything else is black. So I'll be taking that drive 
back to work tomorrow and will try to figure out what's up with the 
root password.

Currently I have about an assorted collection of Power Mac 9500/120, 
4400/200, 7200/120, 8500/120 and beige G3/266. Hopefully I can provide 
some more information in the coming weeks about my success (hopefully) 
or failures.

Dave