All right, put it this way (was Re: Can FC4.ppc ...)

[beartooth]

On Sun, 07 Aug 2005 14:51:40 -0400, Jurvis LaSalle wrote:

> On Aug 6, 2005, at 10:40 PM, beartooth wrote:
> 
>> Then how do I get YDL4, installed & updated & running fine, to boot to
>> ANY CD not from Terrasoft? Is that a YDL question??

> This isn't a YDL question.  OpenFirmware (OF) should be able to boot
> from your cd provided it *is* bootable without ever getting yaboot or
> YDL involved. Have you tried holding down the option key when you hear
> the startup chime?  OF should then present a screen of bootable OSs for
> you to choose from (give it time- it's enumerating your entire device
> tree and looking for OSs).

The option key?? No. I've looked hard, and been asking in several places
after that, and never so much as seen it mentioned. What I did see
mentioned was the C key; that's why I tried it.

Holding the option key does produce a different result, but a cryptic one.
I see three things on the screen, none of which has a name, nor any
explanation if I hold the cursor over it. All three seem to be buttons.

One on the left is an arrow in the shape, more or less, of the letter C,
with the point at the top right, inside a rectangle.

One on the right is an arrow pointing straight to the right, in a
rectangle with a bordering line.

One above the other two, larger, appearing to be pressed, looks like a
large piece of sheet metal, taller than wide, with some indentations which
make it resemble a 1930-ish French automobile seen from the rear; at its
bottom right corner is what seems to be a sitting penguin, possibly the
same image of Tux that YDL uses.

I presumed the auto-plus-penguin to mean "click or hit enter (since it
appears pressed) in order to boot YDL." Then the curved arrow might mean
reboot.

So I clicked on the straight arrow. It showed me the usual boot message,
offering linux or dcrom; I hit C. It changed back to the previous screen
with the cryptic buttons.

Same thing with the auto-penguin button.

The round arrow produced a tiny image of a watch with the hands spinning,
then eventually a click from the cdrom drive, and no other result, even
after several minutes.

Maybe the ISO really is defective, despite the sums checking? I've been
trying to find that out, too, for several days -- on the fedora lists,
where I presume it belongs. No answer so far.

> If this doesn't work, please privately send me a URL to this troublesome
> ISO.  I have a little spare time and a blank CD that I could donate to
> getting this problem off the list.

Thanks for the implied offer. I have plenty of CDs, and a download&burn
guru; I didn't mean to raise that issue here, but to find out if there
were indeed some trick such as the option key which, apparently, only the
Apple-initiated know. (My d&b guru knows no more of Apples than I.)

The command I downloaded the ISOs with contains no URL, but an ftp address
(all one line, despite formatting here) : 

 wget -N -nd --passive-ftp
 ftp://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/4/ppc/iso/FC4-ppc-disc?.iso

If RedHat's own server has a defective ISO, I guess I just let the whole
thing rest for some months, till it gets replaced. I just wish I knew
that, or could get any answer to my queries on the fedora lists about it.

And if the problem really isn't YDL refusing for some reason to boot a CD,
as it appeared to me to be, then indeed I see the irrelevancy. In that
case, pray accept my apologies. I'll endeavor not to pursue the issue
further here, unless I can report a one-line solution, in the form of a
URL, for anyone else who may also imagine it appropriate here.

My thanks to all for their patience.

-- 
Beartooth Neo-Redneck, Linux Evangelist
FC4, YDL 4; Pine 4.63, Pan 0.14.2.91; Privoxy 3.0.3; 
Dillo 0.8.5, Opera 8.01, Firefox 1.0.4, Epiphany 1.6.1
Remember that I have little idea what I am talking about.