Re: Local boot on OFW 2.4 Beige G3?

[Michael <macallan%netbsd.org@localhost>]

Hello,

On Nov 30, 2008, at 11:18 AM, Donald Lee wrote:

> I'm also impressed with the improvements in the installer and the  
> boot CD.
> One of the things I tried was to put the disk I want to use in an  
> OFW 3
> machine.  Booting from the CD, installing to disk, and booting from  
> that
> disk is chid's play.  Cool.
>
> OK.  That said, OFW 2.4 is a pain.

Yup. Worst Apple OF ever.

> I have tried several approaches.  The one I have not tried is netboot.
> Netboot for various reasons is off the table for me.  If I can't boot
> locally, this machine is not very useful.

I had to netboot my beige G3 ( with OF 2.0F1 ) in order to install  
anything at all. No way to boot NetBSD from CD and I didn't have any  
floppies sitting around.

> I have tried booting the CD - quite a few tries and quite a few  
> variations
> on OFW commands and settings.  From the docs, it sounds like it simply
> doesn't work.

That's my experience as well.

What you need is:
Find an OSX install CD. Release doesn't matter, I tried 10.2 through  
10.4, they all work. Boot the OSX CD, let it reboot, wait for the  
installer to come up ( in 10.2's case ) or the complaining ( later  
releases that don't support the G3 anymore but still install the right  
OF patches ), then reboot into OF and continue, do the usual settings  
and so on.
Now it's time to try booting NetBSD. Don't even attempt it without the  
step above - it won't get you anywhere. Booting from CD will still not  
work but netboot or floppies should get you far enough to install on a  
harddisk and get it bootable.

good luck
Michael