Re: multi-architecture powerpc CD?

[Tim Rightnour <root%garbled.net@localhost>]

On 01-May-2008 Michael Lorenz wrote:
>> 2) What is the method of making the cd bootable on macppc?  For  
>> prep we write a
>> fdisk partition to the head of the iso image.  Is that incompatible  
>> with macppc?
> 
> Don't think so - IIRC all Apple OF versions can read ofwboot.xcf from  
> an ISO 9660 filesystem.
> I wouldn't be surprised if at least old world OF also understands  
> prep bootable CDs ( or whatever /packages/aix-boot is for )

Well, ofppc uses a /bootinfo.txt file, which contains pointers to the ofwboot
file.  Here is a quick ls -lR:

./:
drwxr-xr-x  2 root  wheel      512 Apr 30 22:53 nbsd
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  3349845 Apr 30 22:53 netbsd
drwxr-xr-x  4 root  wheel      512 Apr 30 18:38 ofppc
-r-xr-xr-x  1 root  wheel    55604 Apr 30 18:25 ofwboot.ofppc
drwxr-xr-x  2 root  wheel      512 Apr 30 22:53 ppc

./nbsd:
-r-xr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  55604 Apr 30 18:25 ofwboot

./ppc:
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  12777 Apr 30 22:53 bootinfo.txt

Prep has an el-torrito image, and a fdisk/mbr on the head of the ISO that
points to it.

The only problem that leaves, potentially, is that your ofwboot.xcf will also
look for /netbsd, and try to boot ofppc's kernel.  Perhaps modify ofwboot on
macppc to look for netbsd.mac and netbsd.macppc first?

(Mine looks for netbsd.ofppc, but that proved problematic, as the IBM firmware
can only deal with 8.3 filenames in the CD)

I suspect newer versions of mac firmware can also deal with bootinfo.txt.  If
so, that would be an added bonus, as we could add an entry for the macppc
loader in there.

---
Tim Rightnour <root%garbled.net@localhost>
NetBSD: Free multi-architecture OS http://www.netbsd.org/
Genecys: Open Source 3D MMORPG: http://www.genecys.org/