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Yellow Dog Linux 2.3 Released
pinqkandi writes "Yesterday, TerraSoft Solutions announced its next generation of its PowerPC Linux, Yellow Dog 2.3. New in this version is Kernel 2.4.19, KDE 3.0.1, CUPS printing, and OpenOffice 1.0, among other updates of included applications. It is available immediately from TerraSoft's online store for $30, or $60 if you want personal support for 60 days."
Kernel.org says 2.4.19rc1
Free Mac Mini
This is my experience with installing Potato Debian on my iBook DVD, using the
/home (home) /opt (opt)
/dev/hda9 -m /target/etc/ofboot.b --root /dev/hda10 --partition 10 /target/etc/yaboot.conf. Here is what it looks like after all the
= /boot/yaboot
/target/etc/yaboot.conf -m /target/etc/ofboot.b
rev0 CDs. I know this story is about YDL, but a lot of people do not realize that Debian and Mandrake works just as fine on Apple hardware. And thus this walkthrough, hope it's helpful, give it a try.
This is not a Guide to Debian installation, rather a step-by-step
guide (doh!). And write down what you're doing (especially partition numbers,
that the reason why I'm writing this and reinstalling everything from scratch
for the second time)
Enjoy.
Instructions
------------
1. Boot the laptop with the iBook install, by pressing "C" during the chime
sound
2. Launch the Drive Setup, on the CD, in the Utilities directory
3. I created 2 partitions. First one is the Linux Place Holder, one big fat
partition that we'll split into all your Linux partitions during the Debian
install process. The second one is for MacOS. You might want to create 3
partitions (respectivily for Linux, MacOS, and an HFS one for sharing files
between Linux and MacOS). I'm only using MacOS to play DVDs, so it's no big
deal for me.
4. Install MacOS on the MacOS drive (don't install on the place holder for
Linux!)
5. Reboot the 'puter, it should work, otherwise bring your iBook back to the
shop and jump off a cliff.
6. Now that we're sure that the iBook and MacOS works, reboot up, and press
Option-Apple-O-F during the chime to access the Open Firmware.
7. type in "boot cd:\\yaboot". Try "boot cd:\install\powermac\yaboot" if the
former fails.
8. On the yaboot prompt, enter "debian video=aty128fb:vmode:10:depth:8:" where
debian is the name of the image you're gonna be using to boot (hit to
list the available ones).
9. Select your keyboard, and Partition your HD, following Ethan Benson's
mac-fdisk-basics.txt (see at the bottom for URL).
11. At this point I have this kind of partitioning:
hda1 to hda8: MacOS crap
hda9: Apple_Bootstrap partition
hda10: / (root)
hda11: swap
hda12:
hda13:
hda14: MacOS
(...Later...)
10. When asked if you want to "Make Linux Bootable Directly From Hard Disk",
get to another console and get a shell (on the iBook, it's a bit dodgy,
keep pressed in this order Apple-fn-F2).
11. Run this line to get your bootstrap partition initialized:
mkofboot --boot
12. In the present state, you wouldn't be able to boot Linux because of the
(lack of) novideo option in the default yaboot.conf
Edit the
editing:
boot=/dev/hda9
device=hd:
timeout=20
install
magicboot=/boot/ofboot.b
image=/vmlinux
label=Linux
root=/dev/hda10
read-only
partition=10
append = "video=aty128fb:vmode:10:depth:8:"
13. Run that to be able to run Linux:
ybin -C
14. Reboot the system, and get into the Open Firmware again
15. To boot your linux system, type in:
boot hd:9,yaboot
(...Later...)
16. Voila, you still need to configure your computer (X-Window, dial-up,
desktop...), but at least it will boot up normally =)
17. to boot up by default with Linux, run "setenv boot-device hd:9,yaboot"
within the Open Firmware. Press the Option key during the chime to boot
MacOS.
I thought the 2.4.19 was just a normal slashdot typo, but it appears that they are listing 2.4.19 on their website.
" YDL 2.3 surpasses YDL 2.2 with an array of timely updates, improvements: kernel 2.4.19, the 'Liquid' theme, CUPS print system, apt-get, OpenOffice 1.0, Mozilla 0.9.9, Galeon 1.2, Evolution 1.0.5, AbiWord 1.0.2, netatalk 1.5.3.1, and support for the Radeon 7500 (excluding 'Mobility') video card. "
Perhaps they have a typo or they are running a beta kernel or something. . . Could be they just have a typo on the site and let it alone to generate more interest in their distro?
Ah who knows. . .
Mac-On-Linux virtualizes a Powerpc chip and allows MacOS to run on a virtual terminal. With a little work, even networking works well. The speed feels just like a native boot on my 400Mhz Pismo. Video is a bit slow because it's just a framebuffer with no accelleration. It's plenty fast enough for things like Office even if games don't play well.
It requires kernel modules that are built against the kernel running on the machine so you will need a good source tree to go along with your kernel. I mention this because many Powerpc Linux users go with precompiled kernels. MOL can be had from:
http://www.maconlinux.org/
For the most part, G3 and G4 towers, iMacs, and portables. That isn't too much variety of hardware. Yet no one can get it right! Every linux on PPC I've tried has suffered from some terrible screwup!
The computer I was trying to use was an iBook2, about a year old. YDL, Mandrake, Suse, they all claim to support it. Yet no one can make the Airport card work as part of the install process! Sound frequently doesn't work, (i.e works in KDE but not Gnome or vice versa), and video problems abound.
It seems that for the most part these guys just copy what's already available in x86 land. I'm no programmer, so maybe I'm just misinformed. But would it REALLY be that hard to write a bit of code to enable the Airport card during the install? After all, there is only ONE card you need to support, Apple's! Instead, every PPC linux makes you dig up a how-to, type some command line mumbo jumbo, sacrifice a chicken, etc. I never could get it working.
Yellow Dog Linux is also Free (as in Beer). Just like everyone else, they don't exactly make it easy for you to download the free ISO versions. You can FTP into ftp.yellowdoglinux.com anonymously. They don't have the ISO's up for the new version, but Pomona (2.1) and Rome (2.2) are there, and you can download all the new packages for 2.3.
What I like about Yellow Dog Linux? Unlike other Linux companies, Terrasoft is actually expanding the scope of Linux by offering practical solutions built around the dynamite combination of PowerPC processors and Linux. I could shill all day about the Yellow briQ Node and the Black Lab Clustering distribution, but it just would'nt be dignified. They've also got a kickass 2U rackmount dual PPC Linux based server, which offers a wonderful alternative to Apples XServe.
AFAIC, YDL deserves my $30, and non-linux types would be well served by the supported $60 version (better than Micro$hafts support). Like our friends Google, they're actually bringing legitimacy to linux, and helping push it into the public.
Try running OSX on a PowerPC 7100, or a 6116CD. YDL will run swimmingly as a straight server, and is competitive to MacOS 8.6 (the last truly stable MacOS) while offering a helluva lot more features.
OSX is bloated, but not overly so. Wait for the G5 processors to appear.
Okay, all you trolls complaining about Terrasoft charging for linux need to log on to ftp.yellowdoglinux.com where you'll find ISO's for 2.1 and 2.2 avialable for download, as well as all the new packages for 2.3.
Moreover, YDL isn't doing anything anyone else isn't doing. Charging for support and distribution. I'd pay $30 for the shirt it comes with.
You should alse look at what else YDL is doing to further Linux: The Yellow briQ Node, Black Lab clustering server, and a 2U rack mounted server that makes X-Serve look bloated.
These guys rocs like google does.