Is Ubuntu giving up on the PPC platform?

[Larry Grover]

Brian Durant wrote:
> Hi Larry,
> 
> Nice to hear from you again. I have the yaboot.conf issue solved, Here 
> was the solution for that:
> 
> ofpath /dev/sda
> /ht at 0,f2000000/pci at 3/k2-sata-root at c/k2-sata at 0/disk at 0:
> 
> ofpath /dev/sdb
> /k2-sata at 0/disk at 0:
> 
> sudo mv /usr/sbin/ofpath /usr/sbin/ofpath.orig
> 
> cd /usr/sbin
> 
> sudo wget -P . http://people.redhat.com/pnasrat/ofpath
> 
> chmod 755 ofpath


Ah, so the problem was with the ofpath binary distributed by Ubuntu? 
Hopefully Dapper gets a less buggy version.  Did you file this bug on 
Malone, along with your solution?


> sudo ofpath /dev/sda
> /ht at 0,f2000000/pci at 3/k2-sata-root at c/k2-sata at 0/disk at 0:
> 
> sudo ofpath /dev/sdb
> /ht at 0,f2000000/pci at 3/k2-sata-root at c/k2-sata at 1/disk at 0:
> 
> sudo ybin -v
> 
> Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to get yaboot to boot default 
> into OS X yet. I tried "default=macosx", but no luck.


You might check the yaboot manpage and see if it is possible to use an 
open firmware path in the "default=..." line.  The "default" option may 
work if you can specify an of path rather than use the shorthand "macosx".


> With regards to the kernel issue, I see two possibilities as I believe 
> we have talked about before:
> 
> 1) The patch that you are talking about. I don't know what the patch 
> would be called. Maybe something with windfarm_9.1.


I'm not sure either, but I image someone on the debian-powerpc list can 
point you to the correct patch.


> 2) Installing the latest build of the stable (2.6) using pmac_defconfig, 
> i.e. latest build 2.6.15.4. This can be found at:
> 
> http://www.ppckernel.org/kernel.php?id=74
> 
> Unfortunately, as a newbie to Linux, I don't have the overview to really 
> know which is the easiest and simplest way to do this. What do you suggest?


Installing a precompiled binary kerenel is bound to be easier and 
quicker (if it works).  The installation instructions are straight 
forward, so you might as well give it a try:
http://www.ppckernel.org/installation.php

Just make sure that you leave an old, working kernel installed and leave 
a stanza for it in your yaboot.conf file, so that you can boot into the 
old kernel in case the 2.6.15.4. kernel from ppckernel.org doesn't work. 
   I assume you are familiar enough with the yaboot.conf file by now to 
figure this out?

But I also suggest that you try patching and compiling your own kernel. 
   It's a good skill to know.  It is a bit involved, and it does takes 
some time, but it you have a good how-to or guide to follow, it is not 
really very hard.

Regards,
Larry