From owner-freebsd-ppc@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Nov 5 19:45:07 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-ppc@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EA24B16A468 for ; Mon, 5 Nov 2007 19:45:07 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from voltechs@gmail.com) Received: from wa-out-1112.google.com (wa-out-1112.google.com [209.85.146.179]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BA0C913C491 for ; Mon, 5 Nov 2007 19:45:07 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from voltechs@gmail.com) Received: by wa-out-1112.google.com with SMTP id k17so2228754waf for ; Mon, 05 Nov 2007 11:44:57 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=beta; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition; bh=LWRjH3RVYBfHHZL2+5L6vkU0sET3hbGgrnmZF7MZZJM=; b=Bh+OmTNJwXB0+tyXg4HObbwF1Ico/AuhI99rmavtBNPsySiZam9UQPMrwJxPQKMekojhnTbwUS3rU/I/HYoV30ohpFw9QgwU15QGqPN7ctKmesE9MT3XYPglsUkl25o1uWmfiZIsnfp0RmHZdIdvpJydZAFv7Rr7rR10/ovBlPM= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=beta; h=received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition; b=Qq276lV0syu/YyvJY51IaiaPLKLZuYZhnAkCtxdWJu1McWp/HgKouAIWyGBhghv0hQGKSCt7z/IHH3GggTCe3NWytzwn4sxBwfCq3+70jwWwKJXBcCf0bQO0xhvuvwA376YjBRUuKir8tlwxaB9eK0zOqKPO/Wg0JOaGod6BbWU= Received: by 10.114.76.1 with SMTP id y1mr5462289waa.1194290152160; Mon, 05 Nov 2007 11:15:52 -0800 (PST) Received: by 10.114.39.7 with HTTP; Mon, 5 Nov 2007 11:15:52 -0800 (PST) Message-ID: <8b25751b0711051115t4e592458n929b57ee021467b1@mail.gmail.com> Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2007 11:15:52 -0800 From: "Robin Stevens" To: freebsd-ppc@freebsd.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Subject: Installing FreeBSD 6.2 on PowerPC 7400 (G4) X-BeenThere: freebsd-ppc@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Porting FreeBSD to the PowerPC List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 05 Nov 2007 19:45:08 -0000 Hey guys. I'm about to install FreeBSD 6.2 (or attempt to) on my PowerPC 7400 (G4) 400Mhz Tower. Specs: http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g4/stats/powermac_g4_400_agp.html I tried a day ago, but ran into problems, and well, I tried installing some other distributions. My first attempt after FreeBSD was NetBSD. I was having problems with that too, so I THOUGHT I was installing OpenBSD, but I had put the wrong disc in the drive, and ended up installing Debian (which btw, was very easy, so that was nice). Well, Debian isn't what I'm used too. I'm used to BSD's and frankly, I feel they are more stable, but thats another topic. So then I went back to trying to install NetBSD, and gave up on that. So I switched to OpenBSD, but that was even more cryptic. I gave up on FreeBSD because I thought it was impossible ( or really difficult because there wasn't "official" support for PPC ). Anyway, 'nuff said. I've gained some good experience from those other distributions. I'm ready to tackled my favorite again (FreeBSD). I'm pretty sure the reason why it was failing before was that I didn't understand partitioning very well. I know what partitioning is, but I'll admit, I didn't do my homework on filesystem types etc. So, armed with this new knowledge, here is what I'm going to attempt. I was hoping I could get some feedback on if it sounds reasonable or not, and if any of you know common pitfalls, could give me a heads up. Partitions: 4.00 MBs of HSF+ (Mac OS Extended) for /boot 256.00 MBs of HSF+ (Mac OS Extended) for swap *.00 GBs of HSF+ (Mac OS Extended) for / (root) So I'll have three partitions. I think that should be enough. I've got 6.2 iso on a CD-R, and I'll be booting off that from the mac (either with the 'C' key or via OpenFirmware) Once there, I will follow the instructions on screen, and partition ( apparently I do it again here? I'm not sure, maybe its just telling FreeBSD which partitions to use ) my / (root). Then I guess I need to drop down into 'disklabel' and tell it to use my swap partition as the swap. I'm not sure how to accomplish this without interrupting the installation process. Tips/explainations on this would be great. I'll try and document my steps with your help and write a small tutorial that is really straightforward for more novice users like myself. So anyway, once I get all my partitions set up (I really think this is where I was borking it) I'll pick developer or minimal (I like installing things myself) and just let it do its thing. Cross my fingers, and try not to pull my hair out. What do you all think? Sorry for the HUGE email :) Thanks for bearing with me. Cheers, -- Robin