[Debian-ppc64-devel] Successful installation in an OpenPower 720 Express

[Harald Görl]

Sven Luther wrote:
>>On an OpenPower 720 the CD from Uni Augsburg worked fine.
> 
> What about the official etch/sid debian-installer images ?

Hi Sven, Roberto, *.
All of the debian-installer images (sarge/sid) i know don't have the 
correct directory/file structure on the cdrom's filesystem to boot from 
a IBM RS6k chrp machine. (Perhaps the NEWEST have it, then excuse me for 
this posting!)

Beside all of the Debian directories and files the cd MUST have also:

1. A directory /ppc containing a file bootinfo.txt. This file should 
have the following content (or similar):

<chrp-boot>
<description>Debian/GNU Linux Installation on OpenPower 720</description>
<os-name>Debian/GNU Linux for OpenPower</os-name>
<boot-script>boot &device;:\ppc\chrp\yaboot</boot-script>

2. A directory /ppc/chrp/ and a "yaboot" executable at the place which 
is given in bootinfo.txt. In this example in /ppc/chrp/. If you place 
the yaboot executable in another dir, that is fine but you MUST have 
this directory /ppc/chrp/ which could also be empty.

3. A directory for yaboot configuration, which is /etc/ with the yaboot 
config "yaboot.conf" in it, containing something like this:

init-message = "\nWelcome to Debian/GNU Linux on OpenPower\nPress <TAB> 
Key for boot options.\n"
timeout=600
default=linux

image=/vmlinux
     label=linux
     initrd=/initrd.gz
     read-only


That's it. And that's the way IBM RS6k machines (OpenFirmware/SMS) are 
booting Linux, AIX or whatever.

To be complete here:
To create the cd just create this directory structure in the filesystem 
and then do:

1. mkisofs -r -U -chrp-boot -o boot.iso Directory-Structure/
2. cdrecord -v dev=ATAPI:0,0 -dao boot.iso

Have a nice day,
Harald