[Debian-ppc64-devel] IBM pSeries 650 and powerpc versus ppc64

[Gavin Hamill]

Hi - after some struggling I managed to get Debian sarge (well, a late
snapshot of it..) on this 8-way IBM box using the instructions at

http://debian.gonicus.de/debian/dists/testing/main/disks-powerpc/current/pseries/install.txt

This is working quite well, but it comes with a 2.6.11 kernel without
headers or source, so I can't compile the 'oprofile' module I
need for some development work.

So, I stumbled on http://debian-ppc64.alioth.debian.org/ however I see
the arch type has changed from powerpc to ppc64, so I can't simply
install the linux-image-2.6.15 from

http://debian-ppc64.alioth.debian.org/pool/main/l/linux-2.6/

since whilst I'm sure I could convince Yaboot to start, the whole
rootfs would likely be useless given it's been compiled for a different
arch.

What can I do to 'sidegrade' archs without involving a full reinstall
because I don't think my nerves could take another one of those :D The
service processor / openfirmware stuff is just too terrifying!

Would it be feasible to make a new ext3 partition, run debootstrap in
it for ppc64, manually fish out the vmlinux+initrd files from the
linux-image-2.6.15, and then point yaboot at the new partition instead
of the 'powerpc' one?

Cheers,
Gavin.