Booting from USB Drive

[Shawn H Corey]

Hi,

I have a PowerBook G4.  Is there any way to get it to boot from USB
drive.  I can set it up but I need the correct initrd.gz to make it work.

Has anyone tried this?  Can anyone suggest a web site?


--
Just my 0.00000002 million dollars worth,
   Shawn

Programming is as much about organization and communication
as it is about coding.

I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.


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[Gaudenz Steinlin]

On Fri, Oct 02, 2009 at 09:59:58AM -0400, Shawn H Corey wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have a PowerBook G4.  Is there any way to get it to boot from USB
> drive.  I can set it up but I need the correct initrd.gz to make it
> work.
>
> Has anyone tried this?  Can anyone suggest a web site?

AFAIK it's possible from within OpenFirmware. But there are no easy
aliases to access your USB drive. This you'll have to dig into
OpenFirmware commands.

Probably you will also need a HFS partition with yaboot on it on your
stick because OpenFirmware can only read from HFS.

Conclusion: While I believe it's possible in theory it's certainly not
an easy thing to do. Sorry I don't have any links ready, but I remember
that Colin Watson booted his Powerbook from a USB device.

Gaudenz

--
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter.
Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
~ Samuel Beckett ~

[Rogério Brito]

Hi, Shawn.

On Oct 02 2009, Shawn H Corey wrote:
> Is there any way to get it to boot from USB drive.

I don't really know, but can you use a firewire device instead? If so,
that would be supported by a good amount of Macs.

> I can set it up but I need the correct initrd.gz to make it work.

Well, you can boot a specific kernel with a specific initrd via yaboot
directly from OF, if you need it.

Branden's instructions to install Debian without (temporary) physical
media uses this method of booting.


Hope this helps, Rogério Brito.

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[Shawn H Corey]

Gaudenz Steinlin wrote:

> AFAIK it's possible from within OpenFirmware. But there are no easy
> aliases to access your USB drive. This you'll have to dig into
> OpenFirmware commands.
>
> Probably you will also need a HFS partition with yaboot on it on your
> stick because OpenFirmware can only read from HFS.
>
> Conclusion: While I believe it's possible in theory it's certainly not
> an easy thing to do. Sorry I don't have any links ready, but I remember
> that Colin Watson booted his Powerbook from a USB device.

I did before but I had the wrong initrd.gz.  It was configured to
install from net.  It worked but not what I wanted.  I want to create a
Live/Rescue USB pendrive.

I googled it but all of the links I found so far are for x86.  Sigh.


--
Just my 0.00000002 million dollars worth,
   Shawn

Programming is as much about organization and communication
as it is about coding.

I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.


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[Gunther Furtado-4]

Hi,

2009/10/2 Shawn H Corey <shawnhcorey@...>:
> Hi,
>
> I have a PowerBook G4.  Is there any way to get it to boot from USB drive.
>  I can set it up but I need the correct initrd.gz to make it work.
>
> Has anyone tried this?  Can anyone suggest a web site?
>

Yes, it is possible. I''ve done it in an ibook g3 I use to have. You
would have to use some open firmware commands [1] to find out the the
correc usb address an if nothing has changed in the last 18 month or
so You'll have to change the names of some files on the usb stick. [2]



[1] http://www.firmworks.com/QuickRef.html
[2] http://lists.debian.org/debian-powerpc/2008/05/msg00018.html

good luck!

--
Gunther Furtado
Curitiba - Paraná - Brasil
gunfurtado@...

"...agora, só nos sobrou o futuro...", visto em www.manuchao.net


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[Stefan Monnier]

> I have a PowerBook G4.  Is there any way to get it to boot from USB drive.

IIUC it depends on your "PowerBook G4".  E.g. my PowerBook 12" G4 was
not able to boot from USB last time I tried.  But admittedly, I only
tried using the "boot menu" rather than via OF commands.


        Stefan


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[Shawn H Corey]

Stefan Monnier wrote:
>> I have a PowerBook G4.  Is there any way to get it to boot from USB drive.
>
> IIUC it depends on your "PowerBook G4".  E.g. my PowerBook 12" G4 was
> not able to boot from USB last time I tried.  But admittedly, I only
> tried using the "boot menu" rather than via OF commands.

On all of Apple's PowerPCs, you have to go thru Open Firmware to boot
from USB.  As I understand it, some of the G3s run OF only via an
external terminal :-/


--
Just my 0.00000002 million dollars worth,
  Shawn

Programming is as much about organization and communication
as it is about coding.

I like Perl; it's the only language where you can bless your
thingy.


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