PowerPC Installation Guide -- APUS (Amiga PowerUp System)
---------------------------------------------------------
Sven LUTHER <luther@debian.org>
v1.0, 24 February 2000
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Abstract
--------
This document describes the installation of Debian GNU/Linux on
PowerPC Amiga Power-UP Systems.
Copyright Notice
----------------
This document may be distributed and modified under the terms of the
GNU General Public License.
(C) Copyright 1999, Sven LUTHER
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Contents
--------
1. Installing Debian GNU/Linux on a PowerPC APUS Machine
1.1. Intro
1.2. Known Problems
1.3. Partitioning from the AmigaOS side
1.4. Bootstrap
1.5. Kernel Options
1.6. Apus Particularities in `dbootstrap'
1.7. Links for Further Information
1.8. Conclusion
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1. Installing Debian GNU/Linux on a PowerPC APUS Machine
--------------------------------------------------------
1.1. Intro
----------
Apus is the "Amiga PowerUp System", and consists of an Amiga computer,
A1200, A3000 or A4000, together with one of the PowerPC/m68k
accelerator boards from the now dead company Phase5, the BlizzardPPC
or CyberStormPPC board.
1.2. Known Problems
-------------------
There are some issues involved with bootstrap on systems which don't
use either PowerUp or WarpUp only, but some hybrid mutant of them
both. I am not very familiar with this stuff as I use plain powerup
only, so I hope someone will contribute a more complete description of
it.
Also the SCSI controller of the CyberStormPPC is not yet supported by
linux, so you cannot use disks attached to it.
1.3. Partitioning from the AmigaOS side
---------------------------------------
`amiga-fdisk' is the fdisk variant for RDB partition tables used by
the Amiga hardware. It is working, but I recommend you use the Amiga
partitioning tools to do it from AmigaOS instead.
HDToolbox, being the official Commodore partitioning tool, should be
installed on every AmigaOS system. Just launching HDToolbox should
partition the IDE disk of the onboard IDE interface. If you want to
access the SCSI disk on your BlizzardPPC board SCSI controller, you
should use the "hdtoolbox blizzppcscsi.device" command.
Another option is to use SCSIConfig, the partitioner from Phase5 which
is on the floppies that came with your accelerator board.
You will need to set the partition type to custom, and provide the
following partition type ids :
* linux partition : 0x4c4e5800
* linus swap partition : 0x53575000
1.4. Bootstrap
--------------
You will find the `bootstrap' program in the `apus/bootstrap'
directory of the powerpc boot floppies distribution (found at
/debian/dists/woody/main/disks-powerpc/current).
The `bootstrap' program consists of three programs. All three need to
be executable and in your AmigaOS path. They are the `bootstrap'
executable and the ppcboot_wup or ppcboot_pup part, that is the actual
launcher (ppcboot_pup for the powerup system and ppcboot_wup for the
warpup system).
You will launch `bootstrap' with a line like this :
# bootstrap --apus "kernel options"
where "kernel options" are defined in the following sections.
`bootstrap' will then give some output, then blank the screen for 10
to 30 seconds, and then you will have the linux console.
1.4.1. The Debian `bootstrap' Command
-------------------------------------
The actual `bootstrap' command to launch the Debian installer system
would be:
# bootstrap --apus -k apus/linux.bin -r apus/images-1.44/root.bin root=/dev/ram
After installation, to launch Debian, use:
# bootstrap --apus -k apus/linux.bin root=/dev/sda3
where sda3 is my Debian root partition, change it to the partition
that is hosting your root partition.
1.5. Kernel Options
-------------------
You will need to add some kernel options depending on your actual
configuration, which will be explained in the following sections.
1.5.1. Graphic Card Options
---------------------------
The graphic device to be used is an option prefaced with video=. Some
examples are shown below. To enable the native graphics in vga mode
(640x480):
video=amifb:vga
To enable the Bvision/CyberVision graphic card in 1152x864 at 60Hz
mode, with the SUN12x22 fonts:
video=pm2fb:mode:1152x864-60,font:SUN12x22
To disable one of the graphic devices:
video=amifb:disable
You can map virtual consoles to the different devices being used. Use
`video=map:01' to map virtual console (vc) 1 to device 0, vc 2 to
device 1, and after that repeat the same pattern (vc3 to device 0, vc4
to device 1, etc. To map vc 1,2,3,5,6,7 to device 0 and vc 4,8 to
device 1 you would use
video=map:0001
1.5.2. The nobats Option
------------------------
Blizzard users with scsi disks will need to use the "nobats" option.
# bootstrap --apus -k apus/linux.bin root=/dev/sda3 nobats
1.5.3. The 60nsram Option
-------------------------
People with 60ns ram can also use the 60nsram option.
# bootstrap --apus -k apus/linux.bin root=/dev/sda3 60nsram
1.5.4. Debugging Options
------------------------
If you are experiencing problems, you can use the debug option to
specify console message output to go to a serial console or memory
instead of the normal console. This is useful for debugging when the
kernel output doesn't come to the console output.
# bootstrap --apus -k apus/linux.bin root=/dev/sda3 60nsram debug=mem
Then you can read the result with the bootmesg utility from the
apus/bootstrap directory.
Another useful tool is the dmesg utility which will give you the
bootstrap process debugging info.
1.6. Apus Particularities in `dbootstrap'
-----------------------------------------
There are some specific differences for apus in the use of
`dbootstrap'.
1.6.1. Partitioning the Hard Disk - `amiga-fdisk'
-------------------------------------------------
The apus subarch uses the `amiga-fdisk' partitioning tool. As noted
above, you can also use AmigaOS-side partitioning tools.
1.6.2. Installing the OS Kernel and Modules
-------------------------------------------
This option is actually not working. I am in the process of proposing
an "Install the OS Modules" option to replace it, but in the meantime
you can just skip this step. The kernel is not needed anyway, since
it resides on the
1.6.3. Options Not Applicable for apus
--------------------------------------
Well some options simply don't make sense on apus, so until I exclude
them from the menu, just ignore them. They should not work anyway.
These options are :
* Make System Bootable directly from the Hard Disk.
* Make a Boot Floppy.
* Eject the Floppy.
1.7. Links for Further Information
----------------------------------
The official linux-apus doc and faq is at:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/linux-apus/
Another source of valuable information is the linux-m68k web site and
faq found at:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/linux-m68k/
There you will find lots of information regarding linux on the amiga
platform that is common to linux-m68k and linux-apus.
1.8. Conclusion
---------------
Well, this little guide tries to explain all the particularities of
the linux-apus installation of debian. The rest of it is quite
similar to any other debian/powerpc installation, as well as the
generic debian installation. You will thus find further info in the
debian documentation directory as well as in the other generic linux
information sites and docs.
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PowerPC Installation Guide -- APUS (Amiga PowerUp System)
Sven LUTHER <luther@debian.org>
v1.0, 24 February 2000