Target: G3MT/300, 128MB RAM, 6GB IDE, CD, ATI Xlaim 3D 4MB PCI VGA
OS(s): Ubuntu 5.04 (Hoary) PPC official CD set, Mac OS 9.0
Reason: OS X started having problems with the G3, probably due to PRAM settings being lost all the time. OS 9 boots fine even is the PRAM is reset, and Ubuntu boots from inside OS 9 on Old World machines.
Method:
1. Install OS 9 as desired. Really, almost any Classic OS will do if you just want it to boot load Linux. Make a partition just for MacOS and leave plenty of blank space for Ubuntu. Don't create partitons for it, just leave the space unallocated. You'll need at least a couple GBs. I gave MacOS 250MBs HFS and left the rest of the 6GB empty. Remember if you use MacOS Standard (hfs) or MacOS Extended (hfs+).
2. Use new install to grab a copy of BootX. Version 1.2.2 worked fine for me.
3. Install and unpack BootX. Drop the files "BootX App" " BootX Extension" "Linux Kernels" onto the System Folder. The Extension should automatically go where it needs, as should the CP. The Linux Kernels folder should be inside the SF.
4. Insert Ubuntu Install CD and open the folders install:powerpc on it. Copy the "vmlinux" file to the "Linux Kernels" folder. The "initrd.gz" file should be in the SF, but not in Linux Kernels.
5. Open BootX from the Control Panels menu. It should be available without restarting. Select "Save to prefs" button to crete a prefs file. Quit BootX.
6. In the unpacked BootX folder open the Utilities:GrabG3CacheSetting folder. Double-clcik the "GrabG3CacheSetting" script. It will modify the prefs file a bit and stop.
7. Open BootX again and click the "Options" button. I had to uncheck the new "Set G3 cache" button to get it to boot during startup. If you use SCSI disks, check "Force SCSI ON", check "Use specified RAM Disk" and select the initrd.gz file in the SF. Click "Ok", don't hit return, as that might boot Linux.
8. Look at the "Mac OS" and "Linux" buttons. Decide which you want to default boot to and use tab to select which button has the highlighted border. Click "Save to prefs".
9. If you are ready to get going on the install press "Linux" and watch the system start up.
10. It should launch into the Ubuntu Installer. Follow it along per usual, except don't format the whole drive. Select the "Use max free space" option or whatever it was called.
11. Keep note of the partition numbers (hda7, hda8) When the install is about done you'll need to get the new initrd.img file over to MacOS. There are various ways to get it done, some of which seem overly complex for 5.04. My way seemed to work just fine. Your MacOS install should be the first partition before your Linux ones. So, if you had Linux on hda7 and swap on hda8 you probably have MacOS on hda6. So, there are a few commands we will need to do on a second terminal to get the fies over to MacOS. When the install is about over, it'll warn you about not having a boot loader, but before it reboots press Opt-F2 to switch and press Enter to start the terminal. Many commands and file paths are complex, so you can just start a few letters of it and tap "tab" to auto-complete or if it doesn't with the first tab, hit it twice and it'll show all possible completions, type a few more letters of what you want and tap "tab" again to complete it.
Enter these commands:
mkdir /target/mnt/hfs
mount /dev/hda6 hfs -t hfs #The /dev/hda6 is where your MacOS probably is, use -t hfs for Std, use -t hfsplus for Ext
cp /boot/initrd.img-2.6.10-5-powerpc /target/mnt/hfs/System\ Folder/ #this is where "tab" helps a lot. You can type the /boot/i and hit tab to get /boot/initrd.img then press '-' and hit tab again to get the rest of it. For the rest do /target/mnt/hfs/S watch the capitals here, hit tab and it'll fill in the rest with the slashes and all.
umount /target/mnt/hfs
Then press Opt-F1 to go back to the installer and let it reboot.
12. When it boots BootX should start up pretty quick. Tap tab twice before the times runs out to stop it. Clcik the "Options" button and select the file you just copied above. Click the "Ok" button, don't just hit enter. Then click the "Save to prefs" button. Now your system is ready for that first full boot. Press "Linux" and let it chug away for a while. You should eventually get a login or the Gnome desktop.
13. Enjoy. Use the BootX at startup to boot either Mac OS or Linux. If you change your mind on what to boot by default, use "tab" to select which you want in BootX and "Save to prefs".
This is pretty rough, but it's how I got Ubuntu going on one of my new towers. It works pretty smoothly in Ubuntu with 128MB. It operates about as fast as a similar PC.
http://www.applefritter.com/node/8937?res=original
Should be:
mount /dev/hda6 /target/mnt/hfs -t hfs
Today I shut it down and installed a USB 1.1 card with an Opti Firelink chipset. I put it back together, and plugged in my Plextor USB CD-RW. Fired the G3 up and Ubuntu booted right up and recognized the USB card and the burner attached to it. Absolutely no fiddling with drivers and extensions. I had to set the burn speed down to 4x in the disc buring app because it kept comlaining that the computer is too slow to burn and the settings it was on. It is now buring the Solaris 10 CDs I downlaoded. I guess trying 40x over USB 1.1 witha G3/300 is asking a bit much.
Maybe I'l try the USB 2.0 card and see how it works at full speed. This was so much easeir than having to find the kernel extension for OS 10.2.8 to get it to see the Plextor as a burnable drive. This "Just Worked" much like getting some other stuff working on a Dell Optiplex GX1 that also runs Ubuntu 5.04.
Install Debian on a Beige
It's out dated a bit, I think, and for Debian, but it's similar and has pictures. Maybe I should go through the install again sometime and take pics and screencaps and make it more thorough.
I've got a 9600/300 that I've been trying to put Yellow Dog 4 on without success. Apparently it's either memory or the PC Compatibility card. It would be interesting to see if it would work on this.
It has 256MB RAM, 4GB and 9GB UW SCSI drives, an ATTO SCSI card, and TT128 video.
It should work much the same. You probably don't need the "GrabG3CacheSetting" script section, but it should work otherwise. ATM I'm trying to find a SCSI disk from my pile to get a 7600/132 running. A loud Barracuda 2GB is in place of the dying stock 1.2GB. If I get Ubuntu installed on it, then it should work for you, at least given that there are drivers for XOrg that work for your video card. There should be... The 256MB RAM will make it much nicer. The 128 in my G3/300 runs fine. I'd imagine that faster drives and double the RAM would help a lot, even if the CPU is a generation back.
Realized that the Ubuntu wiki has alot of the same steps, but many varying ways with differeing versions of Ubuntu in the mix. THe first is listed for Breezy Badger, but it is mostly the same way I wrote, but I have a bit more info on HOW to do some of the steps. A UNIX-clueless Mac User trying out "this Linux thing" isn't going to like to have to figure out a CLI on their own just to get the dang thing to boot.
Pulled the 'Cuda outta the 7600 because of write problems that wouldn't even let MacOS isntall. I found an old 2GB Quantum FireBall SE to put in. I gave 200MB to OS 9, and I'll see if that is enough space to get Ubuntu going on what's left. So far things are going as outlined above. Just no G3 Cahce junk to worry about, unless I nab a G3/G4 card somewhere... At least I'm running 144MB RAM in the 7600, so it shouldn't be swapping like crazy the whole time. Ubuntu really likes 128+ to boot. Ack.
Hey, I resent that! Actually, I'm looking forward to learning the Command Line Interface. I used to play with CLI's almost exclusively about fifteen or so years ago, but I've forgotten almost everything. Heck, I was even surprised at how much of MS DOS I had forgotten when I found myself playing with DOS last year for the first time in more than a decade.
Now, if NetBSD would just hurry up and download! This is ridiculous, between the insanely slow transfer rate and the most annoying stalls and timeouts, I'm quickly losing interest in BSD. How frustrating.
I had managed to download more than 50% of the sets when the transfer stalled for something like eight or nine straight hours. It was stalling and timing out on the main FTP server so I switched to another server. I guess that server doesn't timeout after 900 seconds like the first one. Anyway, I got frustrated, halted the whole process and started all over again using a European server.
What a pain! I really gotta get me some CD's burned...
Im trying to install ubuntu on my G3/266, 320MB RAM, 40GB HD to use as backup storage etc. Every time I get to the part when I switch terminal b/c of the bootloader problem my computer craches. Any Ideas on how to procede, or what other releases I might try?
Thanks
Dan
Stock video or a PCI card? What version of Ubuntu? Have you tried booting with video=ofonly as a kernel boot argument? It's shouldn't matter much, but what MacOS are you running BootX from? It shouldn't matter either, but how did you setup the partitions?
I just got my 5.10 CDs yesterday, so I'll be trying some installs this weekend. I'll with the ATI PCI cards Ive got in my MTs and also with stock video (2MB) and see how it goes.
Install Ubuntu 5.10 "Breezy Badger" on a Beige G3
My test machine: G3MT/300, 160MB RAM, 6GB Stock IDE disk, CD, ATI 4MB PCI video card, Adesso NUForm (AEK-503T) ADB keyboard (has a handy touch pad built-in)
I already had OS 9 installed from using 5.04. I left it as-is and copied and renamed the kernel (vmlinuz) and the ramdisk (initrd.gz) from the 5.10 CD to something more recognizable, such as vmlinuz-Ubuntu-5.10-install and initrd-Ubuntu-5.10-install.gz. So far it seems that Ubuntu uses the same kernel, and just modifies the initrd file during kernel updates. I don't know haw far up in versioning this will work, so check file dates, but the 2.6.12-9? update only modified the initrd.
Booting the install worked as described above. Performing the install should as well, but for me I just chose to format and install over the existing Linux partitions (NOT THE WHOLE DISK!) because there was nothing important on the old install. When it fails to install a boot loader, switch over to the second terminal with Opt-F2. To mount the MacOS partition use mount /dev/hda6 /target/mnt/hfs (with appropriate changes for your system) as it seems the mount setup in 5.10 is now smart enough to figure out FileSystem types. Copy the kernel over with something like cp /target/boot/vmlinuz /target/mnt/hfs/System\ Folder/Linux\ Kernels/vmlinuz-Ubuntu-5.10-orig and the initrd with cp /target/boot/initrd.gz /target/mnt/System\ Folder/initrd-Ubuntu-5.10-orig.gz. Then, unmount the MacOS partition with umount /target/mnt/hfs and switch back to the install terminal with Opt-F1. Let it finish the install, and let it reboot. Select the newly copied files in BootX, then add a line in the kernel commands box like root=/dev/hda7 that points to your root "/" Linux partition, save prefs and boot Linux. For some reason 5.10 doesn't find the root partition on it's own like 5.04 seemed to. Let it chug away again, but half way through it will want to setup the screen resolutions for X.org, so don't get peeved if you left it for an hour or so and it is only halfway done (arg! Bad idea! Setup should be only at the start or end of installs!). Then, when it is booted into GUI, let Synaptic get all the updates it needs, one of which will be a kernel update. By checking the time stamp on my machine, it seems that it only changed the initrd.gz file. Mount MacOS, and copy it over, and probably name it with something to let you know the kernel version it is, in case of confusion later.
The G3 runs fine with an extra 32MB headroom to a toal of 160MB, of course more would be better. If you've got empty slots and spare RAM, go ahead an make use of it. Ubuntu likes over 128MB, so every little bit you can add means less chance of swapping to disk later.
Have fun, everybody.
EDIT: Jan 7 00:37 -- Just remember to use an ADB keyboard with F-keys when installing/using Linux. I forgot when I've been working on my new 8500 and just used the Apple Keyboard M0116 that came with the IIcx I got with it all... It makes the install just about impossible!
Regarding using a keyboard with no F-keys: Wait until it fails with no boot loader, the choose Go Back and from the menu run Go to a Shell. From there you can do the commands needed to copy the kernel over. Then, exit the terminal and finish the install.
Also, this tutorial for resizing HFS partitions from the Ubuntu installer really works. It worked for the 8500/100 I just picked up that runs 9.1. I didn't need to do any of the first series of steps as there is no OS X on that machine. I haven't tried an OS X machine with HFS+ and Journalling, but I'd assume it works there too. Great! No more need to wipe and reinstall MacOS!
A bit more investigationg may be needed to see how the HFS boot partition will work/be installed for NewWorld machines.
I've since done the resize on my iBook and set aside 5Gb for Ubuntu. It doesn't have the YaBoot HFS patition first, and I need to make a copy of the OF setting that YaBoot uses. Then I can try to switch the Startup Disk from OS X, and see if some simple OF commands can fix it easily enough.
I want to thank you, Jon, for posting these instructions. I've been struggling with a Yellow Dog installation on my beige G3 to no avail, but I was able to install Ubuntu with these instructions. My original 266 MHz G3 has been upgraded to a Sonnet 500 MHz processor and I've also added two PCI cards to have four USB ports in the otherwise pre-USB box. I had to modify your instructions a tad to make it work:
Firstly, I could not get the install to work until I ran Multibooter 1.0d13 to fix the broken/buggy Open Firmware on this machine. After that I used:
cd /target
mkdir nfs
mount /dev/hda6 hfs -t hfsplus
cp boot/initrd.img-2.6.10-5powerpc /target/hfs/System\ Folder/Linux Kerners/
cp boot/vmlinux /target/hfs/System\ Folder/Linux\ Kernels/vmlinux
cp boot/initrd.img /target/hfs/System\ Folder/ramdisk.image.gz
Then I did some cd and ls to make sure they all made it to the right directory. After rebooting I added the following kernel argument to BootX:
root=/dev/hda7
The other weird thing is that I had to tick the box for no video driver to run the install, but then I had to tick it again after the install; otherwise, the screen was scrambled during the install and black after reboot. My video's ATI mach64_3DU Pro.
Anyway... thanks!
Ernest
It's great to see you got it going! Did you start with the original instructions of the first post, or did you follow the latter ones I updated for 5.10? I'm guessing you are using the onboard video? On the G3s I've tried I had a PCI video card installed.
I used a combination of your instructions (read all the way through), the ubuntu wiki and other sites that had the Open Firmware info; but, bascially, your instructions here had the bulk of it. I haven't tried the Breezy, just the Hoary.
Yup, it's the video card that came with the box.
Today I tried KDE but decided I like Gnome better, so I'm going back from kubuntu to ubuntu.
Am... what's the CLI incantation for ejecting a floppy from a Mac? I can unmount the floppy but I can't figure out how to eject it.
Good question, but I've never used a floppy under Linux on a Power Mac. You can, of course, hold the mouse button at power up to eject it, but that's a bit heavy handed to just eject. I'm thinking one might do an eject floppy or something. Suns use an auto eject floppy too, IIRC, so I'm thinking there might be a clue there. I know you can use an eject cdrom front eh CLi to get a CD out...
Now running Breezy Badger with no probs. Thanks for the tip.