How can I dual boot Mac OS 10.4 and Linux on a Powerpc G4?

[ltpitt]

Hi all!

I am having fun installing Linux and Mac os x on a G4.

It is a 1.25 eMac and I already failed once...
I installed mac os x, all fine.
I installed Debian in the empy space I left intentionally, all fine.

I had a lot of issues starting Linux because it seems like you need to write your Xorg file containing resolutions.
OK, I will take care of that later but the main terror is that...

Mac os x no longer starts (trying from Grub) but the mighty builder of MintPPC suggested starting with ALT and that works perfectly.
I've read somewhere that yaboot could start both...

What is the right and blessed procedure to dual boot this old system?

Thanks!

 

[repairedCheese]

Well, because it's an eMac, you're going to have a fun time getting Linux working, honestly I don't know any consistent way to do that. Grub can't reach OSX, so you're going to have to manually swap with the alt/option key. And that does have to be a Mac keyboard alt/option key, a pc style keyboard will not work.

This is one of the only real advantages Yaboot gives you, it can boot different versions of the Mac OS, and Linux. I know of no way to install that without going with a different distro, like Lubuntu.

 

[ltpitt]

Also interesting!

I wonder how lubuntu performs on this little champ.
Machine's performances are honestly way better than I imagined

I also maxxed the ram and put an ssd, just in case!

 

[repairedCheese]

Oh yeah, a 1.25ghz G4 is quite nice. I just got a 1.25ghz G4 MDD and while it would certainly be nice to have even more performance, what it can do is rather impressive all things considered. My problems are more gpu related in Linux, pushing me to find a Geforce4 Ti 4600, the best card to ever support OS 9. That last bit is why I got an MDD FW400, after all.

But it would be nice to have linux working, like I do on my PMG5, and Yaboot makes that a lot easier to maintain.

 

[Project Alice]

And that does have to be a Mac keyboard alt/option key, a pc style keyboard will not work.

I've definitely been able to use the boot picker with PC keyboards. Perhaps it depends on the keyboard.

 

[ltpitt]

I've definitely been able to use the boot picker with PC keyboards. Perhaps it depends on the keyboard.

I have one of those cheap mechanical tiny 65x100 keyboards "Magicforce" and booting with alt pressed works perfectly.

 

[repairedCheese]

I've definitely been able to use the boot picker with PC keyboards. Perhaps it depends on the keyboard.

Probably doesn't help that a lot of the time, there tends to be at least one usb hub in the way. If there's one thing none of my Macs like, it's a usb hub at boot.

 

[Project Alice]

Probably doesn't help that a lot of the time, there tends to be at least one usb hub in the way. If there's one thing none of my Macs like, it's a usb hub at boot.

Ha, yeah that is definitely an understatement. Intel Macs don’t like them either. I have a few macs on a KVM and I have to plug a keyboard into them directly if I need to use the picker.

 

[repairedCheese]

Ha, yeah that is definitely an understatement. Intel Macs don’t like them either. I have a few macs on a KVM and I have to plug a keyboard into them directly if I need to use the picker.

And then we're back to why I rather like having Yaboot, it gets around the problem entirely. It's a shame Grub doesn't seem to be capable of booting other operating systems on PPC Mac.

But as for dual boot, the absolute easiest way to do setup in my experience is to use Parted off a linux live disk. Even if linux doesn't boot, the partitioning setup is just better than even Leopard offers. Leopard's Disk Utilities can be extremely finicky when dealing with more than one partition on a drive. It's also easier to reformat a partition using any Mac Disk Utils after the partition is made, and you want to use it for something else. Installing linux universally breaks OS 9 for some reason on both my eMac and my MDD, but it doesn't seem to bother OSX, so if @ltpitt , if you're worried about breaking something by installing or reinstalling linux, you sure be fine.

 

[z970]

Personally, I've come to adopt an alternative method of multi booting that forgoes holding down option, or fussing about with bootloaders' configurations altogether, and thus, is compatible with all keyboards and configurations.

In Open Firmware, enter setenv auto-boot? false, then setenv skip-netboot? true, then shut-down. Every time the machine turns on, it will now automatically boot into Open Firmware. And every time the user enters the boot picker, the system will now initialize the drives much faster as a result of turning off network boot functionality. No more waiting around for a minute just to make a selection.

If entering the boot picker is desired, simply enter multi-boot, then select the operating system (if its bootloader is fully functional). At this point, if the user wishes to return to Open Firmware, they can just press Ctrl + Z.

If directly booting the OS is desired, use mac-boot to boot OS X, boot hd1:,\\yaboot for Linux installations, or boot hd1:,ofwboot for OpenBSD, and so on.

And if they would prefer to have one specific OS automatically boot if auto-boot? is on, then they might enter setenv boot-device hd1:,\\grub.img and shut-down if they had a GRUB-enabled Linux installation on the hard disk, otherwise one of the others.

Admittedly, it is still unfinished, but I will soon be able to complete what I began in due time:

The Open Firmware Wiki

Figured I'd start another public resource initiative to encourage greater fluency with the underpinnings of a PowerPC computer, so that there isn't so much struggle and confusion just to boot an operating system (namely USB disks), check attached devices and resources, or perhaps even run system...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[ltpitt]

Hi all!

The dance started.

I've booted Lubuntu with nomodeset, everything was so unreadable that I could not find the install lubuntu icon (imho it is not there) in the live distro so I said myself let's go back to good old Debian.

Installed 10.0 like a breeze.
Added to the list openssh server and lxde desktop, a joy.

I reboot and I see this

Seems like my hdd is no longer seen.
If I reboot and start mac os x works like a champ from the same hdd so...
It must be some driver I fear.

Is this something eMac related?
I have to add that I use a sata to pata adapter and ssd drive but the same disk was detected during install with no problems.

Maybe instead of choosing kernel 5 I should have chosen the other option (the one without version)?

Maybe using an older LTS or one of the remixes shared here can help?

Thanks for your time and help on this crazy quest

 

[z970]

If the root filesystem is the issue, you may want to try manually partitioning the drive as detailed in the Manual Partitioning guide in The PowerPC Debian Wiki.

I think I installed Debian 10 on my eMac before, and while I didn't encounter this, the screen went black as soon as it switched into X, so I am inclined to believe it is indeed some kind of filesystem issue, just as the errors hint at.

That said, Linux 5.x sucks on PowerPC (in my experiences), so perhaps choosing version 4.x or whatever else may be useful too.

 

[ltpitt]

If the root filesystem is the issue, you may want to try manually partitioning the drive as detailed in the Manual Partitioning guide in The PowerPC Debian Wiki.

I think I installed Debian 10 on my eMac before, and while I didn't encounter this, the screen went black as soon as it switched into X, so I am inclined to believe it is indeed some kind of filesystem issue, just as the errors hint at.

That said, Linux 5.x sucks on PowerPC (in my experiences), so perhaps choosing version 4.x or whatever else may be useful too.

Very interesting suggestion!
So the idea is to download a more compatible version of Debian / Ubuntu (one from that period in time) and then just apply security updates without ever doing a distro-upgrade?

 

[z970]

@ltpitt The idea is to first attempt to manually partition the drive for installation as according to what the Wiki instructs, in order to get around this filesystem issue, if it is that.

Keep in mind however that you will then need to screw about with the xorg.conf file in order to get X even working on the CRT display, as detailed here:

eMac surprisingly usable as a daily driver

Give this a shot for linux. Seems quite a few people have had luck with his hack on their emacs. https://www.facebook.com/groups/ppclinux/permalink/437344776940132/ Cheers

forums.macrumors.com

This is all a prime example of why eMacs should generally be left as OS X machines.

 

[ltpitt]

Hi again!

I tried manual partitioning but something weird happens...
The disc is "intermittently" detected by Linux.

Configuration is weird because I use a Startech sata / pata adapter and a ssd drive.
Mac os x starts 100x100 of the times, zero issues.

Linux sometimes detects the drive and installs (but never sees the disc at the next boot and sometimes doesn't even see the disc when I install.

I read it could be dead ssd (but this is false, why should be mac os x work?) or a kernel issue so my next step is trying another kernel version.

What is the "most emac compatible" Linux distro and version I can try?
Something older, I guess but how old?
Is it better Debian or Ubuntu or other?

Thanks!

 

[z970]

@ltpitt The most "eMac compatible versions" would be Ubuntu 12.04 and Debian 7. The display works out of the box in those.

I would actually recommend @wicknix's Lubuntu 12.04 Remix for this, not only because there shouldn't be any xorg config issues, but because it has also been updated to a great degree.

Lubuntu 16.04 Remix (updated)

2023 update For anybody still using this (16.04 v2) i created a tutorial with some extra files to extend the life of it. Basically we change the sources.list to Debians (since Ubuntu's repo is dead) and make a few changes to allow packages to be updated and installable again. Download it here...

forums.macrumors.com