Subject: Disk Partitioning w/pdisk
To: port-macppc <port-macppc@NetBSD.ORG>
From: Bob Nestor <rnestor@augustmail.com>
List: port-macppc
Date: 12/16/2000 16:21:36
As promised I've modified a version of pdisk so that it properly sets the
partition flags as required by NetBSD (both mac68k and macppc). This
should allow users with IDE disks on 68k Macs and users with PPC Macs who
want dual boot capability to set up their disks so that NetBSD can be
installed with sysinst.
The function only works when you attempt to rename a UNIX type partition.
It will then prompt you for options. You can set the partiton to be
SWAP or it will default to a Usr type partition. For Usr type partitions
you will be asked if you want the partition to also carry the "root"
attribute. You will need at least one partition with "root" and at least
one "SWAP". If you use sysinst you will also need a separate "usr"
partition.
The basic process is:
1) Back up your disk!
2) Invoke pdisk - both 68k and ppc versions are available
3) Optionally delete any unused partitions to free up disk space
4) Create new partitions for NetBSD. If you use the "c" option they
will
default to be MkLinux partitions which will work for NetBSD. If you
use
the "C" (capital) option you will need to specify the partition type
which must be "Apple_UNIX_SVR2".
5) Rename the UNIX partition(s) to force the flags to be set for NetBSD.
Note: If you new partition name includes special characters like
blanks
you will need to enclose the name in quotes, i.e. "NetBSD
Root".
6) Write the modified partition map back to the disk with the "w"
option.
7) Re-boot and attempt installing NetBSD!
You can use the "V" option at the top level of pdisk to verify that the
partitions really have been created on the disk and that they have the
proper NetBSD flags.
Remember to back up your disks before starting!!!
Hope this helps, and good luck!
-bob
p.s. The new sources and pre-built execuatables are at:
ftp://murphy.dyndns.org/pub/map/pdisk.sea.hqx