On Nov 30, 2004, at 9:40 AM, Sebastian Brueckner wrote:

> Hi!
>
> I recently got myself an iBook G4 12" and would like to try NetBSD on  
> it - preferably without repartitioning.
>
> I can boot the GENRIC_MD kernel from  
> ftp://ftp.fr.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD-daily/netbsd-2-0/unofficial/ 
> 200411121400/macppc
> It recognises my external USB HD (in this case an iPod) as umass0  
> after I unplug and connect it again.
>
> Is it possible to install NetBSD on a USB or Firewire HD and boot it  
> from there?

The answer to both is "you should be able to". Using GENERIC you won't  
be able to use the firewire HD as a file system since the firewire sbp2  
code is not enabled in GENERIC. The last time I used it, it would  
frequently cause kernel panics. I'm not sure if the FreeBSD code has  
been imported to replace the old NetBSD code or not, but there are  
instructions on how to add it in the current-users mailing list  
archives. I wouldn't consider the NetBSD firewire code stable but if  
you want to shake some bugs out of it feel free :)

You should be able to boot and mount root on your iPod if you partition  
it with something the NetBSD kernel can read (not HFS or HFS+) I don't  
know if the iPod uses FAT now or what. I'm not sure how easy it would  
be to get NetBSD to coexist with your iPod and have it still work as a  
music player. I was trying to figure that out a while back but not my  
iPod is dead and I haven't had the funds for a new one.