Re: install files on mac UFS partition (mac mini G4)

[kristoff <kristoff%skypro.be@localhost>]

HI all,


Thanks all for your help and replies.

I have been using the comments here and this blog (link provided by 
somebody on the matrix room).
https://e17i.github.io/articles-netbsd-install/


Some follow-up (and more questions).

First, the current situation is this:
- I managed to format the first partition in HFS format and put 
ofwboot.elf and ofwboot.xcf on it
- I managed to format the 2nd partition in FFS format and install netbsd 
9.2 on it.

I can then boot into open firmware. Normally, I should do this:
setenv boot-device hd:2,ofwboot.elf
setenv boot-file hd:3,/netbsd

And then do "boot".
This loads of openfirmware bootloader ok, but then gives an error:
"open hd:3,/netbsd: No such file or directory"

But that file (I guess that is the kernel) DOES is present on the 3th 
partition of the disk.
I also tried 'hd:4' (and some other numbers) but that did not make any 
difference.



Any idea what is the issue here?


some info:
Apple Openfirmware 3
NetBSD/macppc OpenFirmware Boot, Revision 1.13

partition table:
1: Apple_partition_map
2: Apple_HFS
3: Apple_UNIX_SVR2 root /
4: Apple_UNIX_SVR2 swap (swap)

disklabel:
a: unknown
b: swap
d: 4.2BSD



This has in any case been a good way to learn some more stuff.

I have been reading the "NetBSD/macppc partitioning howto" document, but 
I still have some question.


I have some questions to help me understand this:

- I first started out with 'pdisk /dev/rwd0', while the blogs indicated 
'/dev/rwd0c'

That "c" seems to be the name that indicates the complete disk?
But I did notice that /dev/rwd0 and /dev/rwd0c have the same 'MINOR' and 
'MAJOR',so I guess both do point to the same device.


- Normally, in linux, partitioning a harddisk goes like this:
-> you use (e.g.) fdisk to make a partition, indicate the correct 'type'
-> you do 'mkfs....' to format the partition with the correct 
filesystem-format
- you then mount the partition at a certain location in the 
filesystem-tree (or use fstab to do that automatically).

However, if you indicate a partition as FFS, you can also indicate a 
mount-point.
So what is the relation between what you enter pdisk and the 
mount-points you have in fstab?


- In pdisk, I you can also enter a partition name, but I guess that is 
just informational. Correct?


- what exactly is the relation between the 'pdisk' partition  (1 to 4) 
and the partitions you get with 'disklabel' (a, b and d in my case)?

When do you use which one?

am I correct to assume that '/dev/rwd0...' indicates the
pdisk' partition, and '/dev/wd0' the disklabel?
Or is this wrong?

- What partition numbering-scheme does open-firmware use? And which one 
does ofwboot use?

My FFS root-partition is partition 3 in the 'pdisk' partition table and 
disklabel 'd'.
So to what 'hd:x,...' does this translate in openfirmware?



- I guess that 'ofwboot' is the boot-loader, which is then handed 
'hd:3,/netbsd' as parameter to load the netbsd kernel.

So this is the only file that needs to be in the UFS 'hd:2,' partition?
Or am I wrong?


- what is the difference between 'ofwboot.elf' and 'ofwboot.xcf' anyway? 
(except that the latter is a lot larger).

Some blogs indicate that the '.xcf' version is buggy and that you must 
use the 'elf' version, while other do use the '.xcf' in the final 
configuration?



I know this is a lot of question. :-)

As said, this has been a great way to learn how the mac-mini, 
openfirmware and the netbsd boot-process works, so I am curious to learn 
more about this.



Kr. Bonne.



On 01.11.21 17:21, kristoff wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I am trying to install netbsd 9.2 (or 9.0) on a mac mini G4.
>
>
> The box has been running macOSX years ago, then linux (debian) and also 
> FreeBSD, so I do not have access to the mac software.
>
>
> I would like to try netbsd to see if I get better software support.
>
>
> The problem I have, if I see it correctly, is the apple openfirmware 3 
> needs a HFS partition and -for some reason- the netbsd installer does 
> not seems to create that.
>
>
> In the end, I got the FreeBSD installer to create me a HFS partition, 
> and I have netbsd installed on the 2nd partition.
> (in openfirmware, I can do 'dir hd:,\' and see the files)
>
>
> However, the problem now is that the files on the HFS partition are -of 
> course- the FreeBSD tools (inside hd:,\ppc\...) and no the netbsd files 
> (like 'ofwboot.xcf')
>
>
> So what would be the best way to correct this,
> I was hoping that booting into the shell with the netbsd install ISO CD 
> would allow me to do that, but I do not find the tools to access the HFS 
> partition. (hformat, hcopy, ...)
>
>
> Is there some sort of 'rescue-disk' I can boot from that allows to do 
> file-operations on the HFS partition? I guess I also need wget or curl 
> to download ofwboot.xcf from some server and it not on the CD image.
>
>
>
> -+While reading the archive of this mailing-list, I found some reference 
> to using a MSDOS partition instead of a HFS partition.
> What would be the best way to reformat the HFS partition into a MSDOS 
> partition and copy ofwboot.xvf on it?
>
>
> Any help appreciated.
>
>
> Cheerio! Kr. Bonne.