grub2 anyone ?

Message

gringo · Post by **gringo** » Mon Jan 04, 2010 2:46 pm

hi all !

it looks like my powerbook´s hd is going to die in short so that i will have to replace it and, of course, i will probably install gentoo again.
I will try out several things and one of them is grub2. I´ve been using grub2 in another (x86) laptop for a while now but i have no idea what is the current state of things in ppc-world.

The best instructions i´ve been able to find are -> http://grub.enbug.org/TestingOnPowerPC

which look quite outdated and i haven´t find any pointer in the mailinglists either, so, has anyone here played around with grub2 on powerpc? Any advice ?

TIA

EzInKy · Post by **EzInKy** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 8:06 am

Only used grub2 on x86 but from that experience I can say that if you only have one hard drive it works fine, but more than two is a pita because it wants to automate everything to its liking, not yours.

JoseJX · Post by **JoseJX** » Wed Jan 06, 2010 1:26 pm

I last tried it on PowerPC a few months ago, works fine. Can't boot OSX yet afaik though.

gringo · Post by **gringo** » Thu Jan 07, 2010 12:12 pm

thanks for answering guys!

Can't boot OSX yet afaik though

didnt know that, which means iḿ probably going for the good&old yaboot.

cheers

jago25_98 · Post by **jago25_98** » Sun Sep 26, 2010 11:39 pm

After some debate I've decided to reply to this thread to help people find what they are looking for.

Grub2 is now standard and PPC support added.

If you haven't got a usable PPC system in the first place one trick you can do is write a full iso HFS image to a USB stick with:

Code: Select all

sudo dd if=~/Desktop/mini.iso of=/dev/usbSticky

( from http://mac.linux.be/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=85 )

Geekbox is a quick 17mb iso distro you can use for testing that:
http://www.geexbox.org

Also, searching for yaboot / grub2 will help find threads / help you google.

Here's another link:
HOWTO Boot Apple PowerPCs From A USB Drive In Open Firmware https://sites.google.com/site/shawnhcor ... n-firmware

and another;
http://mac.linux.be/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=85

And, if you came here from google, not forgettnig the Gentoo PPC handbook section on boot:
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/h ... =1&chap=10

Finally, remember that parted is generally the tool to use for partitions as that AFAIK is the only thing that can read a mac partition layout
( from http://penguinppc.org/mac/#altivec )

Hope this helps someone out there. Sorry to previous posters to bump the tread but I think it's worth it.

JoseJX · Post by **JoseJX** » Sun Oct 03, 2010 7:32 pm

Thanks for the information, but I need to correct a few of your points.

Yes, grub2 does work on ppc, but I do not feel that it is ready for everyone's use. It still does not boot OSX as far as I know. I'd be happy to hear other reports.

As for partitioning, mac-fdisk still works just fine, but parted is another option.

Logicien · Post by **Logicien** » Sun Oct 03, 2010 7:52 pm

To have full control of Grub2 configuration, you have to edit /etc/default/grub and/or /etc/conf.d/grub. In plus, you can disable scripts executions in /etc/grub.d/ . I disable every script that write an entry to the Grub menu and edit everythings manually in /etc/grub.d/40_custom. This file is for personalization if you know what to do. So the /boot/grub/grub.cfg resulting from update-grub command is always like I want.

Ato · Post by **Ato** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:59 pm

Hi folks,

I'd like to revive this thread because I have written a little guide where I explain how to set up Grub2 as a graphical boot loader on a Gentoo PPC box (Mac Mini G4). You can find it here: https://www.senmut.net/~thomas/Wiki/ind ... entoo#toc6. Comments are very welcome!

Cheers,
Ato

grub2 anyone ?

grub2 anyone ?

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