Gentoo on ppc thinkpad power series 820

Message

nedemin · Post by **nedemin** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 9:11 pm

Hi!

I happened to get hands on a IBM Power Series 820, a PowerPC 603E based laptop made by IBM.
Currently it is running on AIX 4.2.1 for PowerPC, but I would like to have Gentoo installed on the machine. I've tried with the installer isos provided for the ppc platform with no luck.

Does anybody know if I can run Gentoo on this beast?

alex.blackbit · Post by **alex.blackbit** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 10:59 pm

omgwtf!?!?!
where did you get a working 820 from?
would you like to sell it?
in case your answer is "no", what i assume, then: what exact problems do you have installing?
i guess it will be quite painful to run gentoo on such slow (but beautiful) hardware without distcc (crosscompiling). you will want to set that up.

nedemin · Post by **nedemin** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 8:16 am

alex.blackbit wrote:omgwtf!?!?!
where did you get a working 820 from?
would you like to sell it?
in case your answer is "no", what i assume, then: what exact problems do you have installing?
i guess it will be quite painful to run gentoo on such slow (but beautiful) hardware without distcc (crosscompiling). you will want to set that up.

Hello,

In fact, I've rescued it when it was on its way to the trash bin in the company I work for. But, hey!, I've thought it to be too precious to end its life that way!

The problem I have is that I can't figure out how to make it boot from a Linux install cd-rom. I've "combed" the Internet in search for answers but it so rare a machine that there aren't many helpful. So I arrived to this forum, where it appears to be a strong ppc community.

I can't get, or a I don't know how to get any boot messages. When it boots, it searches for the cd-rom but all possible messages are hidden by a graphical "ibm thinkpad" splash screen, and continues to boot the AIX installed on its HD.
I've tested the same linux ppc install cd on an ibook g3 and it boots quite normally.

I also have the AIX install CDs and it boots normally from CD-ROM. Maybe, I could go on learning to use AIX, but the problem is that it fullfils its 1 GB HD and I cant't even install a web browser!.

Maybe, could I be trying a too modern distro on it and need to get back to an older one?

alex.blackbit · Post by **alex.blackbit** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 8:29 am

one alternative you have is to install windows nt 4.0/ppc.

just use a standard nt 4.0 cd. it contains the architectures alpha/i386/mips/ppc.
i have some information at home on how to boot linux on such old rs/6000s. i'll come back to you.
still don't want to sell it?

nedemin · Post by **nedemin** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 8:38 am

alex.blackbit wrote:one alternative you have is to install windows nt 4.0/ppc. just use a standard nt 4.0 cd. it contains the architectures alpha/i386/mips/ppc.
i have some information at home on how to boot linux on such old rs/6000s. i'll come back to you.
still don't want to sell it?

Thank you for your help. If I happen to make it through I will post results here just in case it helps sombody else.

To the question about selling it, I don't think I want to sell it. I couldn't explain the reasons if you ask, but would you sell it if you had one? I like those dinosaurs!

kev009 · Post by **kev009** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 10:07 am

You will need to find an old kernel image or make your own, boot with that, and then install Gentoo normally. Google for Linux Thinkpad 850 and 860.. they are a bit more common: http://users.cs.fiu.edu/~ayanic01/rs6k/

NetBSD has actively maintained PReP support, so it may be worth a go as well.. but an AIX laptop is truly unique.

You may also be interested in http://ps-2.kev009.com:8081/ppc850tp/ and other things on that subdomain

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