Hi,

This week i've take my A1XE out of its box (since 2 years I have a SAM460) and I've made the AOS4 update. But, I thought to install debian on it.

I install (on a new harddisk, not one with OS4) the system with kernel 2.4.26. and because I can't find any Woody dist 3.0r1 I used the r6. Unfortunately, after doing the installation, instead of having the KDE desktop, it comes the "prompt" version. When I got my Aone (in 2003...) the debian 3.0r1 was delivered with the Aone and everything work fine).

How can I install the KDE ? or should I use another Linux ppc distribution ? Thanks for your help.

By the way, how can I access the u-boot menu ? I mean, before, when the Amiga started, I could press "enter" to stop booting and enter the u-boot.

Have a nice day.

Nic

Last edited by unimon on 19-Aug-2015 at 12:17 PM.

_________________
RedOneX (SAM 460ex) and an A1 which now rests quite.
Amiga OS 4.1.6 and CinemaWare games.
Classic and NG softwares.

@unimon

Quote:

unimon wrote: Hi, This week i've take my A1XE out of its box (since 2 years I have a SAM460) and I've made the AOS4 update. But, I thought to install debian on it.

debian...COOL!

Quote:

I install (on a new harddisk, not one with OS4) the system with kernel 2.4.26. and because I can't find any Woody dist 3.0r1 I used the r6. Unfortunately, after doing the installation, instead of having the KDE desktop, it comes the "prompt" version. When I got my Aone (in 2003...) the debian 3.0r1 was delivered with the Aone and everything work fine).

A r6 CD should be fine too, as it is still the same distribution version. I guess the KDE environment simply wasn't on the CDs you had available and thus couldn't be installed.

On the other side kernel 2.4.26 is very old and I do not recommend its use on the A1 anymore for various reasons (which I will not explain now, because I tend to repeat myself here ).

Quote:

How can I install the KDE ? or should I use another Linux ppc distribution ? Thanks for your help.

Well, if you would like to stick to Woody at the moment, then all the Debian Woody packages are still available on archive.debian.org. You can include this site in your installations /etc/apt/sources.list file and then use aptitude or apt-get to install a KDE task. Especially aptitude provides a "Tasks" section, which lists virtual packages that include all the dependencies for e.g. a complete desktop environment like KDE.

There are also newer install CD images available, but I have to admit that newer kernels have some problems on G4 machines for which I'm currently testing a workaround. I hope that this workaround will make it into install images for Debian Wheezy soon.

Quote:

By the way, how can I access the u-boot menu ? I mean, before, when the Amiga started, I could press "enter" to stop booting and enter the u-boot.

Is there no delay set for the bootmenu? If not, then maybe you can change it with OS4's U-boot preferences program. Or simply press a key as soon as the keyboard has been initialized and then type "menu" on the U-Boot console to enter the menu.

Last edited by Geri on 19-Aug-2015 at 02:24 PM.

_________________
A1SE: G3@600MHz, 2GB, 1GBit network card
A1XE: G4@933MHz, 2GB, refitted AC'97 codec
microA1: G3@800MHz, 1GB

- A1 Linux support -

@unimon

I tend to press Esc to get the attention of UBoot but Return used to give a boot menu. Does your keyboard pass the check on screen? And also, is it PS/2 or USB? If you have one set in UBoot and use another then it won't see it. By default it is PS/2.

If you are willing to task a risk you could test this installer, It it still in beta but it does work. It depends on a Wheezy CD being in the drive which you can swap in once the installer loads to the language screen. And you need boot, main and swap partiions. Format boot partition as Ext2 and mount it as /boot/a1boot and the rest it a cinch!

That's the shortest instruction guide ever I have typed in. But Geri is right, the kernel can be unstable on a G4 and the option to import boot args to aleviate problems isn't working as of yet. It also uses Gnome and not KDE.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/amigaone-linux/files/debian-installer/

@Geri

Thanks. Yes, I gave 0 second for booting... not so smart from me

I will try to use menu command.

The idea was to install the woody version and then update it... maybe should I not to do so. The dists r1 is only listed as "list CD" or "jigdo-CD". I try to use jigdo but no files have been downloaded.

I will download all CD's of r6 and try to use it.

Thank for your help.

Nic

_________________
RedOneX (SAM 460ex) and an A1 which now rests quite.
Amiga OS 4.1.6 and CinemaWare games.
Classic and NG softwares.

@Hypex

Quote:

Hypex wrote: If you are willing to task a risk you could test this installer, It it still in beta but it does work. It depends on a Wheezy CD being in the drive which you can swap in once the installer loads to the language screen. And you need boot, main and swap partiions. Format boot partition as Ext2 and mount it as /boot/a1boot and the rest it a cinch!

Could you tell me how to install it ? I've already burned the iso image, but when I type "diskboot 500000 1:0 (Which is my CD-Rom) the displayed message is "... is a U-Boot..." something... Sorry don't remember the message.

But should I also install "linux-image-3.2.0-4-book3s-amigaone+_3.2.65-1_powerpc.deb" ? if yes how ?
Now I will download the wheezy CD.

Thank you for your help.

Nic

_________________
RedOneX (SAM 460ex) and an A1 which now rests quite.
Amiga OS 4.1.6 and CinemaWare games.
Classic and NG softwares.

@unimon

Quote:

unimon wrote: @Geri Thanks. Yes, I gave 0 second for booting... not so smart from me

Probably not.

Quote:

I will try to use menu command.

IIRC the delays cannot be changed in the menu, but only on the command line. See here for how to set the variables on the command line.

Quote:

The idea was to install the woody version and then update it... maybe should I not to do so. The dists r1 is only listed as "list CD" or "jigdo-CD". I try to use jigdo but no files have been downloaded.

Support for Debian Woody ended a long time ago, thus I suppose the jidgo files simply point to the wrong location. Also upgrading to an up-to-date version may be an endless story, because you cannot directly upgrade to the newest version.

Quote:

I will download all CD's of r6 and try to use it.

All the CDs are normally not needed. Simply add a line like the following to your /etc/apt/sources.list file and you have access to the whole Debian Woody package repository:

Quote:

deb http://archive.debian.org/debian/ woody main contrib non-free deb http://archive.debian.org/debian-security/ woody main contrib non-free deb http://archive.debian.org/debian-non-US/ woody main contrib non-free

_________________
A1SE: G3@600MHz, 2GB, 1GBit network card
A1XE: G4@933MHz, 2GB, refitted AC'97 codec
microA1: G3@800MHz, 1GB

- A1 Linux support -

@unimon

Quote:

unimon wrote: @Hypex [quote]Hypex wrote: Could you tell me how to install it ? I've already burned the iso image, but when I type "diskboot 500000 1:0 (Which is my CD-Rom) the displayed message is "... is a U-Boot..." something... Sorry don't remember the message.

The CD image comes with its own second level bootloader, so just configure U-Boot to first try booting from the CDROM drive and it should present you with the bootloaders menu.

Quote:

But should I also install "linux-image-3.2.0-4-book3s-amigaone+_3.2.65-1_powerpc.deb" ? if yes how ?

No, the CD image already contains a kernel image.

_________________
A1SE: G3@600MHz, 2GB, 1GBit network card
A1XE: G4@933MHz, 2GB, refitted AC'97 codec
microA1: G3@800MHz, 1GB

- A1 Linux support -

@unimon

Quote:

Could you tell me how to install it

If your A1 is set to auto boot a CD you just slot it in and reset. Otherwise, IIRC, pressing return while UBoot is loading up will bring you a mini boot menu where you can select CD as source.

Quote:

But should I also install

As Geri stated. You don't need the kernel. It is a self contained auto-bootable installer CD [image.] Aside from needing the official Debian CD to install packages off.

It will come up with a boot menu where you can select installer options like normal, expert or recovery and disable DMA/USB/Cache if needed.

100MB should be enough for boot partition. Ext2 is needed as that is setup so UBoot can read it. You can pick the "/boot" mount point but make sure to change it to "/boot/a1boot" by adding an "a1boot" on the end. The SLB will then pick it up and add a boot entry for you.

If all goes well Debian will install and at the end a kernel and boot menu will be installed where needed.


Here is a link to Wheezy. CD 1 is fine:
http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/archive/7.8.0/powerpc/iso-cd/

Good luck!

Last edited by Hypex on 20-Aug-2015 at 04:54 PM.

@Hypex

Hi,

I could boot the CD and begin installing debian.

But at a point, I should choose the type of tables. Which one should I select ? The second thing, is that if I choose Amiga Tables, I can't make partitions as I want. Which option should I use and on which partition should I select for /boot/a1boot ?

After installing, how can I make harddisk to boot on debian ? an error message shows "wrong system file LNX\0".

Thanks for your help.

Nic

_________________
RedOneX (SAM 460ex) and an A1 which now rests quite.
Amiga OS 4.1.6 and CinemaWare games.
Classic and NG softwares.

@unimon

Quote:

unimon wrote: @Hypex But at a point, I should choose the type of tables. Which one should I select ?

What do you mean with "type of tables"? Partition table?

Quote:

The second thing, is that if I choose Amiga Tables, I can't make partitions as I want. Which option should I use and on which partition should I select for /boot/a1boot ?

I recommend to define the Linux partitions with MediaToolbox under OS4 so that you can just assign them to the desired file system mount points within the partition tool of the Debian installer (e.g. "/" or "/home/"). The boot partition for the bootloader shall be the second partition in the system (after the OS4 installation), if possible. Otherwise OS4's slb_v2 bootloader may ignore the partition and no Linux boot entry will show up after the installation. The partition also needs to be of type LNX/0 and you should give its filesystem a label of name "a1boot" using the partition tool of the Debian installer. This way it is recognized as partition dedicated to the bootloader (@Hypex: please correct me, if you implemented this differently).

Furthermore you also need partitions for the Linux root filesystem (type LNX/0) and Linux swap space (SWP/0). Their location is not restricted in any way.

Formatting the Linux partitions under OS4 is neither required nor possible.

Quote:

After installing, how can I make harddisk to boot on debian ? an error message shows "wrong system file LNX\0".

Where do you see this error? Linux filesystems do not care about the LNX/0 identifier.

_________________
A1SE: G3@600MHz, 2GB, 1GBit network card
A1XE: G4@933MHz, 2GB, refitted AC'97 codec
microA1: G3@800MHz, 1GB

- A1 Linux support -

@unimon

What Geri said.

Sorry, because you said you had installed Linux before I thought you had Linux volumes all ready to go.

Now in MTB you may need to defiune "LNX\0" manually. Use this as Identifier:
4C4E5800

A rough guide to Linux volumes

WB
Work
...
Boot: 100MB
Root: 10GB
Swap: 2GB


When in Linux installing, use manual partition method and locate these volumes on your disk you prepared from OS4. You can label the Boot volume "a1boot" or mount it as "/boot/a1boot".

After it's installed, to boot it just wait for the SLB menu to come up with OS4 volume options and there will be a boot entry for Linux below.

@unimon

there are 2 beautifull articles here : http://www.amiga-ng.org/sections.php?op=listarticles&secid=17

@lionstorm

Quote:

lionstorm wrote: @unimon there are 2 beautifull articles here : http://www.amiga-ng.org/sections.php?op=listarticles&secid=17

They're good for Debian Woody, if it is installed on a separate MBR-partitioned harddisk, but not for a newer release like Debian Wheezy.

Last edited by Geri on 22-Aug-2015 at 09:35 PM.

_________________
A1SE: G3@600MHz, 2GB, 1GBit network card
A1XE: G4@933MHz, 2GB, refitted AC'97 codec
microA1: G3@800MHz, 1GB

- A1 Linux support -

@all

Well, I've seen that the Linux boot appears if I keep the A1 harddisk connected :
1 Amiga...
2 Linux....
3 Linux... recovery

So, I choose 2. It has booted but again it start with "root" where I have to give user name and password. But no Desktop (KDE, LXDE, or GNOME).

What make I wrong on installation ?

Nic

_________________
RedOneX (SAM 460ex) and an A1 which now rests quite.
Amiga OS 4.1.6 and CinemaWare games.
Classic and NG softwares.

@unimon

in the old days you would type startx at the prompt or even CTRL+ALT+F7 to show the graphical login screen.

@unimon

Quote:

unimon wrote: @all Well, I've seen that the Linux boot appears if I keep the A1 harddisk connected : 1 Amiga... 2 Linux.... 3 Linux... recovery So, I choose 2. It has booted but again it start with "root" where I have to give user name and password. But no Desktop (KDE, LXDE, or GNOME). What make I wrong on installation ?

I guess we're talking about a Debian Wheezy installation now, right?

Did you select the option to install a graphical desktop environment during the installation (maybe it's selected by default, but I can't remember)?

What happens, if you execute "/etc/init.d/gdm3 restart" as root?

_________________
A1SE: G3@600MHz, 2GB, 1GBit network card
A1XE: G4@933MHz, 2GB, refitted AC'97 codec
microA1: G3@800MHz, 1GB

- A1 Linux support -

@Geri

Hi, yes I have installed v. 7.8.

That is the problem. There is no option for graphical interface.

This evening I will install it again but with English language. Maybe that the problem... The language.

Thanks to all of you for helping me.

Nic

_________________
RedOneX (SAM 460ex) and an A1 which now rests quite.
Amiga OS 4.1.6 and CinemaWare games.
Classic and NG softwares.

@unimon

Quote:

unimon wrote: @Geri Hi, yes I have installed v. 7.8. That is the problem. There is no option for graphical interface.

It should be named "desktop environment". It is in the list, where you can select other things for installation like SSH server, printer/CUPS sever, web server, etc. That list should appear after the installation of the base system.

Quote:

This evening I will install it again but with English language. Maybe that the problem... The language.

I doubt that!

Instead of redoing the whole installation you could also try to run tasksel to select a desktop environment:
Quote:

$ tasksel --new-install install

Also aptitude (which can be installed with "apt-get install aptitude") provides a sorted list of tasks from where you can install a desktop environment (the "+" key selects a package/task for installation and pressing "g" two times will start the installation).

BTW: make sure that you have an online Debian repository in your /etc/apt/sources.list file so that the package manager actually has access to all Debian packages and not only those on the first install CD!

_________________
A1SE: G3@600MHz, 2GB, 1GBit network card
A1XE: G4@933MHz, 2GB, refitted AC'97 codec
microA1: G3@800MHz, 1GB

- A1 Linux support -