Arch Linux

mianka

Member

From: BE LEUVEN

Registered: 2006-05-30

Posts: 230

ARCH Install on G4 Ibook (SOLVED)

I am trying to install Arch LX on an Ibook G4.I can start the cd,set kb, partition format and have a working internet connection (can ping external address).
When it comes to downloading packages, I can not reach the servers: xentac and the french one are not reachable and the other one is there ,can be accessed via a browser but refuses to download.

Any idea what's wrong here?

Last edited by mianka (2011-03-23 20:05:11)

Eldomir

Member

Registered: 2005-03-10

Posts: 11

Re: ARCH Install on G4 Ibook (SOLVED)

I haven't been able to install it (at least, a working version) on my ibook G4 either. There are several problems with the installation CD for PPC, I think -- some are mentioned on the wiki (http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ins … _Linux_PPC), like the absence of wget for the quickinst; some are not, I think, like the fact that the setup scripts expect a static pacman binary that doesn't exist with the latest versions.

I managed to change the scripts in several places to get it to work (using an older pacman version, adding snarf instead of wget), then when it installed the kernel without an initrd and it couldn't boot I gave up in frustration... but I'll try again soon,  we'll see hot it goes. In any case, the PPC install CD doesn't work without tweaking, it seems.

Eldomir

Member

Registered: 2005-03-10

Posts: 11

Re: ARCH Install on G4 Ibook (SOLVED)

Well, I've managed to finish the install and get a bootable system. Now, let's see if I can explain what I did (even though my username on the forums is old, I'm quite new to Arch). Let's hope it works for you too:

1. Before running /arch/setup from the installation CD, I downloaded a pacman version that contains a static binary (which is what the setup script expects, I believe):

snarf ftp://ftp.archlinuxppc.org/unstable/os/ppc/pacman-3.0.0-1-ppc.pkg.tar.gz

2. I extracted it in /:

tar xzvf pacman-3.0.0-1-ppc.pkg.tar.gz -C /

3. I ran the setup script, doing all the steps all the way to the end (set up the bootloader, I believe).

4. This might have only happened to me and you might be fine, but when I checked /mnt/boot/, the kernel image was there, but there was no initrd. So I used mkinitcpio to create it (I don't recall the exact code right now, but you should have /mnt/usr/sbin/mkinitcpio there, and also a mkinitcpio.conf file in /boot/ ready for the installed kernel.

Hope that helps! If something doesn't work and I can help in any way, just holler. Oh, and I might have done something useless or stupid -- like I said, I'm new and don't have any idea what I'm doing, so veterans please correct any of the above if necessary.

mianka

Member

From: BE LEUVEN

Registered: 2006-05-30

Posts: 230

Re: ARCH Install on G4 Ibook (SOLVED)

Thank you Eldomir for the hint.
I hope someone of the team looks into it and comes with a solution.

DaNiMoTh

Member

Registered: 2006-06-10

Posts: 260

Re: ARCH Install on G4 Ibook (SOLVED)

Hello,
I think that we need to make a new iso; all your hints are necessary. So, if you want, you can file all these things as bug in www.archlinuxppc.org.
Also, we need tester... kde 4.1.3 and gnome 2.24 are waiting you

Thanks

Eldomir

Member

Registered: 2005-03-10

Posts: 11

Re: ARCH Install on G4 Ibook (SOLVED)

Unfortunately, I recently gave my little ibook away and replaced it with a new Sony Vaio... it's i686 and x86_64 for me now, sorry