[Cbe-oss-dev] Bug#514055: debian still not working on PS3

[Geoff Levand]

On 03/21/2009 10:38 AM, Wouter Verhelst wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 20, 2009 at 04:40:51PM -0700, Geoff Levand wrote:
>> On 03/20/2009 02:21 PM, Wartan Hachaturow wrote:
>> > On Mon, Mar 02, 2009 at 03:00:37PM +0300, Wartan Hachaturow wrote:
>> >> > The short answer is that there isn't really an active powerpc porter
>> >> > working on the installer.  That's why your bug report is unanswered.
>> >> > I'm copying Wouter Verhelst who indicated some interest in helping
>> >> > with the powerpc port.
>> >> 
>> >> I own a lot of PPC/Cell hardware, including a couple of PS3's.
>> >> I'll have a look on the issue.
>> > 
>> > Geoff, could you please test this image:
>> > http://people.debian.org/~wart/ps3/mini.iso
>> 
>> I tested this image and could do a complete install using
>> Ethernet with the resulting notes below.  I did not try
>> to install over wireless.
>> 
>> 1) At boot there were some kernel I/O errors about /dev/sr0.
> 
> That is the BD drive. Did you have a disc in the drive at that point?
> If so, what kind of disc?

The mini.iso installer, a CD-ROM.

>> 2) During the HD setup I had some warning dialogs.  One about
>> HPFS, and one about a PREP partition.  I answered 'No' to both
>> and continued.
>> 
>> 3) I got a warning 'No installable kernel was found in the
>> defined APT sources'.  I answered 'Yes' (no install) and
>> continued.
> 
> The correct installer is chosen based on a set of rules for the
> subsystem. I'm assuming that there's no rule for PS3 here. Similar
> things are true for the partitioner.

Afterward I could install the debian 2.6.26 kernel using apt-get,
and then a manual entry in yaboot.conf.  It booted and worked OK,
so it seems we just need a slight change here to get it installed.

>> 4) I needed to manually select to not install a bootloader.
>> No yaboot.conf was installed, so I needed to create one manually.
> 
> Hrm. Does the PS3 boot with yaboot? If so, you should have been able to
> select yaboot, and have it be installed to the system. That should also
> have created your yaboot.conf.

PS3 uses petitboot (http://ozlabs.org/~jk/projects/petitboot/).
It is a kexec based bootloader which can read kboot.conf and
yaboot.conf files.

Due to the way the PS3 boots, the user must install a bootloader
to flash memory before they can load a distro's installer.

I'll try the yaboot install and see what happens.  Is it possible
to arrange for the installer to just create the yaboot.conf
without installing yaboot?

-Geoff