[Howto] Installing a current release of Debian on Amiga

[nicholas]

This is actually neat, I didn't know that. Thanks a lot for the heads up. I am pretty sure that driver code could be ported to Linux.

Adrian

Hopefully someone can get it ported across, it would be really cool to see Debian running on a Mediator + Radeon setup.

[TCMSLP]

Is there any way to install using only an Amiga?  Or do we have to remove the HD and mount/install using a Linux host?

[txnull]

Maybe there is a way to install it on an amiga:
- install the ext2 filesystem (I've seen one on the aminet, but never tested)
- partition/format
- copy the tarball on the ext2 partition
- boot into linux using one of the old initrd.gz's (e.g. http://people.debian.org/~smarenka/d-i/m68k/images/20090814-01:14/nativehd/)
- extract the tarball

This is untested. Extracting the tarball on amiga will work mostly buy not for the /dev entries. If the initrd also contains the AFFS filesystem and mkfs.ext2 then you can read the tarball from an amiga partition and format ext2 under linux.



And as for the filesystem I recommend ext2 in favor of ext3/4 on Flash media (like CF-Card, SD-Card, Usb-Stick) because there is much less writing due to not having journaling. (On HDD and modern SSD ext4 is probably best.)

[Rotzloeffel]

I think it is much more easier....

use the network-install iso form http://cdimage.debian.org/mirror/cdimage/archive/3.1_r8/m68k/iso-cd/

burn the iso on a cdrom and start the installation with your prefered Grafigboard.

the networkpath for the Installation is

http://archive.debian.org/debian sarge main contrib non-free

After basic-install you can try to do a Distupgrade with the correct sources in /etc/apt/sources.list See Post 1 !

should be

Code: [Select]

deb http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian pool-m68k main

give it a try....

install aptitude with apt-get install aptitude

get the latest Kernel! see Post 1 install the kernel and copy it to your Amiga-Paritition

then do the upgrade

aptitude -f --with-recommends dist-upgrade

I think that´s it...

[TCMSLP]

Do we still have problems with PCMCIA network cards under Linux on the A1200?

As the typical 3com/NE2000 style network cards are supported under Linux, I assume the reason they're not supported under the mc68k port is some weird PCMCIA chipset issues?

I know I could run ppp over serial but I'd rather not

[Rotzloeffel]

Do we still have problems with PCMCIA network cards under Linux on the A1200?

I do not know about problems with PCMCIA Networkcards..... there is a so called "dummy" Network driver available wich should work....

but BTW: you can give it a try.... nothing will be changed by starting the installation and choose the network driver... harddiskparitioning will be done later....

[txnull]

Here are many informations on PCMCIA Amiga Networkcards:
http://www.g-mb.de/pcmcia_e.html

[adrian82]

3. On the Debian PC, install the package "amiga-fdisk-cross" ("apt-get install amiga-fdisk-cross" as root)
4. As root, run "amiga-fdisk" to create a root partition of at least 4 GB plus a swap partition on the Amiga hard disk (you can use this guide on "fdisk" to learn how to use "amiga-fdisk": http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Partition/fdisk_partitioning.html; "fdisk" is an old and simple tool for partitioning hard disks on Linux, "amiga-fdisk" is the version which supports Amiga partitions and is designed to be used in the same way as the conventional "fdisk")

I would like to add here, that, for a more convenient way, you can also install and use gparted which works absolutely fine with Amiga partition tables.

Just install it with "apt-get install gparted" and run gparted as root. Select the Amiga disk from the drop-down menu at the top right and create new partitions using the menu item "Partition->New".

Create a primary partition with your preferred size (20-30 GB should be enough) and format the disk using ext4, create another primary partition and format it as swap. In both cases, set the alignment to "Cylinder" instead of "MiB" as the partitiong will otherwise fail.

Once you're done, just click the green checkmark and gparted will properly partition the disk to be used in your Amiga.

Adrian

[nyteschayde]

This post and all the files need to be mirrored someplace. I can expect needing/wanting this in like 6 months and then files will be gone

[TeamBlackFox]

So just a few questions for you Adrian if you don't mind:

Does this port of Debian run under systemd or sysvinit?

Is there any support for the PowerPC addons?

Is the reason you're helping maintain the Debian port along the same lines as why NetBSD maintains their port? Because it seems Debian and NetBSD do have their parallels in philosophy.

Just a few questions from a former GNU/Linux user who moved on recently.

[amigadave]

Interesting that work still continues (or has been restarted) on Debian Linux for 68k computers.  Don't know if I will ever try it out on any of my 68060 equipped Amigas, but might try it out some day just to see what it looks like.  Thanks for your work on reviving something that we can enjoy on our old 68k Amiga hardware.

One question though, AmigaOS3.1 or 3.9 with tons of Amiga programs as well, easily fits on hard drives only 1gb in size.  Is Debian 68k really so large that it needs >4gb of hard drive space to be installed and have room for a few programs?

If the OS and program files are so large to need that much hard disk space, how can it run fast enough on a slow system, such as a 68020 Amiga, or Atari?

[Thorham]

This post and all the files need to be mirrored someplace. I can expect needing/wanting this in like 6 months and then files will be gone

If you know this beforehand, then why don't you just download it now, and use it later?

[adrian82]

This post and all the files need to be mirrored someplace. I can expect needing/wanting this in like 6 months and then files will be gone

I'll put it up in the Debian wiki.

Does this port of Debian run under systemd or sysvinit?

You can use upstart, sysvinit, openrc or systemd as you prefer.

Is there any support for the PowerPC addons?

If you mean PowerPC accelerators, of course. Debian doesn't tie the CPU to the rest of the hardware. You would just install the powerpc port of Debian.

Is the reason you're helping maintain the Debian port along the same lines as why NetBSD maintains their port?

I don't know what NetBSD's intentions are, but I do it for fun and to learn things. Why are you using an Amiga these days? Certainly not because it's more economical and faster than a PC you could get for the fraction of the cost of a fast Amiga.

Just a few questions from a former GNU/Linux user who moved on recently.

To what? Debian is still the most universal operating system you can get.

One question though, AmigaOS3.1 or 3.9 with tons of Amiga programs as well, easily fits on hard drives only 1gb in size.  Is Debian 68k really so large that it needs >4gb of hard drive space to be installed and have room for a few programs?

No. But since Debian has something around 30000 binary packages, there's lots of stuff you can try out and install. When you have a 160 GB disk available, what's the point in using just a fraction of the available disk space?

If the OS and program files are so large to need that much hard disk space, how can it run fast enough on a slow system, such as a 68020 Amiga, or Atari?

The amount of disk space used by an operating system has little to do on how fast it performs. I don't know where you got this idea from.

Adrian

[Rotzloeffel]

If you mean PowerPC accelerators, of course. Debian doesn't tie the CPU to the rest of the hardware. You would just install the powerpc port of Debian.

The last distribution you could use with PPC on classic Amiga´s is Debian Sarge 3.1

Reasons: Kernel is too old, driver structure has changed in newer kernels, nobody here with time to do the job.......

[adrian82]

Reasons: Kernel is too old, driver structure has changed in newer kernels, nobody here with time to do the job.......

What?! The Linux kernel still fully supports PowerPC and if the drivers for Amiga hardware compile on m68k, they will compile on PowerPC as well.

Do you have a source for your claims? I don't have a PPC card myself, but I am running an up-to-date version of Debian unstable on my Mac Mini G4 PPC.

Adrian

[Rotzloeffel]

What?! The Linux kernel still fully supports PowerPC and if the drivers for Amiga hardware compile on m68k, they will compile on PowerPC as well.

Do you have a source for your claims? I don't have a PPC card myself, but I am running an up-to-date version of Debian unstable on my Mac Mini G4 PPC.

Adrian

this is what a former developper told me! You are right, powerPC is still supportet! But not for LinuxAPUS ! APUS support was dropped! latest working and available Kernel is 2.4.17 AFAIK !

http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/linux/kernel/1327811

see the first two lines Geert Uytterhoeven wrote in 2011