Linux => Amiga and Sarge: any hope to booting off CDROMs

[Sarek3]

Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 09:31:38 +0200
From: Emiliano
To: debian-68k@lists.debian.org
Subject: Re: Amiga and Sarge: any hope to booting off CDROMs
Resent-Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 02:29:50 -0500 (CDT)
Resent-From: debian-68k@lists.debian.org

Alle 03:13, mercoledì 12 ottobre 2005, Gayle Lee Fairless ha scritto:

>> I ordered sarge for 68k from Abexia and wondered how to boot my Amiga
>> 2000HD off them and possibly install it on a spare SCSI drive.  I'm having
>> trouble booting off my boot hard drive and hoped to boot the Amiga with
>> 3.1 floppies and then get the sarge CDROM to boot.  I get the impression
>> that this is a bit more involved than just installing woody on a Gateway
>> 500.  (I have woody CDROM's for that arch so obviously I can't use them.)
>>
>> Is this a total pipedream?  Or can I actually do something?


AFAIK the Amiga cannot directly boot off the CD-Rom (it was just a matter of
time then, maybe OS 3.2 would have had that possibility...).

You'll have to make a minimal workbench disk and put the cd-rom fs and device
driver on it. Then you can launch the install process via cd.

If you need gfx-board boot/install, you'd better make a small Amiga partition
on the SCSI and install a workbench on it with cd-rom drivers and gfx-board
libraries.

Regards,
Emiliano

Since my boot Hard drive is perhap defunct,  where can I find a floppy to boot the Amiga and run an installation of Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 (sarge)?

I have OS 3.1 floppies on which I can boot.
 :-?

[InTheSand]

Hi,

Does your A2000 have more than one drive? E.g. do you have Linux already installed on a different hard drive?

Or are you still trying run Linux from the CD? Is the Amiga's Debian distribution designed to run off CD or does it require installation on a hard drive?

I have a really ancient (1996!) version of Linux on my A1200 and in order to get this running, I have to boot the Amiga normally and run a small AmigaOS-based kernel loader program that then starts Linux up. Unfortunately, my A1200 is in storage at the moment and I can't remember the program's name...

Some Debian installation instructions I found here seem to indicate that installation to hard disk is required, so you may be out of luck...

 - Ali

[Sarek3]

I have more than one hard drive.  The boot drive can possibly be replaced since I just recently ordered a 733 MB drive from Softhut.  It's just a matter of getting the Amiga box open, I
hope.
:nervous:
 
I'll look at that page you referenced and see what I can do. :crazy:

 

InTheSand wrote:
Hi,

Does your A2000 have more than one drive? E.g. do you have Linux already installed on a different hard drive?

Or are you still trying run Linux from the CD? Is the Amiga's Debian distribution designed to run off CD or does it require installation on a hard drive?

I think it requires installation on the hard drive.  I don't
know of anything that would run like Knoppix on the Amiga.

Some Debian installation instructions I found here seem to indicate that installation to hard disk is required, so you may be out of luck...

 - Ali

 :cry:


From the page:

These are the files you need:
   - amiga/amigainstall.lha
   - common/base2_1.tgz

   Alternatively, get the official Debian/68k 2.1 CD set. The LZH archive
   and base2_1.tgz are in /install/.

I guess I need to look at the contents of the CDROM that I ordered from Abexia.

 :hammer:

[InTheSand]

Good luck, and let everyone know how you get on!

I'd be interested in replacing my A1200's ancient Linux with something more modern!

 - Ali

[Sarek3]

InTheSand wrote:
Good luck, and let everyone know how you get on!

I'd be interested in replacing my A1200's ancient Linux with something more modern!

 - Ali

I wish I could loan you my CDROM's, but it's rather damp walk!
 :-P

I finally got a few replies on the m68k Debian mailing list.  
Now I have to get my wits together and try out some of this stuff.  :insane:



  It's going to take me a while since I have other irons
 in the fire.   :hammer:

[InTheSand]

Heh! Soggy Amigas are no good!  :-)

Hmmm... I've just seen the size of the distro... don't think I'll be downloading that over dialup any time soon!

How many of the CDs are required to get a basic Amiga Linux setup going?

 - Ali

[Boot_WB]

I got a distro of M68k debian/woody a while back - AFAIK it only takes the first CD to get to the command prompt (takes HOURS to install), the other 5 CDs are all modules.

If you're on PPC then there is an Redhat/APUS distro which installs much faster and easier, and runs straight from your PPC.  I installed it from AmigaFormat disk 40 with a redhat installer & enough modules to get X-windows running all on one CD.

Doesn't help if you can't get to WB though... :-(

[InTheSand]

@Boot_WB:
I'm 68K only, so I guess it'll be the long installation for me!

@Sarek3 or anyone else with a Debian Sarge m68k set of CDs:
Since Debian can be freely copied under the terms of the GPL, would any kind soul be prepared to copy and mail the required discs to me in NZ if I PayPal you the postage and blank disc cost?

 - Ali

[Louis Dias]

Uh...
CD32 boots off of CDROM...
I don't see why you couldn't create your own bootable OS boot on that that system and have an SX-1 to give you a harddrive when you need storage.

If all you want to do is claim that you can boot to OS3.1 from CDROM that is.