[Howto] Installing a current release of Debian on Amiga

[Dandy]

Hi there,

I am one of the Debian Developer who is involved in helping to bring the m68k port of Debian back to life.
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Anyway, since we're glad to having more people use Debian on their m68k machines and Amigas, here's a short howto on getting Debian running on the Amiga. It's neither very thorough nor perfect and requires some expertise with Linux and AmigaOS, especially when it comes to partitioning hard disks.
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Great job, Adrian!
I made several attempts in the past to install Linux on my Amiga 4000 PPC with Mediator PCI board and Deneb USB 2.0, but had to give up each time. In the Mediator I have a Voodoo 4 graphics card, a 10/100 mBit NIC (with RTL chip) and a Terratec 512i digital soundcard.
I exclusively use the UW-SCSI Host of the CSPPC (HDs, CDs, DVD, tape streamer, scanner) - internal IDE disabled via Dongle.

I had to give up each time because of the sheer incredible and confusing amount of files I have to download to be able to install a Linux that supports as much as possible of MY hardware config.

I own a copy of the Amiga Unix compendium CDs, but didn't get far with that, either. The version on the CDs didn't have support for the UW-SCSCI Host of the CSPPC, wich I exclusively use.

I would have had to download a newer kernel, but was so confused as I didn't know which one. And also I was uncertain regarding the Bootstrap and which Linux distro I should/could use with my HW and so gave it up.

I do know that meanwhile there exists a Kernel that supports the UW-SCSI Host of the CSPPC, but neither do I know which Kernel that is, nor do I know if there is meanwhile also support for my Voodoo4, my 10/100 mBit NIC (with RTL chip) and my Terratec 512i digital in the Mediator and for the Deneb USB 2.0.

Without support for UW-SCSI, Mediator (for Vodoo4, 10/100 mBit NIC and Terratec 512i digital) and Deneb (USB 2.0) it really makes no sense to me to spend time on a Linux installation on my Amiga4000PPC, although I'd be really interested to give Linux a try on my Miggy.

So the questions now are:
- Do you know if there meanwhile is support for my HW config?
- Do you know if there is a list available somewhere, that tells me precisely what I need to download for my HW config and from where?
- Do you know if there is a good "howto" somewhere on getting Linux (Debian?) installed on my HW?

Perhaps we shouild even start a new thread about installing Linux on a PowerUp/WarpUp classic Amiga system?

[Dandy]

you are confusing me :angry:

I allready did a tutorial....

http://www.amiga.org/forums/showpost.php?p=725055&postcount=15

Hi Rotzlöffel,

Yes, we already mailed on that topic and you possibly already pointed me to that tutorial.
If so, my health probs and some domestic issues made me forget about that.
In this case sorry.

and by the way! Mediator is not supported by linuxAPUS! Deneb Rom must be deactivated by holding down left mousebutton during boot!

Yes - that's clear to me. If already the UW-SCSI on the CSPPC isn't supported on those CDs, I would not expect the Mediator being suported, as it was released AFTER the CSPPC...

But the question here is:
Is Mediator STILL not supported - or is it supported meanwhile (like the CSPPC-UW-SCSI)?

If it is still not supported at all, trying to install Linux on my machine would serve no purpose. In this case I'm better off with my current OS 3.9/WarpOS 16.1 setup, where all of my HW works flawlessly.

I will certainly not use the AGA video output again for anything else than the early startup menue in case of an emergency - my eyes are already bad enough from using those old, flickering "ray guns" in the old days. I do not intend to worsen their state by exploring Linux on my Miggy with such a flickering screen!

And I also do not intend to buy expensive second hand Amiga graphics card just to be able to test Linux.

The same goes for the NIC and the soundcard.

[Dandy]

...
Mediator is still *NOT* supported!

This means that I have no display, as long as I refuse to use the AGA video output (or an old, expensive, second hand Amiga grapics card)?
So trying to install Linux on my Miggy would serve no purpose...

UWSCSI works fine as described in the tutorial I installed with it :-)

Yeah - nice - but as long as I cannot see anything this alone is useless for me.

for booting you MUST deactivate the DENEB Rom either per Jumper or by holding the left Mousebutton during boot....

Does that mean Deneb USB is supported meanwhile?

If you need any help, let me know.... you need a zorro-Networkcard for installation !

Thanks a lot for the offer - but currently the effort would be too big. I would have to get and fit a suited graphics card, a suited NIC and soundcard first.

Without display, network and sound it does not seem to make sense to try to test Linux on my Amiga...

[Dandy]

You are right! NetBSD is supporting the Mediator Board!
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Hmmm - but as I just discovered on the Elbox pages, it seems there's also Linux support for the Mediator and Voodoo:
http://www.elbox.com/downloads_mediator.html (scroll down to "3rd party Mediator software")

"Linux drivers for Mediator - Voodoo 3 support for Mediator 4000 by Adam Kowalczyk exp 03 Sep 2002 note, download"

"Subject: Test Linux Kernel with Voodoo 3 support for Mediator 4000
 
Hi,
 
Attached is an m68k Linux kernel with Voodoo 3 support for the Mediator
4000.  I've also included amiboot-5.6 and the batch file used to boot
the kernel.  If you have a working install of Linux, replace
rootdev/sda5 with your root dir.  Note that you don't need a working
install to boot the kernel.  It will just complain about not finding
init or root.  BTW, ne2k-pci ethernet driver is also compiled in this
kernel, but I've not had any luck with it yet.  
 
This kernel is hardcoded for the 512Mb config setting of the Mediator
4000.

Adam Kowalczyk
 
ACK Software Controls Inc."

Does anyone here have more details on this?
What do you think of this?