HOWTO Boot Apple PowerPCs From A USB Drive In Open FirmwareThe BIOS for Apple PowerPCs is Open Firmware. It is the only way to boot the machine from anything but the hard disk or the CDROM. Note: Some older G3 models can access Open Firmware via an external terminal. If you have one of these, you need an external terminal or another PC that can emulate one. Note: You may want to print this out before you start.
Accessing Open FirmwareTo access Open Firmware (OF): Plug in the USB drive before you reboot. Reboot the machine
and between the chime and the first screen, hold down the
ok 0 >
Determining The USB DriveList all the devices on the machine. Write down the ones
with Note: This is from my machine. YMMV 0 > dev / ls ... ff972e78: /usb@18 ff9a4fa8: /mouse@1 ff97ab00: /usb@19 ff9a4f80: /disk@1 ... In this case, the USB drive is
Using The Device AliasOF has aliases for the device to make using them easier. Find the alias of the USB drive. 0 > devalias ... usb1 /pci@f2000000/usb@19 ... In this case, it's
Booting The USB DriveThe 0 > boot usb1/disk@1:2,\yaboot After a bit, you should see the Note: Booting from a USB drive may be significantly slower.
To Boot The Hard DiskTo boot from the hard disk in OF, use: 0 > boot hd:,\\:tbxi
Original AuthorShawn H Corey
Contributing Authors(Insert your name here if you modified this documentation. Do not remove this comment.)
AcknowledgementsThanks to Skeeve42 at Ubuntu forums for his pointers. http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php Thanks to OSXbook.com for their insights on Open Firmware works. http://osxbook.com/book/bonus/ancient/whatismacosx/arch_boot.html
Copyright & LicencesCopyright 2010 by Shawn H Corey. All rights reserved.
Document LicencePermission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the Invariant Sections being Original Author, Copyright & Licences, and Document Licence. |
