Re: Issues with NetBSD 11 install on macppc

John Klos <[email protected]> Thu, 9 Oct 2025 16:02:03 +0000 (UTC)
Newsgroups gmane.os.netbsd.ports.macppc,gmane.os.netbsd.devel.installation
Message-ID <[email protected]>
>> The disk is set up with an HFS (not +) partition at the beginning of
>> the disk with ofwboot.xcf, netbsd-INSTALL.gz, and netbsd copied to
>> it.  netbsd-INSTALL.gz booted fine, netbsd didn't, then when I
>> gzipped netbsd and copied it there, that booted.  This is a Mac mini
>> G4, BTW.
>
> OFW in Mini G4 groks FAT and I've been using FAT partition for boot
> (just the ofwboot*, the kernels are in the netbsd root fs) for ages
> now.  Plain MBR, no apple partition map.  /boot can be mounted
> natively.

ofwboot.* can load netbsd from FFS? How did I miss this? Granted, it's 
been a good twenty years since I was burning kernels on CDs to get NetBSD 
running on a G3, but if I had known...

I think my habit of using HFS is in part because I've shared disks between 
OF 1.x and OF 3.x systems, but good to know in the future.

Now that I think about it, I've long forgotten the difference between 
ofwboot.elf and ofwboot.xcf. I suppose it's not hard at all to copy 
ofwboot.elf and try it out.

Thanks!
John