Running Linux, Third Edition

Preparing to Boot LinuxPPC

To get LinuxPPC installed on your Mac, you will have to partition your hard disk, install the OS, and configure your system for dual-booting LinuxPPC. Each step will be explained in detail later.

Booting LinuxPPC was revolutionized in 1998 when Benjamin Herrenschmidt released a utility called BootX, which gave PowerMac owners easy dual-boot capability. The BootX utility runs in the Mac OS as an application and comes with an extension that runs at system startup. Prior to BootX, the only way to boot PowerMacs was to edit their Open Firmware settings, which was a tricky proposition, at best. BootX also provides basic video support for machines that don’t have video drivers.

With the BootX system, the Linux kernel is stored on the Macintosh hard disk. When the user gives the command to boot into Linux, BootX issues shutdown commands to the Mac OS. Just when the Mac is about to restart, the Mac OS is kicked out of the computer’s RAM, and Linux begins to boot.

Getting the Mac Ready for Linux

Before you can see how fast your Mac really is, you have to do some work. You’ll need a hard disk or removable disk, preferably a gigabyte or larger, that you can repartition. If you have only one hard disk, you’ll need to get either an external hard drive or additional internal drive (if your machine has room for one) or erase the internal hard disk and repartition it! Unfortunately, there isn’t any non-destructive partition software for the Macintosh.

If you have a LinuxPPC ...