[Gllug] Installing Linux on a Mac Mini - boot sequence

[Matthew King]

John Winters <john at sinodun.org.uk> writes:

> I now discover (after the event) that the Mac disc layout is a bit
> different and I need to learn more to find out how to get it to boot
> cleanly.  Most of the web pages I've found start with "Boot into Mac OS
> and then..." but that option isn't open to me.  I can almost certainly
> get a Mac OS DVD at school on Monday, but currently I don't have one.

This is my (powerpc) mac mini:

korova:~# fdisk -l
/dev/hda
        #                    type name                 length   base     ( size )  system
/dev/hda1     Apple_partition_map Apple                    63 @ 1        ( 31.5k)  Partition map
/dev/hda2              Apple_Boot eXternal booter       17408 @ 64       (  8.5M)  Unknown
/dev/hda3               Apple_UFS Apple_UFS_Untitled_1  2062336 @ 17472    (1007.0M)  Unknown
/dev/hda4              Apple_Free Extra                262144 @ 2079808  (128.0M)  Free space
/dev/hda5               Apple_HFS Apple_HFSX_Untitled_2 33030144 @ 2341952  ( 15.8G)  HFS
/dev/hda6         Apple_UNIX_SVR2 swap                1000001 @ 35372096 (488.3M)  Linux swap
/dev/hda7         Apple_Bootstrap boot                 500001 @ 36372097 (244.1M)  NewWorld bootblock
/dev/hda8         Apple_UNIX_SVR2 root               41267579 @ 36872098 ( 19.7G)  Linux native
/dev/hda9              Apple_Free Extra                   483 @ 78139677 (241.5k)  Free space

Block size=512, Number of Blocks=78140160
DeviceType=0x0, DeviceId=0x0


It has OS X (hda5) and Debian (hda6/8), with space for OS 9 (hda3)
should I want to experience some extreme pain later. You'll notice
there's an Apple_Bootstrap and Apple_Boot. I've no idea why there are
two and I don't know why hda7 needs to be nearly 250MB (amusingly, it's
exactly 256000512 bytes), but if you want them as images I can send them
to you. The big one doesn't compress much.

I don't know any of the details - I didn't really pay much attention to
that bit I just let the OS X installer partition for me, so the
waste^Wfree space is apparently by design.

Matthew

-- 
I must take issue with the term "a mere child", for it has been my
invariable experience that the company of a mere child is infinitely
preferable to that of a mere adult.
                                           --  Fran Lebowitz
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