Installing YDL 6.1 on PS3

[RingtailedFox]

Hello. I'm a newcomer to the Yellow Dog Linux distro, and i've tried installing Yellow Dog Linux on my PlayStation 3, but KBOOT does not let me mount the DVD-R disk i've burned it to. I don't know what i'm doing wrong, becuase all the instructions i've seen online say i should just install the kboot firmware ("otheros.bld") and once i boot into "otheros" it should "magically work, and automatically install". for me, nothing happens. it just sits there at the kboot command prompt. if anyone can help me get started, that would be greatly appreciated. Please note that i'm trying to install from a DVD-R, as i don't have any USB sticks big enough to contain the 3.7 GB of data that the Yellow Dog ISO contained.

[spykez]

Hello. I'm a newcomer to the Yellow Dog Linux distro, and i've tried installing Yellow Dog Linux on my PlayStation 3, but KBOOT does not let me mount the DVD-R disk i've burned it to. I don't know what i'm doing wrong, becuase all the instructions i've seen online say i should just install the kboot firmware ("otheros.bld") and once i boot into "otheros" it should "magically work, and automatically install". for me, nothing happens. it just sits there at the kboot command prompt. if anyone can help me get started, that would be greatly appreciated. Please note that i'm trying to install from a DVD-R, as i don't have any USB sticks big enough to contain the 3.7 GB of data that the Yellow Dog ISO contained.

I'm relatively new too... but let's try and figure this out. You've got kboot running by the sounds of it. I still haven't fully understood how kboot works thru' and thru' but I'll try and share what I know - it might help you:

I believe what kboot does after starting is it tries to mount devices it is aware of to try and find a config file that will tell it where the true kernel image is and how to boot it. My understanding is that this should ,in preference, be a kboot.conf file that usually sits in the /etc directory of the boot partition of the device. However, YDL 6.2, as per default install, has no kboot.conf file in the boot partition - it has a yaboot.conf - presumably for compatibility with ppc macs, but kboot actually has a parser for this file as well.

So bottom line - you need a readable device, with a boot partition, with a valid /etc/kboot.conf or /etc/yaboot.conf file and so on...

I believe there is a preference in the device search order as well. It will preferentially boot a USB first, then from the optical drive, then finally from the internal HD, booting the first one with some form of boot info.

So, if you don't have any usb storage devices that could be confusing kboot plugged in, it will try the optical drive - where your install medium is.

Now if the kboot prompt is just 'there' and not auto-starting some default boot sequence off the optical drive, it may be your DVD-R is not right in some way. Try tapping 'tab' a few times to see if it auto-completes the prompt with something like ps3-720p or something like that... Remember to choose a video mode you know will work. if it does nothing then, likely, no boot config file was parsed correctly. The boot config file on a proper install DVD can be assumed to be correct so it must not have been read. Thus, there may be a problem with either your DVD or optical drive - the latter can be checked by playing a PS3 game I guess, or trying to mount a DVD known to work.

TLDR: I think your install medium is suspect. Reburn. But first check the iso image you downloaded - check the checksums on it (ie the SHA1 numbers) to be reasonably certain you have an accurate download. The other thing as well is that I found burning from my mac (specificially my model is one of the first penryn white macbooks) occasionally unreliable, so a PC may be better possibly/anecdotally.

By the way, why YDL 6.1 and not 6.2?

I would suggest try 6.2 if nothing but for the fact that the graphics memory, by default, is turned into one fast ram based swap file, with no fiddling.

Cheers
Rob
Oh and Happy Christmas:)

[ppietro]

Hello. I'm a newcomer to the Yellow Dog Linux distro, and i've tried installing Yellow Dog Linux on my PlayStation 3, but KBOOT does not let me mount the DVD-R disk i've burned it to. I don't know what i'm doing wrong, becuase all the instructions i've seen online say i should just install the kboot firmware ("otheros.bld") and once i boot into "otheros" it should "magically work, and automatically install". for me, nothing happens. it just sits there at the kboot command prompt. if anyone can help me get started, that would be greatly appreciated. Please note that i'm trying to install from a DVD-R, as i don't have any USB sticks big enough to contain the 3.7 GB of data that the Yellow Dog ISO contained.

To add/confirm what spykez said:

1. Definitely do a SHA1SUM verify of the ISO you burned your disc from.

2. The automatic install is a bit of misnomer. Once you get to the kboot: prompt, it's best if you use the TAB key to select the appropriate installation options. Otherwise, you have to wait about 3-4 minutes for it to autocomplete and start the installer.

3. It's best to install from a DVD. Apparently, you can't just copy the build to a USB stick and have it work. Fixstars used to sell a custom USB with a version of YDL on it, but since the site reorganization, I don't know what's happened to it.

There are complete instructions for PS3 here:
http://www.ydl.net/support/installation ... _guide.pdf

Cheers,
Paul

[spykez]

One other thing, I've been meaning to do - try to get a linux install to boot from a usb stick, so far I've been unsuccessful.

I haven't managed to get the YDL 6.2 DVD to install to usb. It would seem that the default YDL 6.2 DVD will not recognize usb disks as valid mass storage media to install to. I tried copying the install on the HD over to a USB stick partition per partition and fixed up the fstab ... and then tried to get the yaboot.conf file filed out as best as I could and even rebuilt the kernel to have usb mass storage and 2.0 built in but so far no joy.

I have to say I have abandoned doing this for now because there are other things I'm trying in my spare time, but if someone's done it, I'd be keen to learn how too

Has anyone succeeded to get YDL 6.2 to boot from USB? If so, how?

If anyone has one of those rare USB YDL bootable install sticks, I'd really like to know how it boots, what the differences are between it and the DVD install, ie, what the partition table looks like, fstab, yaboot.conf, boot scripts and if relevant (if a totally different kernel compile is used) the .config for that kernel.

Thanks

Rob

PS/EDIT: hmmm... maybe I should have branched this off as a separate subtopic. Could I perhaps suggest that to one of the mods? thanks