Installing GNU/Linux on the IBM RS/6000 43P model 7248 HOWTO

This document describes the installation of several Linux distributions on the IBM RS/6000 43P model 7248 series.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

1.1. Copyright Information and Legal stuff
1.2. Disclaimer and scope
1.3. New versions
1.4. Credits
1.5. Feedback
1.6. Translations

2. Overview

2.1. The IBM RS6000 43P 7248-132
2.2. What's the matter, why not use the original installation procedure?
2.3. What distributions are supported
2.4. An overview on what to do

3. Setting up the hardware with SMS

3.1. Where is the BIOS?
3.2. How to use the SMS
3.3. What settings to use
3.4. More info about the hardware

4. Get the installation files

4.1. Buying a CD
4.2. Download CD images over FTP or HTTP
4.3. Network installation

5. Make boot floppies

5.1. What floppies to make
5.2. How to make the boot floppies

6. Boot the machine and start the installation program

6.1. A note on partitions
6.2. Boot the machine and start the installer
6.3. The Debian installer
6.4. The SuSE installer
6.5. The Yellow Dog installer
6.6. The Mandrake installer

7. Post installation configuration

7.1. The Boot Prompt
7.2. Post installation configuration of Debian
7.3. Post configuration of SuSE
7.4. Post configuration of Yellow Dog
7.5. Post configuration of Mandrake
7.6. Installation: Done!

8. Odds and ends

8.1. Network hangs

9. Compile a kernel

9.1. Why update the kernel
9.2. What files to download
9.3. Patching the source
9.4. Configuring the kernel
9.5. Compiling and installing the kernel
9.6. Configure modules
9.7. Pray and reboot

10. Set up X

11. Resources

11.1. Other resources on Linux/PPC and 43P boxes
11.2. Installing other operating systems on the 7248

12. Todo

13. Frequently Asked Questions

13.1. XF68 or XF86
13.2. There is "snow" on my X desktop
13.3. I can't get my hardware to work
13.4. The PReP boot partition?
13.5. It won't boot at all. Could it be bad RAM?
13.6. Kernel boots, but stops at "Parity checking"

14. Appendix: Updating from YellowDog 2.3 (Dayton) to 3.0 (Sirius)

15. Appendix: Using cfdisk to partition your harddisk

15.1. Hard disk names
15.2. Harddisk partitions
15.3. Starting cfdisk
15.4. Using cfdisk

16. Appendix: More on partitioning

17. Appendix: Make SMS and firmware floppies from Linux

17.1. Why?
17.2. How?

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