The second beta of SUSE Linux 10.1 has just arrived. One can download it from http://www.opensuse.org/Development_Version#Downloads. The kernel on CD1 is not broken this time, so CD1 booted nicely on my Pegasos.

Installation instructions are available from http://www.opensuse.org/POWER@SUSE. Most annoying bugs are availabe at http://www.opensuse.org/Bugs:Most_Annoying_Bugs.

It's starting to get late here in Hungary, so I will share my experiences tomorrow.
CzP

Ps: I just found, that I used SUSE names incorrectly in my previous post. But no trouble, names are now a moving target at SUSE Seems, that the confusion around openSUSE - SUSE Linux OSS is going away!

Hello czp!

Are you going to show this SUSE on Pegasos meeting #2 ?

I can't promise it yet. But if I can go, it will be already RC1 at least

CzP

Hello,

Good news: installation of SUSE Linux 10.1 beta2 is the easyest ever. Some changes are still needed at partitioning, which will only go into the next release, but no accidental data loss is possible any more as with the 10.0 partitioner.

There are five CDs to download, from the location mentioned in my opening post. Actually, there is a 6th, and I used that one Here are the possibilites:

- Download the 5 CD images. Burn them all on CDs and use them. This takes more time, but requires no additional machine.
- what I use: Download the 6th image as well, which is called 'miniboot'. Burn only these, and loop mount the images on another machine in a directory structure like this: CD1, CD2, ..., CD5 (mount -o loop,ro SUSE...CD1.iso CD1), and make it available through ftp, http, or nfs (I use ftp).

There are also some other combinations, which should work, but I have yet to try:

- if you already have Linux and partitions on your Peg, you can loop mount the CD images, and copy the content to a directory structure, like in the previous. From CD1/suseboot copy inst32 to an OF readable partition and boot it to start installation.
- inst32 can also be booted from the network using tftp and can be combined with any network or partition based installation.

Once you have your installation media prepared, it's time to get started with installation. The next code sample shows, how to boot the installation system from a CD (from CD1 or the miniboot). You need to escape to the OpenFirmware prompt. Use the 'linemode=0' part, if you prefer a nice, curses based menu instead of runaway texts... To be continued, after lunch
CzP

What happens next, depends on how you started installing SUSE Linux 10.1.

If you burned the five CDs, and booted from CD1, then you can sit back and relax for about two minutes, until you reach a graphical screen asking you which language to use during installation.

If you don't have CD1 in your drive, you will be first presented with some questions before reaching the same stage of the installation. These are required to find the installation sources.

First a blue screen appears, still in text mode. It will stay like this, until all information is gathered, and the installation software can be loaded.

There very first request is to put CD1 in your drive. This is not an error, the default installation mode is to use your CD/DVD drive. It is possible to choose other installation sources as boot parameters, but it's more convinient (less typing, and less documentation reading) to choose installation sources using a curses based menu system.
Here we can't spare any work: if we hit 'enter' on 'OK', then we are presented with an error message and use 'enter' again to continue. Other way we use the right arrow or tab to get to 'back', and with 'enter' we get to the same screen as the other way.

Here we can select a language for installation. All languages use their own character sets, some more exotic ones can not be read at all, so for those English or other language with 'Latin' type characters is suggested. This can be changed on the graphical installation screen. I use 'Magyar' (Hungarian) most of the time, but now stick with English So, instead of using up/down arrows to choose another language, I just hit 'enter' for English. This brings us to the main menu of this tool.

If we use a network installation, we need to visit 'Kernel Modules (Hardware Drivers)' first. As we have already seen, the menu works with up and down arrows and Enter/Escape. So enter the 'Kernel Modules' menu, and choose 'Load ppc Modules'.
The gigabit ethernet driver is still broken in SUSE Linux (it works, but extremely slow), so choose 'via-rhine' from the list. Hit 'enter' three times, and you are back to the menu. You don't need any other modules to be able to install SUSE Linux on an ODW over the network. So get back to the main menu.

To get started, choose 'Start Installation or System'. This brings to another menu. We will use the first one now, but need to mention the others as well.

• 'Start Installation or Update' starts a new installation
  'Boot installed system' allows to boot an already installed system. It's needed in the second stage of installation, when the computer first reboots.
  'Start Rescue System' starts a mini Linux with lot's of handy tools. Need for partitioning as well, if you need to change an Amiga partition table (the default on ODW)

We go on with installation now, whcih brings us to another menu.

• CD-ROM: we would not be here, if we wanted to use it...
  Network: FTP/HTTP/NFS/SMB
  Hard Disk: from a partiton

You can just put in CD1 in your drive and use it, but then there is no point using anything else for booting the installation system.
If you choose 'Hard Disk', you are presented with a list of partitions on the system. First, you have to choose the partition, and then enter the path to the installation sources on that partion. For example, if you copied the installation CDs to your /home partition in directory beta2, and /home is /dev/hda5, then choose /dev/hda5 as partition and /beta2/CD1/ as source directory. The rest of the directories will be use automagically.

From the network install, FTP has the most questions, so I will show that one. If you forgot to load a kernel module for networking, you will be presented with a big, red warning message. Other way, you are asked, if you want to use DHCP for network configuration. If not, be prepared to answer some questions about your network. The first is: the IP address of your machine. Netmask fallows (with a default for a class C network filled id), IP of the gateway machine, IP of the name server, and finally IP of the ftp server (you can use a name here, if there is a proper DNS entry for that machine). Then choose, if you need a username to reach the ftp site, or a HTTP proxy. At the end, you have to specify a source directory, including CD1 in the name, if you set up the installation source yourself from CDs, or 'inst-source', if you use the 'factory' distribution.

Now you can sit back and relax, you will get to the graphical screen mentined above in a few seconds or minutes, depending on your network speed.

To be continued
CzP

Bugs:

I already mentioned in the install guide, that the Marvell driver is broken (extremly slow). If you look at the back of your machine, there are two ethernet connectors. This is the left one, so you should use the VIA on the right.

Software selection warns, that libexpat.so.0 is missing, which is needed for OpenOffice.org. As a workaround, you can select 'ignore it, and risk your system', and later on as root, do the following: And it will work fine.

Now back to testing, more documentation will follow
CzP

I spent the rest of the day with testing, but for those who installed the system, here are some hints and workarounds to known problems:

The BusID problem is still here, so X won't start after installation. There is also a bug, which appears only when GNOME is used, and makes the screen blurred. To fix these problems, you should log in as root, and do the following:

Enter: This puts the machine in runlevel 3, so you can change to runlevel 5 at the end. Even if kdm fails to start, the runlevel does not change automagically to 3...

open /etc/X11/xorg.conf with your favorite console text editor (vi, joe, pico, etc )

look for the section, which starts: Section "Device"
Here, make sure, that your BusID line looks like this: The second '1' is changed to a '0' (zero), and you add the following line to this section: If you also want 3D acceleration for your Radeon card, go back to: Section "Module"
Here add the fallowing line: Save your work, and enter: at the command line to get a graphical login screen.

I hope, you won't need such a woodoo in the final product Enjoy!
CzP

I have just downloaded 5 installation CDs and I'm going to install this SUSE Linux 10.1 Beta2. I hope it will work great with my Pegasos II G4 1GHz + 512MB DDR + ATI Radeon 8500LE 128MB. Is this the best Linux distro for Pegasos II? I have Ubuntu 5.10, YDL 4.0 downloaded too

It will be the best, when it becomes final ! Until that, you can help with bug reporting. Just register yourself at https://bugzilla.novell.com, and you are ready to search and enter bugs.

I use an old ODW (Radeon 9200VE), so I'm very interested, how your video card functions. Please let me know, if you also need to do all these woodoo, or not. Thanks,

CzP

Ps: I will write more about it tomorrow, but if you use an Amiga partition talble, you can't create/delete partitions from YaST (SUSE setup/config software)...

I have just succesfully finished the installation of SUSE Linux 10.1 Beta2. Radeon 8500LE works, but I had to use all your woodoos. Thanks!

What about affs a asffs filesystem support? How to add it?
My Pegasos2 isn't connected to internet...

Thanks, I put it into bugzilla (so it does not happen only with my card).
The SUSE kernel does not seem to have it. I'm not entirely positive about it, as dead lines are passed, but I try to get them included. These are Amiga related filesystems, aren't they?

CzP

I have just found 'affs', but what is 'asffs'? I can't see it in the kernel source... Bye,
CzP

Sorry, it's "asfs".

Yes, they are original Amiga filesystems. I use Pegasos II with MorphOS and my whole harddrive except the Linux partition use SmartFileSystem (asfs) and partition with bootfiles use FastFileSystem2 (affs). I would like to see this partitions in Linux, asfs is the more important one for me.

Please take a look at /usr/src/linux/Documentation/filesystems/affs.txt

It seems to me, that both filesystems (and a lot others) are supported by the affs module. But as I never used Amiga or MorphOS, I can't really tell.

CzP

I have just compiled an affs module for beta2. You can download it from http://peter.czanik.hu/kep/affs.ko . Then use: to load it.

Standard disclaimer: It's not written by me, and I couldn't test it, but any way, there is no guarantee, that it will function at all, or it will not format your hard drive, and I don't take any responsibility for any demage

Please, let me know, if it works as expected, as it's compiled from standard SUSE kernel sources, does not modify any other part of the kernel, so might get included if works...

CzP