Yaboot to boot OS/2

Discussion:

Yaboot to boot OS/2

(too old to reply)

Tero Kaarlela

2005-03-08 16:11:59 UTC

Hi,

I am wondering if I can configure/modify yaboot to boot OS/2 powerpc
edition? What I have now is Working installation of this os on A hd that
has HPFS filesystem. Is there anyway I can get Yaboot to boot kernel
from this hd? Kernel is located in c:\mk\mk_test.ppc. It is IBM
microkernel 1.0 is based on Mach microkernel.

Tero

Tero Kaarlela

2005-03-08 18:10:23 UTC

Permalink

Post by Tero Kaarlela
Hi,
I am wondering if I can configure/modify yaboot to boot OS/2 powerpc
edition? What I have now is Working installation of this os on A hd that
has HPFS filesystem. Is there anyway I can get Yaboot to boot kernel
from this hd? Kernel is located in c:\mk\mk_test.ppc. It is IBM
microkernel 1.0 is based on Mach microkernel.
Tero

I am replying to myself. I found a file called BL_AUTO from my HD. It
seems to be the original boot loader since it reads boot.cfg from hd. Is
there anyway I can install this BL_AUTO to my HD so it would boot rest
of OS?

Tero

Andrew J. Brehm

2005-03-08 22:23:33 UTC

Permalink

I can't help you there, but I would be obliged if you could send me some
info on the OS/2 PPC installation you have there, like a "dir/s" in the
root directory, a "ver", and a copu of the default config.sys.

Also, if possible, can you send me a copy of the cmd.exe file? (I have
always been curious about the executable format of OS/2 PPC.)

My email address is ***@netneurotic.net.

I am a former OS/2 user (1994 to 1998).

--
Andrew J. Brehm
Marx Brothers Fan
PowerPC User
Supporter of Chicken Pizza

Tero Kaarlela

2005-03-09 08:02:58 UTC

Permalink

Post by Andrew J. Brehm

I can't help you there, but I would be obliged if you could send me some
info on the OS/2 PPC installation you have there, like a "dir/s" in the
root directory, a "ver", and a copu of the default config.sys.
Also, if possible, can you send me a copy of the cmd.exe file? (I have
always been curious about the executable format of OS/2 PPC.)
I am a former OS/2 user (1994 to 1998).

Yes I am sending these files attached with this email. There is no
VER in this OS/2. File list of packed rar archive:

BL_auto OS/2 boot loader
Boot.cfg Configuration file
cmd.exe
dirsf.lst (Dir /s listing)
Sysfiles.lst (original list of system files)

I also know that boot procedure is following:

1. BL_auto is on partition type 41(PowerPC boot partition)
2. Firmware loads boot loader to memory
3. Boot loader loads its config file boot.cfg from system
partition(Has to be Fat 16 for this version of OS/2)
4. This start microkernel bootstrap mode (c:\mk\mk_test.ppc)
5. And we are on our way to boot OS/2

Config.sys is only for compatibility to OS/2 intel version

I found this information from IBM Redbook OS/2 powerpc edition first look

Tero

Andrew J. Brehm

2005-03-09 13:42:21 UTC

Permalink

Post by Tero Kaarlela

Post by Andrew J. Brehm

I can't help you there, but I would be obliged if you could send me some
info on the OS/2 PPC installation you have there, like a "dir/s" in the
root directory, a "ver", and a copu of the default config.sys.
Also, if possible, can you send me a copy of the cmd.exe file? (I have
always been curious about the executable format of OS/2 PPC.)
I am a former OS/2 user (1994 to 1998).

Yes I am sending these files attached with this email. There is no
BL_auto OS/2 boot loader
Boot.cfg Configuration file
cmd.exe
dirsf.lst (Dir /s listing)
Sysfiles.lst (original list of system files)

Excellent. Thanks. What is the usual way to get OS/2 PPC to tell you its
version number?

Post by Tero Kaarlela
1. BL_auto is on partition type 41(PowerPC boot partition)
2. Firmware loads boot loader to memory
3. Boot loader loads its config file boot.cfg from system
partition(Has to be Fat 16 for this version of OS/2)
4. This start microkernel bootstrap mode (c:\mk\mk_test.ppc)
5. And we are on our way to boot OS/2
Config.sys is only for compatibility to OS/2 intel version
I found this information from IBM Redbook OS/2 powerpc edition first look

I know the Redbook. I have some articles on OS/2 PPC from the mid-90s as
OS/2 INF files (also as Postscript, but the Postscript versions are
huge). I can send them to you if you like/think they might help.

I have some info on Open Firmware which might or might not help but
might at least give you some things to rule in or out.

<http://www.netneurotic.net/mac/openfirmware.html>

--
Andrew J. Brehm
Marx Brothers Fan
PowerPC User
Supporter of Chicken Pizza

Brian Sammon

2005-03-09 17:37:15 UTC

Permalink

( I realized after I wrote all the below that I was assuming that you were
talking about a PowerMac. I don't know whether any of this applies to other
PowerPC hardware.)

How do you boot OS/2 currently? I'm guessing you have an HFS partition
that contains an OS/2 bootloader? If so, then you probably want yaboot to
"chainload" the OS/2 bootloader. The closest yaboot comes to having a
chainloader is the "macosx=" option. If you edit yaboot.conf to have the
macosx option point at the partition with the OS/2 bootloader, it might just
work.
You might also find that the ybin installer does some tests to verify that
it's really a Mac OS X partition it's pointing to. I'm not sure. ybin is a
shell script, so if you know a little shell scripting, you should be able to
figure out how to disable those tests.

P.S. The yaboot maintainer has made it quite clear on numerous occasions
that he doesn't support this kind of weird (mis?)use of yaboot. So, be sure
to remember that what I'm suggesting is not supported and absolutely not
guaranteed to work. And don't waste your time or his time bothering the
maintainer with this (unless you want to contribute a patch)