Booting on PowerPC

The DFS images for PowerPC support booting from OpenFirmware (OF) into yaboot.

Booting the DFS CD generally involves these steps:

  1. Boot into yaboot. On newer PowerPC (NewWorld) you can press "c" (or "Command-Option-Shift-Delete") during boot until you reach the yaboot bootprompt. If this does not work, you have to boot into OpenFirmware first. This can be done by pressing "Option-Command-o-f" (all four at the same time) during boot. The Option key might also be labeled "Alt" and the Command key with the Apple sign on your keyboard. Once you have reached the OpenFirmware prompt, type boot cd:,\boot\yaboot to boot into yaboot.

  2. You should now see an yaboot prompt. You can press "TAB" to see a list of available kernels. Enter the kernel's name to boot it. The *-safe options use "video=ofonly" which is needed if your machine has a framebuffer that is not well supported and booting would give flickering lines on the screen. "ofonly" relies on the OpenFirmware console.

  3. Linux should now start.