How can I convert my debian machine to Fedora?

[Ken Young]

Hi,

   I'm trying to get Fedora running on an MVME 2700 single board computer.
This little board has a 750 PowerPC processor.   I've got Debian 3.1
running happily atop the 2.6.11.7 kernel.   It runs like a champ, but I'd
like to try running Fedora instead of Debian.   This single board computer
(we've actually got ~35 of them) has no CDROM drive, and I had to do
quite a bit of horsing around with the kernel configuration to get it
to boot anyway (via NFS), so there's no way for me to just boot off of the
iso image CDROMs and install Fedora normally.   Is there any way I can
install from the CDROM images (which, of course, I can mount
with the "-o loop" option) without booting from the CDROMs?   Is
there a script somewhere that will install a minimal set of RPMs
somewhere in my files system, so that I can later mount that area as root?
Is there any way to do a network install without first booting off a
CDROM?

Thanks for any info!

                                             Ken Young
                                Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
                                      60 Garden Street, MS 78
Phoney Dolson has a secret name.      Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
                                          [phone]
                                       kyoung(a)cfa.harvard.edu

[Bret Hughes]

On Mon, 2005-04-25 at 19:38, Ken Young wrote:
>  Hi,
>  
>     I'm trying to get Fedora running on an MVME 2700 single board computer.
>  This little board has a 750 PowerPC processor.   I've got Debian 3.1
>  running happily atop the 2.6.11.7 kernel.   It runs like a champ, but I'd
>  like to try running Fedora instead of Debian.   This single board computer
>  (we've actually got ~35 of them) has no CDROM drive, and I had to do
>  quite a bit of horsing around with the kernel configuration to get it
>  to boot anyway (via NFS), so there's no way for me to just boot off of the
>  iso image CDROMs and install Fedora normally.   Is there any way I can
>  install from the CDROM images (which, of course, I can mount
>  with the "-o loop" option) without booting from the CDROMs?   Is
>  there a script somewhere that will install a minimal set of RPMs
>  somewhere in my files system, so that I can later mount that area as root?
>  Is there any way to do a network install without first booting off a
>  CDROM? 
While not familiar with debian, I have done countless no media installs
with various hardware configs.  You should be able to boot the install
kernel and initrd using your bootloader and walk through the install. 
Once the install is done Fedora leaves a kickstart config with the info
needed to replicate the install.

A glance at the specs does not show a network bootable ethernet but you
can boot the install from the install kernel.

Since you have linux running already, with FC4t2 you can copy vmlinuz
and initrd.img from the install cd /images/pxeboot to a bootable
location and setup grub or whatever to boot them.  
These are the same files as used in the boot.iso but saves the work
getting to them.

I typically place all the files on my installation server and do http
installs but you can of course do nfs installs with just the isos in an
exportable dir.

HTH

Bret

[Ken Young]

On Mon, 25 Apr 2005, Bret Hughes wrote:

>  On Mon, 2005-04-25 at 19:38, Ken Young wrote:
>  > Hi,
>  >
>  >    I'm trying to get Fedora running on an MVME 2700 single board computer.
>  > This little board has a 750 PowerPC processor.   I've got Debian 3.1
>  > running happily atop the 2.6.11.7 kernel.   It runs like a champ, but I'd
>  > like to try running Fedora instead of Debian.   This single board computer
>  > (we've actually got ~35 of them) has no CDROM drive, and I had to do
>  > quite a bit of horsing around with the kernel configuration to get it
>  > to boot anyway (via NFS), so there's no way for me to just boot off of the
>  > iso image CDROMs and install Fedora normally.   Is there any way I can
>  > install from the CDROM images (which, of course, I can mount
>  > with the "-o loop" option) without booting from the CDROMs?   Is
>  > there a script somewhere that will install a minimal set of RPMs
>  > somewhere in my files system, so that I can later mount that area as root?
>  > Is there any way to do a network install without first booting off a
>  > CDROM?
>
>  While not familiar with debian, I have done countless no media installs
>  with various hardware configs.  You should be able to boot the install
>  kernel and initrd using your bootloader and walk through the install. 
Thanks very much for your quick reply.   Booting the install kernel
is precisely what I'm trying to avoid.   I've got a working kernel,
and I had to tweek quite a few parameters in the .config in
the kernel tree to build something that would work in this weird
little computer (I initially cross-compiled on an x86 workstation,
but now I can compile the kernel natively under Debian).   I
don't think I can boot the install kernel, so
what I'm trying to do is see if there's some way I can jump into the
installation process at a later step.   For example, can I manually
invoke the initrd from the CDROM after booting my kernel?   Or can
I issue commands that would be equivalent to what initrd does?
Or is there just some list of RPMs I could load into some area that
would constitute a minimal distribution of Fedora which I could
subsequently mount as root?

Thanks again for your help.

Ken

[Bret Hughes]

On Mon, 2005-04-25 at 22:01, Ken Young wrote:
>  On Mon, 25 Apr 2005, Bret Hughes wrote:
>  
>  > On Mon, 2005-04-25 at 19:38, Ken Young wrote:
>  > > Hi,
>  > >
>  > >    I'm trying to get Fedora running on an MVME 2700 single board computer.
>  > > This little board has a 750 PowerPC processor.   I've got Debian 3.1
>  > > running happily atop the 2.6.11.7 kernel.   It runs like a champ, but I'd
>  > > like to try running Fedora instead of Debian.   This single board computer
>  > > (we've actually got ~35 of them) has no CDROM drive, and I had to do
>  > > quite a bit of horsing around with the kernel configuration to get it
>  > > to boot anyway (via NFS), so there's no way for me to just boot off of the
>  > > iso image CDROMs and install Fedora normally.   Is there any way I can
>  > > install from the CDROM images (which, of course, I can mount
>  > > with the "-o loop" option) without booting from the CDROMs?   Is
>  > > there a script somewhere that will install a minimal set of RPMs
>  > > somewhere in my files system, so that I can later mount that area as root?
>  > > Is there any way to do a network install without first booting off a
>  > > CDROM?
>  >
>  > While not familiar with debian, I have done countless no media installs
>  > with various hardware configs.  You should be able to boot the install
>  > kernel and initrd using your bootloader and walk through the install.
>  
>  Thanks very much for your quick reply.   Booting the install kernel
>  is precisely what I'm trying to avoid.   I've got a working kernel,
>  and I had to tweek quite a few parameters in the .config in
>  the kernel tree to build something that would work in this weird
>  little computer (I initially cross-compiled on an x86 workstation,
>  but now I can compile the kernel natively under Debian).   I
>  don't think I can boot the install kernel, so
>  what I'm trying to do is see if there's some way I can jump into the
>  installation process at a later step.   For example, can I manually
>  invoke the initrd from the CDROM after booting my kernel?   Or can
>  I issue commands that would be equivalent to what initrd does?
>  Or is there just some list of RPMs I could load into some area that
>  would constitute a minimal distribution of Fedora which I could
>  subsequently mount as root?
>   
hmm.  I really do not know what is in the install kernel that enables
the launch of the installation.  I suppose, as you indicate that it is
the initscripts in the initrd.  I would try the redhat anaconda list. 
Anaconda being the installation program for redhat.  The guys on that
list and the kickstart list are extremely knowledgeable about the entire
process.

have you tried to boot the kernel?  At some point I think you are going
to bang into module version discrepancy issues and will have to rebuild
a kernel anyway.  I suspect that there is a way to rebuild anaconda and
the install kernel so that you will have the options needed for your
hardware.

FWIW I believe that there is also a redhat embedded list that probably
has some guys using some pretty funky hardware.
 Here is a list of all the redhat lists:

http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/

looks like anaconda-devel-list is a decent bet.

Bret


Sorry I can't be more help.

[Colin Charles]

On Mon, 2005-04-25 at 23:54 -0500, Bret Hughes wrote:

>  have you tried to boot the kernel?  At some point I think you are
> going
>  to bang into module version discrepancy issues and will have to rebuild
>  a kernel anyway.  I suspect that there is a way to rebuild anaconda and
>  the install kernel so that you will have the options needed for your
>  hardware. 
You have to rebuild the initrd

A good resource on "customising" the installer is at:
http://rau.homedns.org/twiki/bin/view/Anaconda/AnacondaDocumentationProject

-- 
Colin Charles, byte(a)aeon.com.my
http://www.bytebot.net/
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, 
then you win." -- Mohandas Gandhi

[Colin Charles]

On Mon, 2005-04-25 at 20:38 -0400, Ken Young wrote:
>  Hi,
>  
>     I'm trying to get Fedora running on an MVME 2700 single board computer.
>  This little board has a 750 PowerPC processor.   I've got Debian 3.1 
750 would be a G3 based one?
/me is trying to remember running off memory

>  running happily atop the 2.6.11.7 kernel.   It runs like a champ, but
> I'd
>  like to try running Fedora instead of Debian.   This single board computer
>  (we've actually got ~35 of them) has no CDROM drive, and I had to do
>  quite a bit of horsing around with the kernel configuration to get it
>  to boot anyway (via NFS), so there's no way for me to just boot off of the
>  iso image CDROMs and install Fedora normally.   Is there any way I can 
You could use tftpboot from the OF directly, no? Then use the regular
Fedora ISOs

>  Is there any way to do a network install without first booting off a
>  CDROM? 
OpenFirmware is your friend
-- 
Colin Charles, byte(a)aeon.com.my
http://www.bytebot.net/
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, 
then you win." -- Mohandas Gandhi