PS3 Fedora 12 install notes

[Geoff Levand]

Hi,

Fedora 12 was released this week.  Unfortunately, due to
an increase in memory usage of anaconda the Fedora installer
program some special procedures are needed to install it
on the PS3.

I made a new howto note 'PS3 Fedora install HOW-TO' that
describes how to install Fedora on your PS3.  It make take
some time to reach the mirrors though:

 
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/geoff/cell/ps3-howto/ps3-fe...

Please report any additional steps needed or problems faced
when installing to your system.

-Geoff

[Cbe-oss-dev] PS3 Fedora 12 install notes

[Andrea]

On 21/11/09 00:33, Geoff Levand wrote:
>  Hi,
>  
>  Fedora 12 was released this week.  Unfortunately, due to
>  an increase in memory usage of anaconda the Fedora installer
>  program some special procedures are needed to install it
>  on the PS3.
>  
>  I made a new howto note 'PS3 Fedora install HOW-TO' that
>  describes how to install Fedora on your PS3.  It make take
>  some time to reach the mirrors though:
>  
>   
> http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/geoff/cell/ps3-howto/ps3-fe...
>  
>  Please report any additional steps needed or problems faced
>  when installing to your system. 
Hi, before I try the installation I wanted to clarify a couple of points

1) if I use the new petitboot AND pass the extra parameters, is there a chance to get the
graphical
installer?
2) the options video=720p ps3fb=4M are going to be good even after the installation?

[Cbe-oss-dev] PS3 Fedora 12 install notes

[Geoff Levand]

On 11/21/2009 08:34 AM, Andrea wrote:
>  On 21/11/09 00:33, Geoff Levand wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > Fedora 12 was released this week.  Unfortunately, due to
> > an increase in memory usage of anaconda the Fedora installer
> > program some special procedures are needed to install it
> > on the PS3.
> > 
> > I made a new howto note 'PS3 Fedora install HOW-TO' that
> > describes how to install Fedora on your PS3.  It make take
> > some time to reach the mirrors though:
> > 
> >  
> http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/geoff/cell/ps3-howto/ps3-fe...
> > 
> > Please report any additional steps needed or problems faced
> > when installing to your system.
>  
>  Hi, before I try the installation I wanted to clarify a couple of points
>  
>  1) if I use the new petitboot AND pass the extra parameters, is there a chance to get the
> graphical
>  installer? 
No, I don't think so, it never worked for me.

It may be possible to get anaconda to run in graphical mode
on the retail PS3 if you use a custom kernel and/or a custom
initrd.  I will try these as time permits.  This week is a
short one due the the Thanksgiving Holidays in the USA.

>  2) the options video=720p ps3fb=4M are going to be good even after
> the installation? 
You can use them, but I found they are not necessary to boot
or use the kernel Fedora currently installs.

-Geoff

[Cbe-oss-dev] PS3 Fedora 12 install notes

[Geoff Levand]

Hi,

On 11/23/2009 03:42 PM, Levand, Geoffrey wrote:
>  On 11/21/2009 08:34 AM, Andrea wrote:
> > On 21/11/09 00:33, Geoff Levand wrote:
> >> 
> >> Fedora 12 was released this week.  Unfortunately, due to
> >> an increase in memory usage of anaconda the Fedora installer
> >> program some special procedures are needed to install it
> >> on the PS3.
> > 
> > 1) if I use the new petitboot AND pass the extra parameters, is there a chance to get
> the graphical
> > installer?
>  
>  No, I don't think so, it never worked for me.
>  
>  It may be possible to get anaconda to run in graphical mode
>  on the retail PS3 if you use a custom kernel and/or a custom
>  initrd.  I will try these as time permits. 
I did a little work on why anaconda can't run in graphical
mode.  Here is the actual mem check in the anaconda source:

 
http://git.fedoraproject.org/git/?p=anaconda.git;a=blob;f=anaconda;h=c8c9...

Which I cut and paste here:

----
    #define MIN_GUI_RAM 393216

    # override display mode if machine cannot nicely run X
    if not flags.test and not flags.usevnc:
        if opts.display_mode not in ('t', 'c') and iutil.memInstalled()
< isys.MIN_GUI_RAM:
            stdoutLog.warning(_("You do not have enough RAM to use the graphical
"
                                "installer.  Starting text mode."))
            opts.display_mode = 't'
----

The retail PS3 has less than 256 MiB available to Linux, and
anaconda wants 384 MiB to run in graphical mode.

As seen in the code, you can avoid the MIN_GUI_RAM check by running
anaconda in VNC mode (pass the 'vnc' option on the kernel command
line).  I tried this using all the default install selections and
anaconda did finish and I had a bootable system, but the anaconda
developers said it was unsafe since VNC mode uses as much memory as
graphical mode.  For this reason I do not recommend using VNC
mode to the average user.  Different option selections will most
likely have different memory needs so install my fail, but anaconda
does have swap enabled for later parts of its operation.

Also, I found an easier workaround for the NetworkManager eth0 config
bug (https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=523872), which is
hit early in VNC mode where no TTY available yet.  When the net config
error dialog is shown, close the error dialog and go back to the network
device selection dialog, select the wlan0 interface and run the
configuration again.  Due to the bug, this will actually configure the
Ethernet (eth0) interface.

If anyone trys the VNC install, please report your results.

-Geoff

[Cbe-oss-dev] PS3 Fedora 12 install notes

[Andrea]

On 21/11/09 00:33, Geoff Levand wrote:
>  Hi,
>  
>  Fedora 12 was released this week.  Unfortunately, due to
>  an increase in memory usage of anaconda the Fedora installer
>  program some special procedures are needed to install it
>  on the PS3.
>  
>  I made a new howto note 'PS3 Fedora install HOW-TO' that
>  describes how to install Fedora on your PS3.  It make take
>  some time to reach the mirrors though:
>  
>   
> http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/geoff/cell/ps3-howto/ps3-fe...
>  
>  Please report any additional steps needed or problems faced
>  when installing to your system. 
I've just installed and everything went as you described.

Only problem is with partitioning the hard disk.
I used to have 2 logical volumes for / and /home, and the installation has overwritten
everything
with a single volume for /

It is not too bad since I did have nothing to save, but in the future when I reinstall
I'd like to
save /home.

During the installation at some point (around the disk partitioning) I had a choice
similar to

- use all disk
- replace linux system
- use free space

I chose the 2nd. Was it a bad choice?

Is there a chance to recreate the partitions and reinstall?

thanks

[Cbe-oss-dev] PS3 Fedora 12 install notes

[Geoff Levand]

On 12/02/2009 09:22 AM, Andrea wrote:
>  On 21/11/09 00:33, Geoff Levand wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > Fedora 12 was released this week.  Unfortunately, due to
> > an increase in memory usage of anaconda the Fedora installer
> > program some special procedures are needed to install it
> > on the PS3.
> > 
> > I made a new howto note 'PS3 Fedora install HOW-TO' that
> > describes how to install Fedora on your PS3.  It make take
> > some time to reach the mirrors though:
> > 
> >  
> http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/geoff/cell/ps3-howto/ps3-fe...
> > 
> > Please report any additional steps needed or problems faced
> > when installing to your system.
>  
>  I've just installed and everything went as you described.
>  
>  Only problem is with partitioning the hard disk.
>  I used to have 2 logical volumes for / and /home, and the installation has overwritten
> everything
>  with a single volume for /
>  
>  It is not too bad since I did have nothing to save, but in the future when I reinstall
> I'd like to
>  save /home.
>  
>  During the installation at some point (around the disk partitioning) I had a choice
> similar to
>  
>  - use all disk
>  - replace linux system
>  - use free space
>  
>  I chose the 2nd. Was it a bad choice?
>  
>  Is there a chance to recreate the partitions and reinstall? 
These things you mention are all anaconda specific, and you may
be able to get better answers on one of the general Fedora
mailing lists.

As for anaconda's text install, it doesn't allow for custom
partition layout.  It uses a fixed layout.  I believe 'replace
linux system' will put that layout in an existing install, but
not touch other installed systems.

You could try VNC install which allows custom partition layouts,
or you could create new partitions and copy the installed files
to them.

-Geoff

[Cbe-oss-dev] PS3 Fedora 12 install notes

[Andrea]

On 02/12/09 18:35, Geoff Levand wrote:

>  These things you mention are all anaconda specific, and you may
>  be able to get better answers on one of the general Fedora
>  mailing lists. 
I've written there.

>  
>  As for anaconda's text install, it doesn't allow for custom
>  partition layout.  It uses a fixed layout.  I believe 'replace
>  linux system' will put that layout in an existing install, but
>  not touch other installed systems.
>   
I've rerun the installation and tried all possible options (I think), but none of them
took me to a
screen like

http://docs.fedoraproject.org/install-guide/f12/en-US/html/s1-guimode-tex...

>  You could try VNC install which allows custom partition layouts,
>  or you could create new partitions and copy the installed files
>  to them. 
I thought I read VNC is not recommended. I might try, thanks.

Andrea

PS: just a couple of remarks on your notes about the network on the Post-Install

1) wlan0 has ONBOOT=yes, which might confuse things. I removed it.

2) the netowrk service does not start by default, so ONBOOT=yes on eth0 is not enough
after a reboot.
I had to install system-config-services to enable the network service (but there must be a
text only
methond)

[Cbe-oss-dev] PS3 Fedora 12 install notes

[Geoff Levand]

On 12/02/2009 11:24 AM, Andrea wrote:
>  On 02/12/09 18:35, Geoff Levand wrote: 
> > As for anaconda's text install, it doesn't allow for custom
> > partition layout.  It uses a fixed layout.  I believe 'replace
> > linux system' will put that layout in an existing install, but
> > not touch other installed systems.
>  
>  I've rerun the installation and tried all possible options (I think), but none of
> them took me to a
>  screen like
>  
>
> http://docs.fedoraproject.org/install-guide/f12/en-US/html/s1-guimode-tex...
As I said, the text mode PS3 runs does not support custom partition
layout, so you won't see this screen.

>  PS: just a couple of remarks on your notes about the network on the
> Post-Install
>  
>  1) wlan0 has ONBOOT=yes, which might confuse things. I removed it.
>  
>  2) the netowrk service does not start by default, so ONBOOT=yes on eth0 is not enough
> after a reboot.
>  I had to install system-config-services to enable the network service (but there must be
> a text only
>  methond) 
The gnome NetworkManager client should start the network when X starts.

Services can be configured from the command line with chkconfig.

-Geoff

[Geoff Levand]

On 11/20/2009 04:33 PM, Levand, Geoffrey wrote:
>  Fedora 12 was released this week.  Unfortunately, due to
>  an increase in memory usage of anaconda the Fedora installer
>  program some special procedures are needed to install it
>  on the PS3.
>  
>  I made a new howto note 'PS3 Fedora install HOW-TO' that
>  describes how to install Fedora on your PS3:
>  
>   
> http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/geoff/cell/ps3-howto/ps3-fe...
>  
>  Please report any additional steps needed or problems faced
>  when installing to your system. 
A number of users have reported that VNC install has worked
for them without trouble, and no users have reported any
install failure with VNC, so I now recommend that users
try VNC install first, as it allows for customization of
the install and will by default install a full GNOME system.

When booting the installer, add these kernel options:

  vnc video=720p ps3fb=4M

I updated the 'PS3 Fedora install HOW-TO' with this info:

 
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/geoff/cell/ps3-howto/ps3-fe...

-Geoff