[nonhuman]

I'm trying to install Gentoo PPC (1.2) onto a Pismo. I can boot off of the cd just fine and everything works great until I actually try to mount the disk so I can start the actual install. I believe the problem is stemming from the fact that the cd-rom drive is in an expansion bay, and is not a regular ide drive.

It took me a while to find the drive, but I think I finally located it at /dev/discs/disc0 (or /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0). However, when i try to mount it at /mnt/cdrom (mount /dev/discs/disc0 /mnt/cdrom -o ro -t iso9660) I get an error message saying that a block device is required. Am I doing something wrong here? Is /dev/discs/disc0 not actually the cd-rom drive in the expansion bay?

[fitter]

Is /dev/discs/disc0 a block special file? Is the first character in ls -l's output a b?

[nonhuman]

Originally posted by fitter:
Is /dev/discs/disc0 a block special file? Is the first character in ls -l's output a b?

Yes it is. What do I have to do?

[Kristoff]

Just out of curiosity, why do you want to run Linux on a Pismo?

I ran SuSE on my Pismo until OS X Public Beta came out. Then I never went back.

I am just curious what the value proposition of running linux on a OS X capable machine is--assuming that the price of OS X isn't the determining factor.

And of all the Distros, why Gentoo?

Just Curious...

[nonhuman]

Originally posted by Kristoff:
Just out of curiosity, why do you want to run Linux on a Pismo?

I ran SuSE on my Pismo until OS X Public Beta came out. Then I never went back.

I am just curious what the value proposition of running linux on a OS X capable machine is--assuming that the price of OS X isn't the determining factor.

And of all the Distros, why Gentoo?

Just Curious...

Linux has a few advantages over OS X, the most important ones for me being that it's less resource intenssive, I know more about the it's system file structure, and it's what I use at work.

I love OS X, and wouldn't use anything else as my main OS, but sometimes it galls me that the only commercial software on my computer is the OS.

I picked Gentoo because I really like the idea behind it. I haven't had a chance to use it yet, so I don't know a whole lot about it's pros and cons, but the theory sounds like a good one to me.

I think my plan has now changed from putting Linux on my Pismo to building a PC tower to run Linux (and not Windows) on. I want another system, but don't intend to get a new Mac until something replaced the G4. I'll probably put Gentoo on the tower, and if I decide I don't like it switch over to Debian (which I actually got to install on my Pismo, but for some reason it wouldn't boot).