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TOPIC: Installing a YDL pre-installed drive with an existing Mac OS drive

First things first

Power down the machine.
Open the case.
Disconnect your existing IDE drive.
Jumper your Mac OS drive as "slave". To jumper means to place the small plastic connector on the two (vertical) pins which designate the "slave" or "master" position. Jumper diagrams are located on top of the drive case or on the manufacturer's website.
Your YDL drive should have shipped to you jumpered as "master". Please confirm this setting prior to installing this drive.
Connect the flat data ribbon and the white power adapter (with red, yellow, and black wires) to the YDL drive. Secure it to your case.
Close your case.
Now please read the following very carefully!

Boot to YDL or Mac OS
There are 3 scenarios for how you will choose Mac OS or YDL when powering on your system. These are based upon the type of Macintosh you have and the associated firmware installed. Two of these are simple, the third will require a one-time effort on your behalf.

If you have an OldWorld ROM Macintosh (pre-iMac, pre-Blue & White), you will use BootX to select YDL or Mac OS. For more information on this procedure, please review our Guide to Installation. Skip to Configure YDL below.
If you have a NewWorld ROM with OPTION key recognition (when you hold the OPTION key at power-on, a graphical disply presents the available operating systems to choose from), use this interface to choose your preferred OS each time you startup. Skip to Configure YDL below.
If you have a Macintosh that falls between these 2 categories, such as the first revisions of the iMac, a Blue & White, or some PowerBooks, the OPTION key will not function as described above and you will need to manually configure the yaboot bootloader. This is not terribly difficult, but does require use of the command line, as offered below.

Boot and Configure YDL

Restart computer.
Your computer should auto-locate and boot from the Yellow Dog Linux drive. If it does not, reboot and "zap the PRAM" (hold the OPTION-APPLE-P-R keys until the computer chimes five times.

You will now be prompted with a series of questions through a timid graphical interface. This process configures the passwords, accounts, networking, and video settings for your system.
Set your root password. Make certain you write this down and keep it safe.
Network setup.
Select your Timezone.
System Services. If you are new to Linux, simply select Ok.
Graphics setup. An application called "Xautoconfig" is automatically executed and should provide a minimal, yet functional graphical environment. Once you have launched X, you may select YDL Menu --> Systems Settings --> Display in order to configure your graphics card and monitor for a higher quality environment.
Login as 'root' the first time, provide the password recently established. Please note that when logging in as root, you are able to damage the operating system as you have complete access to all files and applications. You may add a new user from YDL Menu --> Systems Settings --> Users & Groups.
- Use the "K" menu in KDE to 'logout' and then drop to a command line interface (shell), restart, or shutdown.
- To reboot the system from the command line, type 'reboot' as user 'root'; or to shutdown the system from the command line, type 'halt' as user 'root'.
- Once your graphical display is set properly, you may modify your system to auto-boot into a graphical login instead of a command line. Login as root to shell and edit:
  pico /etc/inittab [ENTER]
  ... modify the 'init=3' (a dozen lines down from the top) to read 'init=5', save-and-exit (CTRL-X; follow the instructions).

Configure dual-boot
You need to modify the yaboot settings to point to your Mac OS drive.

- If you have Classic Mac OS (8.x-9.x) intalled, as root:
  pico /etc/yaboot.conf [ENTER]
  
  (above the line 'defaultos=linux', add)
  macos=/dev/hdax
  
  (where 'x' is the Mac OS boot partition number)
- If you have Mac OS X installed, as root:
  pico /etc/yaboot.conf [ENTER]
  
  (above the line 'defaultos=linux', add)
  macosx=/dev/hdax
  
  (where 'x' is the Mac OS X boot partition number)
As root, run:
/usr/ybin/ [ENTER]
reboot [ENTER]
Your computer will now reboot and should present a yaboot query for "L" (Linux), "M" (Mac OS) and/or "X" (Mac OS X), and "C" (CD). If you allow yaboot to time-out, it will default to the OS that you designated in previous steps.

This HOWTO was written by Kai Staats and Dan Burcaw, Terra Soft