On Tue, 27 Feb 2001, Bill Layer wrote:

> Tim,
> 
> On Tuesday 27 February 2001 03:01, you wrote:
> > Well, the hard disk is spinning up, and is accessed prior to the boot
> > process failing. 
> 
> Ok, so you mean to say that it looks, but can't find anything? Safe to say 
> that (in the least) some data is missing. Corrupt / unblessed System folder 
> etc. 

It looks, gives the smiley "computer" face, then flashes the question-mark
floppy icon. 

>  It is not making any unusual noises, and was working
> > just fine until now...   I think it's all right...  If not, I do have
> > another laptop SCSI hard drive that I could use.
> 
> Might need it.

Ok.  I'll bring it with. 

> > I have tried booting from a MacOS system CD, but have been unable to get
> > it to boot using an external CD-ROM drive.  This could have been a bad CD,
> > however, since I only have one.
> 
> normally that is done by holding down 'c' as the machine starts. If it won't 
> go, it could be because the external CD-ROM is not Genuine Apple on the 
> firmware level. (Is it?) I Do have a good bootable system 7.6 CD, as well as 
> the startup floppies (which can be made from the CD).

The CDROM drive is definately not apple.  It's from an Omnibook 800 (which
had external SCSI.  A mac friend of mine had me try booting with another
key sequence, though - Cmd-Option-backspace or something.  Perhaps he was
mistaken, in which case I can try a reinstall of MacOS prior to Saturday. 


> > Do you also have a MkLinux CD?  If so, I can be sure to make the
> > installfest...  
> 
> I have never used mklinux, only Debian m68k on the Macs. I'm not aware of a 
> .iso image for m68k Debian, but I do have the base install set burned to a 
> cd-rom. Once you install the base, the machine can get the rest from the 
> Internet with apt.

Will the m68k distribution work on a PowerPC based system?  If so, I would
definately prefer using Debian.   My impression was the mklinux was the
only distribution that supported both the PowerPC chip and the NuBus
archietecture. 

> I'm not sure if my external CD-ROM drive works, but
> > perhaps someone else will have a SCSI CD-ROM at the installfest.
> 
> I'll have at least one..

Ok. I will be sure to bring the cable. 

-- 
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What the president of the Motion Picture Association of America says about 
taking away your constitutional rights:

"I'm rather jubilant now. What Judge Kaplan did was blow away every one of 
these brittle and fragile rebuttals. He threw out fair use; he threw out 
reverse engineering; he threw out linking."

- Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America.

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