# Openfirmware hints



## sossego (Jan 20, 2013)

ON laptops: 
If your screen begins to go out , you can use the following to route it through the VGA.
[CMD=">"]printenv output-device[/CMD]
It should list it as screen.
[CMD=">"]devalias screen[/CMD]
Compare it to the output of
[CMD=">"]dev / ls[/CMD]
and see what it is.
If the letter is A then the VGA output is B.
[CMD=">"]setenv output-device /path/to/VGA/B[/CMD]
That will reroute it to the VGA.

If possible, could this thread also become a sticky? Open Firmware was/is used on SPARC64, OLPC, and a few others. It may help as a reference for others.


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## sossego (Jan 20, 2013)

I'm having trouble using the command option in the menu- here on the forums.
The commands are invisible even though they are in quotations.
Therefore, I edited the above post using the code option instead.

The methods were explained to me.
I'm keeping this post here.


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## sossego (Jan 21, 2013)

Booting from usb on PowerPC systems:
[CMD=">"]dev / ls[/CMD]
Look at the pci@ and for usb@ right after the mac-io@
[CmD=">"]dev /pci/path/to/usb ls[/CMD]
Select the disk you want to boot.
[CMD=">"]setenv boot-device /path/to/usb/install[/CMD]
[CMD=">"]mac-boot[/CMD]

Be sure that the usb is set up properly.


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## sossego (Jan 21, 2013)

For SPARC64 systems, the gentoo SPARC FAQ has a few tips.
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-sparc-faq.xml

OpenBoot and OpenFirmware are very similar and use the same commands.


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## aurora (Jan 23, 2013)

On my Mac mini 2005 (PowerPC and Open Firmware) which I later added Bluetooth, I was surprised to see that the graphical boot screen of Open Firmware supported the Bluetooth mouse.


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## sossego (Jan 24, 2013)

[CMD=">"]words[/CMD]
This will show you a list of words; i.e. commands, options, and values.
E.g.
To set the background and foreground colors.
[CMD=">"]words[/CMD]
Look for the background and foreground color options.
[CMD=">"]background-color $VALUE[/CMD]
For foreground color:
[CMD=">"]foreground-color $VALUE[/CMD]


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## sossego (Feb 15, 2013)

From http://people.freebsd.org/~grehan/miniinst.txt :
If booting directly from the FreeBSD CD:
[CMD=">"]boot cd:,\boot\loader cd:0[/CMD]


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## sossego (Feb 15, 2013)

http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-ppc/2011-January/004654.html

The setup here is a bit more complex. In it, you would use the commands to:
1. Boot from the loader prompt; and,
2. Select the active installation.

All of the above would be done in the Open Firmware Forth prompt.

If choosing to do this then
1. Follow all the commands and suggestions in that thread.
2. Be sure to post results or further questions to the FreeBSD ppc mailing list.


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## aurora (May 17, 2013)

Hello

How can I set the default boot disk in OF? 

I have installed both OS 9.2.2 and OS 10.5.4 on a Powerbook G4 TI, and I 'd like to make it boot from 10.5.4 by default but OS 9.2.2 always comes first and I have to start by pressing alt all the time.

Changing the partition name doesn't put OS 10.5.4 first.


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## sossego (May 19, 2013)

You set the boot device.
http://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/5.3/macppc/INSTALL.macppc

Scroll down to Autobooting for a reference as to setting the variable.
You will need a live PPC disc to read the boot variables on your system. The old Ubuntu images work great or you can try a Debian Live image.


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## aurora (May 20, 2013)

That has worked out! I've entered the same lines:


```
setenv auto-boot
setenv boot-device hd:,ofwboot
reset-all
```

and to my luck it worked the way I wanted. I noticed that Mac OS X 10.5 icon now comes at first in alt-boot menu. That's good, thanks.


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