| OFWBOOT(8) | System Manager's Manual (macppc) | OFWBOOT(8) | 
ofwboot, ofwboot.elf,
  ofwboot.xcf —
| ofwboot | 
ofwboot.
The information in this man page should only serve as a guideline for users. Apple has made many revisions to Open Firmware, and the earlier versions had many problems and inconsistencies. You may find that a boot command that works on one model will not work on another.
In this man page, only one Open Firmware command will be
    described, boot, because it is used to pass
    arguments to ofwboot. The Open Firmware
    boot command takes up to three arguments:
boot [boot-device
    [boot-file]] [options]
boot-device:[partition-num],[bootloader-filename]/pci@f2000000/mac-io@17/ata-4@1f000/@0:9,ofwboot.xcfOpen Firmware stores aliases to common devices in NVRAM. In the
    example above,
    /pci@f2000000/mac-io@17/ata-4@1f000/@0 is the path
    on a PowerBook (FireWire) to the built-in ATA/100 hard drive. Use the
    devalias command in Open Firmware to print out a
    list of common device names on a particular model. The command above could
    then be simplified to:
hd:9,ofwboot.xcfboot-loader-file-name is usually
    ofwboot.xcf. (See also the
    FILES section for further discussion.)
If omitted, the Open Firmware variable boot-device is used.
netbsd on partition
  “a” from the device used to load the
  primary bootloader.
For systems with Open Firmware versions less than 3 which are set
    up using sysinst, the
    boot-file argument is not necessary. Systems with Open
    Firmware version 3 may need to specify the
  boot-file.
The syntax is similar to the boot-device argument:
[boot-file-device:partition-num/][kernel-name]If no kernel-name is specified, the primary bootloader will try to find kernels named either netbsd or netbsd.gz on the boot-device or (if specified) boot-file-device.
set-default Open Firmware command:
  set-default boot-device
ofwboot,
  ofwboot.elf, and ofwboot.xcf
  are the same program, in different executable formats.
ofwboot is installed via
      installboot(8) on
      systems with Open Firmware versions less than 3. It is not necessary to
      specify this file name, as it is stored in a special location on the disk,
      partition “zero”. For example, the following command might
      be used to boot from a SCSI device with ID 2: 0 >boot
      scsi-int/sd@2:0.ofwboot.xcf is in XCOFF format. This file is used
      on all Open Firmware 3 systems, and on Open Firmware systems prior to 3
      when the bootloader is not installed in partition “zero”,
      such as from an ISO-9660 format CD-ROM.ofwboot.elf is in
      elf(5) format and only
      functions on systems with Open Firmware version 3. To avoid confusion, all
      users should be using ofwboot.xcf, as
      ofwboot.elf offers no additional functionality. It
      is only included for historical reasons.ofwboot), an
      INSTALL kernel (with limited device drivers), and the
      sysinst utility in a RAM disk. Since Open Firmware
      does not care what media files are loaded from, only whether they are
      supported and in the correct format, this disk image may be placed on
      media other than floppy disks, such as hard drives or Zip disks. Use
      dd(1) on Unix, or
      DiskCopy on MacOS 9.1 or later, or
      suntar on any MacOS version to copy this image
      onto the media.sysinst included.
0 > boot hd:,ofwboot.xcf
    
    
0 > boot hd:,ofwboot.xcf netbsd -s
    
    
0 > boot cd:,\ofwboot.xcf netbsd.macppc
    
    
0 > boot scsi/sd@3:0,OFWBOOT.XCF NETBSD.MACPPC
    
    
0 > boot fd:0
    
    
0 > boot enet:0
    
    
0 > boot enet:0 ultra1:0
    
    
0 > boot hd:,\\:tbxi
    
    
0 > boot hd:10,\\:tbxi
    
    DEFAULT CATCH!, code=FF00300 at %SRR0: FF80AD38 %SRR1: 00001070
Can't LOAD from this device
load.
0 > boot yy:0/netbsd RESETing to change Configuration!
0 > boot ata/ata-disk@0:9 specified partition is not bootable ok
0 > boot ata/ata-disk@0:0 >> NetBSD/macppc OpenFirmware Boot, Revision 1.3 >> (root@nazuha, Fri Jun 8 22:21:55 JST 2001) no active package3337696/
INSTALL.html
ofwboot can only boot from devices recognized by Open
  Firmware.
Early PowerMacintosh systems (particularly the 7500) seem to have problems with netbooting. Adding an arp entry at the tftp server with
arp -s booting-host-name
  its-ethernet-address0 > boot CLAIM failed ok
reset-all or power-cycle to initialize Open Firmware.
| August 18, 2001 | NetBSD 10.1 |