USB 2.0 boot on 15" PowerPC Aluminum Powerbook (Model 5,6)

["jherm" <user=1536@nabble.blu.org>]

 Disclaimer: This question has less to do with *n?x, and more to do with boot 
procedure and (possibly) overcoming hardware-level limitations. If you could 
care less about a PowerPC system, and don't want to waste your time, move 
along. If you're still here, thanks for reading. 

My problem: I'm trying to install Leopard on my friend's laptop, except her 
built-in DVD-ROM drive does not read discs any longer. A bit of research 
indicated to me that _some_ PowerPC Macs can USB boot, but it's not a golden 
rule (some don't.) I have a USB thumb drive and a 5th Gen., 80GB iPod (data 
transfer is limited to USB on this model), I've tried "dd"ing the install 
image to both block devices to no avail. I've tried "bless"ing the 
filesystems (enabled bootability of the filesystems), and also just leaving 
them as is (still should be bit-for-bit as compared to the original disc 
I've backed up.) I've checked for the disk/partition in the "Startup Disk" 
preference pane (it does not appear.) I've ran through some steps I found on 
macosxhints.com regarding booting into OpenFirmware. Supposedly, the 
'devalias' command, when run at the prompt, should return a device called 
'ub' (USB disk) but I do not see this. I've also tried pushing the install 
image to the disk using "Disk Utility" on another Mac (which should do a 
bit-for-bit copy, just as dd would.) 

My question: Is there a bootloader / chainloader / alternate firmware that 
will let me boot from USB, either directly or indirectly? I do know that the 
Leopard kernel has USB support (for this machine specifically) and also that 
this thumb drive can be used to run a live image of OS X (in my case, it was 
just another "dd"ed image of a _different_ OS X install disc.) I'd be 
willing to install an alternate bootloader on the internal drive in the 
machine, just to chainload the kernel stored on the USB media. Anyone got 
any bright ideas? 

Thanks again, regards. 

- Jon 

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