Linux on PowerPC FAQ-O-Matic : Installation :
I have a crappy monitor -- during the install, the screen goes bezerk and I can't see a thing.
video=atyfb:vmode:5,cmode:8
One petite note: These are specific to my machine, a StarMax 4000 with an ATI video card and the aforementioned poo of a monitor, a Gateway 2000 1024NI. With those kernel arguments, it produces a legible 640x480 resolution with 8-bit color, using the ATY video driver (note, that is ATY. 'Tis not a typo). Should your monitor be slightly less of a POS than this, refer to this table: http://www.linux-france.org/article/materiel/mac/bootx.html
As the slightly above average reader may note, the page is in French. However, Linux is the universal 4-letter word, and you needn't understand anything beyond "voulez-vous coucher avec moi" to get the idea. Scroll down to the bottom of the page for a table with resolutions and their corresponding vmode values.
This also works post-installation if you wish to change the resolution of the console. I ran into problems with my monitor butchering the text, and found that a change from 1024x768 (my default) to 640x480 worked like a charm.
video=atyfb:vmode:12,cmode:2
This produced an 100x37 display. I have yet to try the other.
If you're booting off of an HFS floppy that tricks the MacROM into booting up Linux, you may have trouble with the command line options that come pre-loaded on the disk (you'll know this when your screen goes berserk). Here's how you fix it:
Use a computer with MacOS, has a copy of ResEdit on it, and a floppy disk drive. Launch ResEdit and put the disk in. Then choose the System file on the floppy from within ResEdit to edit it's resources. Within this recource package is one entitled "CMDL" (command-line) - these are the arguments that are passed into the kernel for booting. You can change it however you want, but in our case we just need to either change or add the video arguments. So, somewhere in the string of arguments, add or update "video=atyfb:vmode:12,cmode:2" (or whatever works for you). Make sure that the arguments are seperated one from another with a space (not the arguments themselves; e.g: "root=2<SPACE>video=atyfb:vmode:12,cmode:2" ).
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YDL 2.1 installer: No Harddisks found