Date: Wed, 22 May 1996 15:35:59 -0700 (MST) From: Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org> To: jehamby@lightside.com (Jake Hamby) Cc: hackers@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: MkLinux for PowerMac available! Message-ID: <199605222235.PAA05245@phaeton.artisoft.com> In-Reply-To: <Pine.AUX.3.91.960522144351.7944B-100000@covina.lightside.com> from "Jake Hamby" at May 22, 96 02:49:25 pm
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> I just discovered that Apple's Linux/Mach based free Unix for PowerMac is > available (or at least an early developers release) from > http://www.mklinux.apple.com/ > > It runs on Nubus-based PowerMacs (6100, 7100, 8100, PowerComputing). > Presumably PCI will be supported in a future version. I'll try it > tomorrow and give a full report. It does require repartitioning the hard > drive(s) to create A/UX root and swap partitions. Also, I'll try to > discover the viability of using Apple's kernel device driver source code > as hardware documentation to bootstrap a Free/NetBSD port to PowerMac. > The lack of public info about the Apple hardware architecture (and the > huge differences between various 68K models) is the main reason why the > NetBSD port runs on so few models of 68K-based Macs. Hopefully with free > device driver source code supported by Apple, this will all change. After you install, let me know how the MACH source tree pans out as far as whether or not it's using ROM calls to implement device drivers (like Tennon systems MachTEN), or if the device drivers are truly native code. If they are native code, then it should be easy to rip them out of the MACH into a BSD framework. Note that the current processor support for the thing is limited to the PPC 601 processor systems. The 603/604 systems won't work. The PPC stuff I have going is all 603 based stuff; I *think* it's OK for a 604, but I'm pretty sure that it is *not* OK for a 601 (I was planning a BeBox port eventually, if I can catch up with the FreeBSD kernel changes; that should do both the 601 and the SMP MEI-as-opposed-to-MESI cache coherency model work). In any case, also take a look at the licensing for the MACH sources; it may not allow free redistribution so it would be necessary to derive documentation from their drivers, and then reimplement; that would be tragic for a BSD port. I am *very* interested in playing in the PowerMac/PowerMac clone sandbox. 8-). Regards, Terry Lambert terry@lambert.org --- Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present or previous employers.
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