Subject: Re: MacIIfx and MacBSD
To: Henri Gomez <hgomez@icor.fr>
From: Bill Studenmund <wrstuden@loki.stanford.edu>
List: port-mac68k
Date: 07/05/1996 11:45:43
> 
> Hi!
> 
> In all the list of Mac running NetBSD I can't find the MACIIfx, a 
> 68030/68882@40MHZ, 64Kb cache, with DMA for DISK I/O...
> 
> Is it only an european Macintosh ?
> Do you plain to adapt something for it since when I launch it, Net panic 
> about 'unknown class machine' and fall in the debugger ...

It should be in al the lists. Unfortuantely, it should be in the "not
very likely" category.

The problem is that Apple added a lot of hardware co-porcessors to help
with I/O. But they didn't document them, and didn't use them in future
designs. In fact, I've heard rummor that MacOS has never fully supported
them. Only A/UX used them to full advantage.

If you (or anyone else) could get us documentation, we probably would
be willing to work on it (especially if there were machines to test
on). But the doc's would have to come from Apple, which still has its head
up its butt about sharing info. They don't even seem inclined to do a
deal with us covering the 68k machines similar to the deal they did
with the OSF/Mach people for PPC and the PPC microkernel/mklinux. :-(

Take care,

Bill