Subject: Re: Mac IIfx
To: John Valente <jv@gensym.com>
From: Steven Campbell <campbel@istar.ca>
List: port-mac68k
Date: 03/21/1997 19:29:26
At 7:08 PM 3/21/97, John Valente wrote:
>I'm just wondering if anyone's ever run Net BSD on a MacIIfx.  It was absent
>from the list on www.macbsd.com/macbsd/macbsd-docs/machine-status.  I assume
>there would be no problem, since all the other Mac II models seem to work fine,
>but my old machine is some 200 miles away and I don't want to get it if it's
>known that NetBSD will fail on it.

Welcome to the list.  The IIfx was a very unique machine when it was
introduced.  It is the only non-Power Mac produced that has serial
Input/Output processors and SCSI DMA, though the SCSI DMA only works under
A/UX 2.0 and later. The Quadra 9X0 series also has problems supporting the
serial IOPs, but the Q9X0 lacks the SCSI DMA, which makes the Q9X0s a
little easier to support. As a result, the IIfx has some unusual hardware
that looks after the SCSI controller and the serial ports.  And since Apple
declined to document this funny hardware, getting support for this machine
would is difficult, though not impossible.

Steven Campbell