Re: NetBSD 8.0 on a Mac LC III

[David Riley <david%the-rileys.net@localhost>]

> On Oct 3, 2018, at 17:42, John Klos <john%ziaspace.com@localhost> wrote:
> 
> Hello, Stan,
> 
>> I'm trying to install NetBSD 8.0 on a Mac LC III.  In the past,
>> I've always used the traditional installation method, but that
>> doesn't seem to work with NetBSD 8.0 -- "Mkfs" and "NetBSD Install"
>> work in Mac OS as they did before, as long as everything is within
>> the first gigabyte on the disk, but when booting the system, the
>> kernel doesn't recognize the filesystem that was created by Mkfs.
>> 
>> So I'm using the sysinst method, which seems to be working, though
>> slowly.
> 
> Slowly, but hopefully steadily :)
> 
>> Some comments and suggestions:
>> 
>> 1) If the traditional method no longer works and it isn't supported,
>> then it should be removed. The traditional method has always had the
>> issue that it works only within the first gigabyte on a disk, though
>> it was possible to install a minimal system, then boot into that to
>> complete the installation (and then use more than the first gigabyte).
> 
> I think many of us are hoping someone who knows the classic Mac OS well might modernize the tools. At very least, we should update the documentation.
> 
>> 2) The minikernel in the traditional method was also useful for
>> quickly moving files (such as new kernels) between Mac OS and NetBSD
>> (using cpin and cpout).
> 
> That'd certainly be easier than building sysutils/hfsutils.
> 
>> 3) Using the traditional method, a faster system, such as a G3 with
>> SCSI, could be used to install NetBSD on the disk of a mac68k system
>> from Mac OS relatively quickly.
> 
> Never thought about this, but of course.
> 
>> 4) In the sysinst method, it would be helpful if the sizes required
>> for each package (base, comp, etc and so on) could be listed, as well
>> as the running total (for / and /usr) of the packages selected so far.
>> As it is, it's not clear until the disk runs out of space that too
>> many packages were selected.  Also, several of the menus could use a
>> "Cancel" option; for example, the menu setting the type of a disk
>> partition.
> 
> These are some good ideas for modernizing the Mac OS installer. Supporting larger than 1 gig volumes and FFSv2 would make worrying about space less of an issue, and/or supporting having a small partition used for transferring files and booting the kernel in a simpler, better documented way would be good, too.


I’ll put these on my ever-lengthening queue of things to work on. I have a fair amount of low-level Classic Mac OS development experience, plus a legitimate copy of the Jasik Debugger, so I’m up to the task as long as I have enough round tuits.

I’m also working on the details for a SCSI<->iSCSI bridge for vintage machines, which should help with both the speed of filesystems as well as the fact that real SCSI drives are starting to bite the dust. Even at 100Mbps (12.5 MBps) it’ll be faster than 5 or 10 MHz narrow SCSI and should support local SD cards as well.

I’d like to also add support for EN/SC emulation for devices like the PB1xx series that don’t have a good way to do it otherwise, but I don’t know if we have driver support for that. Nor have I found any kind of documentation on the command set they used, plus my old Asante EN/SC seems to have evaporated into the ether, so if anyone has some leads on getting a real one, I’d be grateful.

- Dave