Re: Booting a 660AV?

[Hauke Fath <hauke%Espresso.Rhein-Neckar.DE@localhost>]

On Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:54:13 -0400 (EDT), Mouse wrote:
>>> But this machine's keyboard is ADB and video is a DA-15.
>> Why 'but'?  It's a Mac.
> 
> "But" in the sense of "This is a problem, and here's why".

Find a used one in a thrift store, or on your local equivalent of 
craigslist? I could lend you one, but you are right in the middle 
between Frankfurt and Vancouver, and they don't let you open a window 
in planes. (And don't get me started about Canada Post.)

>> You can boot to serial console, if you can borrow an ADB keyboard and
>> mouse (or get an ADB converter
>> <https://www.bigmessowires.com/usb-wombat/>),
> 
> Love to, but they give no indication how to find a brick-&-mortar near
> me which carries the silly things.

It's actually a very nice gadget, if you want to use an Apple Extended 
Keyboard on a machine that unfortunately does not sport ADB. I have one.

>  Indeed, what indications I can find
> appear to be that they expect to sell entirely over the Web, which is a
> total non-starter for me.

Small shop, yes. Good support, too.

>  I think I may have an ADB keyboard somewhere; I certainly hope so....

So what was the complaint about, then?

> A Mac DA-15 to VGA adapter is entirely passive?  That's very good to
> hear.  I'll have to see if I can scare up the relevant pinouts next
> time I'm at a work machine.  I also should dig into my (small) bin of
> video adapters to see if perchance I have something suitable already.

This might help 
<https://www.bigmessowires.com/2023/10/04/classic-macintosh-video-signals-demystified-designing-a-mac-to-vga-adapter-with-lm1881/>.

>> And that hardware is very diverse, it was never meant to be a
>> standard interface.
> 
> But no more difficult than what the NetBSD kernel already does during
> autoconfig, surely?  Or does NetBSD/mac68k depend on some of the
> hardware being set up already?

The latter, especially for video card support. Unlike for other 
architectures, there is no separation between firmware ("BIOS") and OS 
on 68k Macs.

Cheerio,
Hauke

-- 
Hauke Fath                        <hauke%Espresso.Rhein-Neckar.DE@localhost>
Linnéweg 7
64342 Seeheim-Jugenheim
Germany