on 6/26/01 7:37 PM, Phil Frost at daboy@xgs.dyn.dhs.org wrote:

> Hi :)
> 
> I imagine you haven't had many people mention this (after all, who has a
> computer this old?) but hey, I'd like to get some flavor of unix on my
> powerbook 1400 (must...have...command...line...). I just recently aquired
> this mac and I really know nothing about it, or macs at all in that case,
> but I'm an experienced x86 low-low level programmer addicted to command
> lines :)

    Well reading up on PPC asym wouldn't hurt, you will probably be playing
with low-level I/O and start.S

> Right now I'm digging around on the net for details on the boot process,
> etc., so if you have any information that may be helpfull, please send.
> I have read that mkLinux will run on a PB1400, but I have not yet tried it
> because it's based on Red#@$ (YUCK!) and doesn't have PCMCIA support.
> With a little code borrowing and some forcing tools, I just might be able
> to do something.

    Someone on this list did hack BootX (the Linux booter app) to load
NetBSD kernels. I don't think he ever submitted the changes to the
maintainer though. You might check source-forge for Linux-Nubus-PPC port,
MkLinux sources and NetBSD/mac68k port. You will also need to work from a
serial console, or hack up a raster console driver, since there is no
OpenFirmware to use for a console. The Linux-Nubus port has modified BootX
to boot their kernels, with some modification to their booter it should be
able to boot NetBSD kernels. Also Motorola should have some info on the
CPU's on their web site.

    Happy hunting.



    Chris