Re: Are we the last ones?

[David Brownlee <abs%netbsd.org@localhost>]

On Wed, 6 May 2020 at 19:38, Chase Rayfield <cusbrar2%yahoo.com@localhost> wrote:
>
> I think my self and Rene Rebe (T2 Linux) are playing with Linux on Sparc32 now and then though he only has sun4c and I have basically everything sun4c and up except a Cray CS6400 or SS2000 (drop me a line if you see one priced to sell)... I have stages for Gentoo on my homepage which I am perpetually intending to update (that are slightly buggy as in portage crashes if it runs too long as of 2014, I haven't tried it on a hypersparc I suspect it might succeed there). gh0stwriter.net
>
> I think the main problem with Linux is getting larger kernels loading on old hardware... I'm not sure but I think the bootloader would have to setup the memory mapping and hand off to the kernel for this to be possible. Otherwise you have the 4Mb limit.
>
> If someone wanted to look at that for a few bucks and get newer Linux kernel working also I'd be happy to chip in as I'd like to keep at least two modern OSs going on these. I suppose I should load up the latest NetBSD and make sure all the wierd graphics cards work since I have a couple (AG10E finally, Rasterflex HR, TGX, and SX 8MB). I want to get the expansion box working too. I have several SS1000e and enough parts to fully build at lease one fully kitted but haven't gotten around to it yet.

I think framebuffer support is pretty reasonable on NetBSD (including
antialised console fonts and X11 support where relevant), but would be
fascinating to see how it handles some of your more unusual cards :)

David