on 12/8/00 12:03 AM, Taro Fukunaga at tarozax@earthlink.net wrote
something like:

> Hi,
> 
> I am interested to know if I can run NetBSD 1.5 using the following 
> hardware configuration:
> 
> PowerCenter 120 + 300MHz G3
> XClaim 3D PCI card
> 2930 UltraSCSI Card
> 
> According to the "Model Support" page at 
> http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/macppc/models.html, on-board platinum video 
> is broken in OF so I must use a serial console, and it also looks like I

    I don't know anything about Platinum, it sounds like a Cirrus Logic
chip or a BrookTree (Conexant) chip, with the right info and some Forth
wizardry, it might be fixable some day.
    However, you should be able to use the XClaim3D card. Its video should
work fine. You just need to figure out what the device path is and set it
with boot-variables or SystemDisk. There is a free utility out there that
can tell you I think if SystemDisk doesn't figure it out, but I don't know
what it is or where to find it offhand, the info is probably in a FAQ or
tutorial somewhere on the macppc page. At a guess, your card is probably
something along the lines of: /bandit/ATY,XClaim3DPro@X where X is the PCI
slot letter, or possibly pci1 in place of bandit. There isn't much
information so if you do get a serial console running or get the video to
work, please post the output of the following OFW commands: devalias, dev
/ ls, printenv   YMMV

> can't boot from a hard disk hosted by the SCSi card. Will I be able to 
> boot if I reattach the hard disk to the internal SCSI interface? Since I

    It's unfortunate that Adaptec didn't make these cards with FlashBIOS,
otherwise they probably would be bootable. They will be offering some kind
of tradup/refund program on this card if you need a bootable one (I
think), check the Adaptec web site under MacOS X info.
    You _should_ be able to boot off the internal SCSI, yes. It should
Just Work(TM), but YMMV.

> have a 7100/66 that I can connect to the PowerCenter via ZModem, will I 
> able to make the necessary modifications to the booting process to boot 
> NetBSD independently?

    Assuming you have a null modem cable, yes. You may have to explicitly
set ttya or ttyb as input/output in OFW with boot variables if you don't
get video to work. I doubt it defaults to serial console (which is
probably part of the problem). Otherwise disconnecting the monitor and
booting the system to OFW should automagically make OFW go to the serial
console, assuming it has been programmed correctly.

> Thank you for any information and I look forward to installing NetBSD!!

    Welcome, and good luck with OFW (which everyone just loves to hate)



    Chris