Subject: 8500 + ATI graphics card - No Openfirmware prompt
To: None <port-macppc@NETBSD.org>
From: sol glimt <glimt@littlebrother.org>
List: port-macppc
Date: 08/17/2003 00:23:57
Hi,
I am trying to install NetBSD on a OldWorld PPC (8500). It is running Open
Firmware version 1.0.5 + the patches. When I try to boot to the prompt, I
get the classic blank screen. Before I give up and go to the serial port, I
wanted to ask a couple of very uninformed questions.
1. My box has a third party ATI graphics card in it. Would the output device
still be /chaso/control?
2. Other unix'ish installs (Gentoo Linux, YDL, etc) use BootX or quik. Has
anyone done anything similar with NetBSD? Seems like a simple bootloader
that lives on a bootable HFS partition would go a long way in simplifying
what appears to be a very complex problem (Maybe I just nominated myself to
do some coding). This bootloader could know how to mount filesystems
commonly found in OpenBSD, NetBSD, FreeBSD, Linux, and MacOX n. It could
then load any of the OSes.
Thanks for the thoughts and input.
Take Care,
Craig