> From: Dave Huang <khym@azeotrope.org>
> Date: Tue, 27 Dec 2005 18:14:45 -0600
> To: port-macppc@netbsd.org
> Subject: Re: Cannot boot netbsd-3.0 on my powerbook 12'
> 
> On Tue, Dec 27, 2005 at 06:56:55PM -0500, William Duke wrote:
>> I don't understand what you're talking about dixie.  The Indy is not a
>> WinTel box and it does not use an Intel processor.  The Indy was built by
> 
> I think his point is that whether a computer was designed to run *nix
> isn't really related to how well it runs NetBSD. The standard IBM PCs
> out there weren't designed to run *nix, but generally run NetBSD very
> well. And Power Macs are arguably designed to run *nix (OpenFirmware,
> PREP, CHRP, OS X have Unix ties).
> -- 

I think that pretty much says it all: "And Power Macs are arguably designed
to run *nix"  I would say that the "arguably" portion of that statement is
perhaps the most telling.

I guess you don't really appreciate how much more suited to unix a
workstation can be, until you actually use one.   I have experience now in
installing both Linux and NetBSD on Macintosh machines and on an SGI Indy.
I can tell you that there is no contest.  Installing NetBSD on the Indy is
easier than installing Mac OS on a Macintosh.  It's so absurdly simple to
install BSD on the Indy that one wonders why all computers can't be so
simple.

The Indy PROM monitor retains the environment variables that I set no matter
what changes I make.  Consider the effort that is required to reinstall or
install NetBSD on to a Power Macintosh.  The process is really rather
involved and the Open Firmware that Apple uses, leaves much to be desired.
People are constantly having problems booting NetBSD on their Power
Macintosh machines even if they manage to get the OS successfully installed.

To install NetBSD on my Indy, it was a simple process of telling the Indy
where to find the install kernel and waiting for it to boot.   Using the
PROM monitor, I can set variables like netaddr very easily.  To switch
between using the workstation or a serial console, is a simple matter of
unplugging the keyboard.  The box recognizes that there's no keyboard and
outputs to the serial port.  Compared to Open Firmware on the Macintosh or
BIOS on the PC, there's really no contest.

My Indy runs quite slowly though.  But I kind of expect that, given the age
of the machine.  With a 150MHz processor on a 75MHz bus with only 32MB of
physical RAM, there's a lot of thrashing on the swap partition.  Especially
during a build of Mozilla!  Nevertheless, I can add RAM quite easily to this
machine and this little old Indy should perform marvelously as a nice little
NetBSD workstation.  That is, until I can get my hands on some IRIX install
media.

I'd like to get my hands on a Sun workstation too.  I've heard that Sun
Microsystems is a little more encouraging of hobbyists, so I think that a
Sun workstation will be one of my next "gotta have" machines.

I used to really like the Macintosh for running Mac OS.  Once I began trying
to get other operating systems running on the MacPPC hardware though, my
opinion of Apple hardware turned quite sour.