Subject: Re: NetBSD for BeBox?
To: Jason Thorpe <thorpej@nas.nasa.gov>
From: Jake Hamby <jehamby@lightside.com>
List: port-powerpc
Date: 10/05/1996 14:32:20
Thanks for the info!  No, the BeBox doesn't support OpenFirmware, yet.
However, it has a Flash ROM and I've forwarded your message to Be
developer support as a plea for OpenFirmware support in future ROM
upgrades.  I have a feeling they will support this eventually for ease of
hardware support alone, especially for video (currently the BeBox uses
standard PC video cards which is a big problem for initialization, because
the PowerPC can't run the x86 boot BIOS).  And Be has been receptive to
other OS ports to Be hardware (such as the Linux port), and will openly
provide all needed hardware info.

This brings me to another question:  Doesn't the PowerMac claim to support
OpenFirmware?  I would guess that this support is very limited, though, 
and probably useless for a NetBSD port, which is unfortunate.

However, with MkLinux source available, I would hope that, even though
they can't use the same source tree, NetBSD/be and NetBSD/powermac are now
in sight!

-- Jake