On Fri, Mar 28, 2003 at 05:08:44AM +0000, Kamal R Prasad wrote:
> can some one tell me what is the effort reqd to port netbsd  onto POWER
> based systems?
> are there end-users who would like to see that happen?
> thanks
> -kamal
> 

I for instance would be very happy to install NetBSD on my IBM RS6000 43/100 system.

Where could I find information on that?

Where is this "Installer"? Is there a site, a Howto, a FAQ to refer to?

Thanks for your answers,
Ric

> ----- Forwarded by Kamal R Prasad/India/IBM on 03/28/2003 10:36 AM -----
>                                                                      
>             Jochen Kunz       
>             <jkunz@unixag-kl.        To:       Kamal R Prasad/India/IBM@IBMIN 
>             fh-kl.de>                cc:                              
>                                      Subject:  Re: -RS/6000             
>             03/27/2003 06:13                                            
>             PM                                             
>                                                                            
>                                                                       
> 
> 
> 
> On 2003.03.27 14:10 Kamal R Prasad wrote:
> 
> > I have access to 43P-100
> NetBSD should run on this. (The installer does not work correct, but
> once the system is installed it is very stable.)
> 
> > as well as POWER based systems.
> > what is the effort reqd to port it to POWER based systems?
> I don't know enough about POWER and its relation to PowerPC. This can be
> everything from fast and simple to complex and very time consuming. Ask
> on port-powerpc@netbsd.org. There are the gurus who have the knowledge
> to give you a better answer.
> 
> > will it find any end-users?
> I am sure it will. There are many RS6k machines out there and many
> people who like NetBSD.
> 
> > how mnay processors does netbsd scale to?
> I think it has the same limits as every SMP implementation with a big
> kernel lock. So, depending on the task you have to do, the practical
> limit is from 4 to 8. It may run on more CPUs, but this would be
> inefficient. This is no limit in NetBSD, it is a systematic limit in SMP
> systems. You need a different architecture for more CPUs. Somthing like
> a cluster (RS/6000 SP, VAX/Alpha with OpenVMS or Tru64-Unix,
> Linux-MOSIX) or NUMA (Sequent Dynix, SGI IRIX).
> --
> 
> 
> tsch??,
>        Jochen
> 
> Homepage: http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz/