Re: can NetBSD work on Power Macintosh 6100?

[Michael <macallan%netbsd.org@localhost>]

Hello,

On Nov 4, 2008, at 8:25 AM, Havard Eidnes wrote:

> > Hi everyone,
> > someone donated me a very old Power Macintosh,
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Macintosh_6100
> > I know it's completely useless but i was wondering if it is possible
> > to install there any version of NetBSD or MkLinux just to play with
> > it.
> > I'm also interested in learning about porting NetBSDand low level os
> > programming.
> > thanks,
>
> Hi,
>
> according to the macppc model support page we maintain (linked
> from the macppc port page) at
>
>  http://www.netbsd.org/ports/macppc/models.html
>
> the 6100 unfortunately falls into the "we don't support it
> because it does not use OpenFirmware" category.  That's at least
> unlikely to change in the short term (and I'm not aware of anyone
> working to fix it).

It also falls into the "we don't support it because it's a NuBus box"  
category.

> As for other OS variants and whether they support it, I'll have
> to say "pass".

IIRC MkLinux is the only free unixish OS that supports it.

In other news - we do have 601 support for quite some time now, the  
chipset in these Macs should be rather similar to those used in some  
Quadras - what's missing is a boot loader that works on PowerPCs.  
Didn't someone work on NuBus PowerMac support a while ago?

have fun
Michael

PS: I have no such hardware so everything I say is 2nd hand at best.