[openbeos] Re: USB and PPC port.... I'm here to help... when I can...
- From: Bryan Varner <Bman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2002 14:10:56 -0500
>> Another thing. Some months ago, Nathan Whitehorn and I were
>> attempting to boot
>> BeOS R5 on PPC machines through OpenFirmware. Unless Nathan has
>> worked some
>> miracles since the last time we talked on BeShare, it just isn't
>> going to work
>> with the knowledge we have of the BeOS Launcher for MacOS.
>
>No miracles :)
Pucky.
>Also, I'm impressed you know Forth. Do you know the other 5 people? :P
I should clarify here... I have a good working knowledge of Fourth. And have
written some pretty neat stuff with it. (No, I didn't write OFPong... although
I may try to duplicate that some time soon here... <- MacHack followers may
remember that one!)
>Advantages of OF boot:
>- No boot time for MacOS (big plus)
>- Can be used on any modern mac (including OS 9 and X machines)
OldWorld and NewWorld alike. 7x00's on up will work.
>- Using a bootstrap partition, it *should* be possible simply to insert
>a OBOS CD and boot off that
>- No MacOS partition necessary
>
>Disadvantages
>- Apple's OF implementation is bastardized, which can cause some
>problems
So I've noticed in my diggings through the wasteland of docs at Sun and Apple.
>- If we *can't* have just sticking in a CD, then you have to muck with
>OF. (Except that BootX mimics OF from MacOS, and we could provide an
>install tool)
If I'm correct, as long as there's an Apple_Bootstrap partition on the CD,
holding down the 'C' key at startup would load it. Nathan, you seem to be more
of the expert on Mac hardware here. (and I'm wondering... where _did_ you
learn all this?)
>- MacOS loads extra fcode drivers at boot that the BeOS now takes
>advantage of. This is why the BeOS kernel has no SCSI module on ppc: it
>uses the SCSI manager. (Note: I am not sure of this statement, but
>given experiences, this seems likely)
Hmm... not sure on this either. Many devices (PCI and system board) have
drivers written in Fourth and embedded in ROM's on the device itself. IIRC the
Fourth drivers for the SCSI (equivalent of a SCSI BIOS on x86) provide
functions of all I/O on the chain... It was my understanding that this was how
the PPC kernel got information and read/write from the drives. I'm possibly
wrong here too... anyone else got an answer? Embedded Fourth drivers are a
God-send, and help give the Mac it's true Plug and Play.
>
>In all, I am very much in favor of OF booting, especially since it
>gives us in-OS booting as well, courtesy of BootX.
>-Nathan
>
I think that just sums it up. To me it's never been a question of should OF be
used, it's how.
-Bryan
-----------------------------------------------
In-san-i-ty n., pl. In-san-i-ties. -- Persistant
mental disorder or derangement.
-----------------------------------------------
http://bmanv.no-ip.com -- The looney bin
bman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx -- The keeper of the bin
Other related posts:
