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Xref: sserve comp.unix.aux:18367 comp.unix.bsd:16702 comp.sys.mac.system:89903 Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!simtel!news.sprintlink.net!kaleka.seanet.com!not-for-mail From: kanefsky@datamagic.com (Steve Kanefsky) Newsgroups: comp.unix.aux,comp.unix.bsd,comp.sys.mac.system Subject: Re: MacBSD question... Date: 20 Jul 1995 07:44:05 -0700 Organization: Data Magic Lines: 50 Message-ID: <3ulq3l$chs@datamagic.com> References: <trevor-1407950008080001@c18.globalvision.net> <3uehvd$su3@panix.com> <1995Jul18.092719@ail3.montefiore.ulg.ac.be> <1995Jul18.142003@ail3.montefiore.ulg.ac.be> NNTP-Posting-Host: kanefsky1.seanet.com In article <1995Jul18.142003@ail3.montefiore.ulg.ac.be>, Didier Korthoudt <korthoud@montefiore.ulg.ac.be> wrote: >In article <1995Jul18.092719@ail3.montefiore.ulg.ac.be>, korthoud@montefiore.ulg.ac.be (Didier Korthoudt) writes: >> I don't know the current state of the project. I've also heard that >> maclinux is somewhat near death. But I think that the PPPlinux is on > ^^^^^^^^ > It was of course PPClinux PPC -- not PowerMac. According to PowerPC News the PPC Linux runs on Motorola VME bus machines only, and there's no progress on Linux for PowerMacs due to lack of information from Apple. Here is the PowerPC News article: LINUX DEBUTS ON POWERPC - BUT POWER MAC PORT IS STILL THWARTED (July 17th 1995) The first working Linux kernel for a PowerPC based machine was made available for anonymous FTP from ftp://liber.stanford.edu/pub/linuxppc last week. The port of Linux 1.2, runs on Motorola's PowerPC VME 1603 machine, but is still in its formative stages, according to Joseph Brothers who is coordinating the project. It "boots and runs the rc shell single-user, but little else. It has few utilities and almost no drivers, so far. It does not have X" he says. The software can be built by cross-compiling with gcc 2.7.0 and binutils 2.5.2 using ELF binary format. The team are expecting a flood of "why haven't you ported it to the Power Macintosh?" queries - the answer is, as previously that there is a dearth of very low-level programing information from Apple. "What is needed is full programming specs on the Power Macs' ADB and NuBus, listing addresses of the various devices, bit patterns of the commands and data to be written and read from those addresses, behaviour of the devices, memory map, and enough info on the interrupt hardware to get by" according to Brothers. He says that repeated attempts over the past 15 months have failed to secure the necessary info from Apple, though he has hope that a recent approach may bear fruit. If something doesn't happen soon, however, the project to port Linux to NuBus Mac will become a moot point - CHRP machines will be upon us. The next most likely target machines after the Motorola box are Motorola's Ultra and PowerStack computers and IBM's PowerPC-based RS/6000s. The current port is mainly the effort of Gary Thomas of Mercury Computer Systems. Anyone who wants to help with the port can follow developments via the linux-ppc@vger.rutgers.edu mailing list or by anonymous ftp to ftp://liber.stanford.edu/pub/incoming. (c) PowerPC News - free by mailing add@power.globalnews.com -- Steve Kanefsky