. Currently, .Nx*M requires the use of .Tn "Open Firmware" to boot. Open Firmware is a command environment using the FORTH language which the .Nx kernel uses to gether information about your system, and to control some of your devices. It is part of the boot ROMs in most .Tn PowerPC Ns No -based Tn Macintosh systems. Until late 1996, .Tn Apple never intended to use Open Firmware for anything other than internal debugging and hardware support. It was not intended to be used to boot an operating system. This is why earlier machines have so much trouble with Open Firmware. This also means that PowerMacs and clones that lack Open Firmware cannot boot .Nx on the \*M platform. Most machines introduced by Apple and the clone-makers after August 17, 1995 have Open Firmware and are supported.
p Apple made several revisions of this Open Firmware environment, and each has various quirks and problems that we must work around. The single hardest step of installing .Nx*M is to set up Open Firmware properly. Open Firmware versions 1.0.5 and 2.0.x act similarly and the same set of instructions applies to them. Open Firmware version 2.4 is slightly different with regards to booting. Open Firmware version 3 is altogether different.
p At present, .Nx*M does not support the PPC 601 microprocessor, which means that the PowerMacintosh 7200 and 7500 models are not supported. The PowerMacintosh 7500 may be upgraded to a PPC 604, G3, or G4 microprocessor via a daughtercard replacement, in which case .Nx will run on this system.
p The minimal configuration requires 16 MB of RAM and ~80 MB of disk space. To install the entire system requires much more disk space, and to run X or compile the system, more RAM is recommended, as .Nx with 16 MB of RAM is very slow. Note that until you have around 32 MB of RAM, getting more RAM is more important than getting a faster CPU. . .Ss2 Supported models Find your model from the list below and take note of its Open Firmware version: .(tag 8n t Em "Open Firmware 1.0.5"
p .(bullet -compact Apple PowerMacintosh (7300, 7500 (with CPU upgrade), 7600, 8500, 8600, 9500, and 9600) t Apple Workgroup Server 8550 t Power Computing (PowerBase, PowerCenter, PowerCenter Pro, PowerCurve, PowerTower, PowerTower Pro, and PowerWave) t UMAX (J700, S900) .bullet) t Em "Open Firmware 1.1.22"
p .(bullet -compact Apple Network Server (500 and 700) .(Note Users have reported that the .Nx kernel does not work well with the on-board MACE-based ethernet (the one that requires an Apple AAUI dongle). If your system does not have the Apple PCI Ethernet Card, you may need to purchase and install another ethernet card in your Apple Network Server. .Note) .bullet) t Em "Open Firmware 2.0.x"
p .(bullet -compact Apple PowerBook (2400, 3400, G3, and G3 Series) t Apple PowerMacintosh/Performa (4400, 54xx, 5500, 6300/160, 6360, 6400, and 6500) t Apple PowerMacintosh (G3 .Dq Beige models with ATI RageII+: Desktop, Mini Tower, and All-in-One) t APS Tech (M*Power 604e/200) t Motorola StarMax (3000, 4000, 5000, and 5500) t UMAX (Apus 2000, Apus 3000, C500, and C600) .bullet) t Em "Open Firmware 2.4"
p .(bullet -compact Apple PowerMacintosh (G3 .Dq Beige models with ATI Rage Pro: Desktop, Mini Tower, and All-in-One) .bullet) t Em "Open Firmware 3"
p .(bullet -compact Apple original iBook, iBook SE, and iBook (Dual USB) t Apple iMac; Bondi Blue (Rev A and Rev B, 233 MHz), 5 Flavors (Rev C and Rev D, 266 MHz and 333 MHz), iMac (Slot Loading), iMac (Summer 2000), and iMac (Early 2001) t Apple PowerBook (G3 Series (bronze keyboard) and G3 (FireWire)) t Apple PowerBook G4 (Titanium) and PowerBook G4 (Gigabit Ethernet) t Apple PowerMacintosh G3 (Blue and White) t Apple PowerMacintosh (G4 (PCI), G4 (AGP), G4 (Gigabit Ethernet), G4 (Digital Audio), G4 (Quicksilver), and G4 Cube) .bullet) .(Note Some iMac (Bondi Blue) and PowerMacintosh G3 (Blue and White) machines have keyboard problems. There is a workaround for the PowerMacintosh described in the NetBSD/macppc FAQ. There is no known workaround for the iMac machines encountering this problem. See .Lk http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/macppc/faq.html#usb-keyboard-problems .Note) . .Ss2 Unsupported models .(bullet -compact -offset indent Systems with Open Firmware, but using a PPC 601 microprocessor (PowerMacintosh 7200 and 7500 (without CPU upgrade)) t Systems with a PowerPC microprocessor, but lacking Open Firmware .(bullet -compact Apple PowerBook (1400, 2300, and 5300) t Apple PowerMacintosh/Performa (52xx, 53xx, 62xx, and 63xx (except 6300/160 and 6360 which are supported)) t Apple PowerMacintosh/Performa (61xx, 71xx, and 81xx) t PowerComputing (Power 100 and Power 120) .bullet) t Systems with broken Open Firmware (Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh) t Systems with a Motorola 68k microprocessor (these systems are supported by .Nx Ns /mac68k ) t Systems upgraded from any of the above (unless the motherboard is replaced as part of the upgrade) t Systems released in the second half of 2002 and later (future releases of .Nx*M will support these systems) t Systems released before the second half of 2002, but not listed above. These models might work, but have not been tested as of the release of .Nx \*V . .bullet) . .Ss2 Supported devices .(bullet -offset indent CPU upgrades .(bullet -compact Most CPU upgrades are supported. Some older models will not automatically enable the L2 cache on a G3 or G4 processor. See the FAQ entry .Lk http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/macppc/faq.html#cpu-upgrade .bullet) t Ethernet .(bullet -compact On-board 79C950-based MACE Ethernet interface
q Em mc0 t On-board bmac Ethernet interface
q Em bm0 t On-board gmac Ethernet interface
q Em gm0 t Apple PCI Ethernet Card (option for Apple Network Server)
q Em de t Asante Mac 10/100 PCI Rev A, part number 09-00169-01
q Em de t Farallon Fast EtherTX 10/100, part number PN996L-TX
q Em de t SMC Etherpower II (9432TX)
q Em epic t SMC 83c170
q Em epic t 3Com 3c905
q Em ex t Intel EtherExpress PRO/10+ PCI LAN Adapter
q Em fxp t RealTek 8029 Ethernet
q Em ne t VIA Technologies VT86C926
q Em ne t D-Link DFE-530TX+
q Em rtk t RealTek 8139
q Em rtk t Netgear FA-311
q Em sip t Lite-On PNIC
q Em tlp t D-Link DFE-530TX
q Em vr t Many other PCI and Cardbus Ethernet interfaces, such as Tulip-compatible
q Em de No and Em tlp , 3Com
q Em ep , SMC
q Em epic , Intel
q Em fxp , NE2000-compatible
q Em ne , and RealTek
q Em rtk t Many USB Ethernet interfaces
o .Em aue , .Em cue , and .Em kue
c .bullet) t Wireless .(bullet -compact On-board AirPort or AirMac 802.11b
q Em wi t AT&T/Lucent WaveLan IEEE PCMCIA card
q Em wi .bullet) t SCSI .(bullet -compact On-board NCR 53c94 SCSI controller
q Em esp t On-board MESH SCSI controller
q Em mesh t Adaptec PCI controllers 291x, 2920, 2930C, 294x, 295x, 39xx, 19160, 29160 and AIC-78xx
q Em ahc .(Note The 294x models are not bootable in Open Firmware, even though they can boot .Tn MacOS No Ns . .Note)
p t AdvanSys 1200[A,B], 9xx[U,UA] SCSI controller
q Em adv t AMD 53c974
q Em pcscp t Apple 53c875 Ultra Wide SCSI (shipped in some Beige G3 models)
q Em ncr No or Em siop .(Note This card may need a firmware update to boot NetBSD. Use the Mac OS X SCSI Card Updater from .Lk http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25176 .Note) t NCR/Symbios 53C8xx
q Em siop No or Em esiop t Many other PCI SCSI controllers should work, but no one has tried them t Most SCSI disk/tape/CD-ROM devices should work .bullet) t IDE .(bullet -compact On-board IDE controlers t Promise Ultra66
q Em pciide (this, and other PC-based cards are not bootable on \*M) t Acard ATP-850/860 based IDE controlers
q Em pciide (including the Acard AEC-6210/6260 and the Sonnet Tempo ATA/66 cards) t Some other PCI IDE controllers should work, although no one has had much success
p t Most IDE disk/CD-ROM/ATAPI devices should work .bullet) t Input devices .(bullet -compact Most ADB keyboards, mice, trackballs, and trackpads t Most USB keyboards, mice, trackballs, and trackpads t Most PS/2 keyboards, mice, and trackballs (middle button on 3-button mice may not work) .bullet) t Video .(bullet -compact On-board video on most models
q Em ofb .(Note Several models have been reported to not work with .Nx if the on-board video is in use, such as the Performa 54xx, 6360, 6400, PowerComputing PowerCenter and PowerTower, and UMAX C600 and Apus 3000. Also, the video card that shipped with the PowerMacintosh 9500/150, 9500/180, and 9500/200 systems is reported to have the same problem. .Note)
p t PCI frame buffers which have Open Firmware support (ATI, IMS, Matrox, and NVIDIA have several models which work) .bullet) t Audio .(bullet -compact On-board audio on most models
q Em awacs .(Note This driver has only recently been introduced and is considered .Dq untested meaning that it may cause your system to crash and/or is lacking some features you may expect .Note)
p t USB audio devices
q Em uaudio
p t PCI audio cards, although only the Ensoniq AudioPCI
q Em eap has been thoroughly tested .bullet) t Serial ports .(bullet -compact On-board serial ports (the modem and printer ports)
q Em ttya No and Em ttyb
.Em ttya is the mini-DIN 8 serial port with the .Sq Modem icon, and .Em ttyb is has the .Sq Printer icon. Some models with internal modems have the serial port with the .Sq Modem icon covered over, and the modem is .Em ttya . .(Note The on-board serial ports can be used for console (38400 bps, 8 bits, no parity, 1 stop bit, no handshaking), although many users have reported problems trying to run ppp or other high speed serial applications .Note)
p t The Gee Three Stealth Serial Port, possibly the Griffin Technology gPort .(Note These serial ports can be used for console (57600 bps, 8 bits, no parity, 1 stop bit, no handshaking). Use
q Em scca for the Open Firmware .Sq input-device and .Sq output-device variables. .Note)
p t Some USB, PCI, and Cardbus serial ports should work, but no one has tried them .bullet) t USB devices .(bullet -compact Most MI USB devices should work (such as disks, printers, input devices, SCSI adapters, and ethernet interfaces) .Lk http://www.netbsd.org/Hardware/usb.html .bullet) t PCMCIA and Cardbus cards .(bullet -compact Most MI PCMCIA and Cardbus cards should work, although very few have been tested with .Nx*M .Lk http://www.netbsd.org/Hardware/cardbus.html .Lk http://www.netbsd.org/Hardware/pcmcia.html .bullet) t PCI cards .(bullet -compact Most MI PCI cards should work, although very few have been tested with .Nx*M .Lk http://www.netbsd.org/Hardware/pci.html .bullet)
p .(Note While the .Nx kernel may support the various Cardbus, PCI, PCMCIA, and USB devices you may have, Open Firmware does .Em not unless it has a specific Open Firmware ROM. This means you cannot boot from these devices. Some Adaptec SCSI controllers have bootable Open Firmware ROMs. .Note) .bullet) . .Ss2 Unsupported devices .(bullet -offset indent Floppy disk .(Note Though .Nx*M can boot from a floppy, there is no kernel support yet .Note)
p t FireWire (IEEE 1394) t Advanced power management (cannot put system to .Sq sleep ) t Multiple processors .(Note Although .Nx*M can boot with more than one processor present, it will not use the additional CPUs .Note)
p t On-board video capture .bullet) . .Ss2 Supported boot devices and media . Each version of Open Firmware supports different devices and media that you may boot from. We define the terms .Dq "bootable media" as the media (hard drive, floppy, CD-R, ethernet) that will be used to bootstrap your \*M system into .Nx No Ns , and .Dq "distribution sets" or .Dq "distribution media" as the media (hard drive, CD-R, ethernet) that contains the files that will be installed to generate a working .Nx system onto your destination media.
p Go to the .Nx*M Model Support webpage and look up your system. Take note of the comments about your model and keep these in mind during the rest of this installation procedure. .Lk http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/macppc/models.html