NetBSD/mac68k 1.3

Scott Reynolds is the maintainer of NetBSD/mac68k.

Supported Hardware

NetBSD/mac68k 1.3 runs on most of the older 68k-based Macintosh computers. About 4MB of RAM should be sufficient to boot and the system can probably be squeezed onto a 40MB hard disk by leaving off an unnecessary set or two. To actually do much compiling or anything more interesting than booting, at least 8MB of RAM and more disk space is recommended. About 75MB will be necessary to install all of the NetBSD 1.3 binary system distribution sets (note that this does not count swap space!). An additional 25MB or so is needed for the binary X11 distribution sets. Much more disk space is required to install the source and objects as well (at least another 300MB). The following Macintosh hardware is supported:

• CPUs:
  • Mac II (with PMMU)
  • Mac IIx
  • Mac IIcx
  • Mac IIci
  • Mac SE/30
  • Mac IIsi
  • Mac IIvx
  • Mac IIvi
  • Performa 400/405/410/430
  • Performa 450
  • Performa 460/466/467
  • Performa 520
  • Performa 550/560
  • Performa 600/600CD
  • LC 550, Performa 550
  • MacTV
  • LC II
  • LC III
  • LC III+
  • LC 520
  • LC 550
  • Centris 650
  • Quadra 610
  • Quadra 630
  • Quadra 650
  • Quadra 700
  • Quadra 800
  • Quadra/Centris 660AV
  • Quadra 840AV
• Internal SCSI bus and most SCSI tapes, disks, and CD-ROMs
• Internal sound (enough to beep on some machines, anyway)
• Most basic NuBUS video cards (there have been some problems with some accelerated 24-bit color cards)
• Both internal serial ports
• ADB keyboards and mice (including many third-party mice and trackballs)
• Ethernet cards based on the Natl. Semiconductor 8390 and the SONIC (DP83932) chips (Asante, Apple, and a few others -- some problems still with interactions between Ethernet and many NuBus video cards; see the ethernet status page for details)
• Onboard Ethernet based on the SONIC chip for Quadra-series Macs
• Onboard Ethernet based on the MACE (Am79C940) chip for the AV Quadras
• Some machines with no FPU. Floating point emulation for '030-based machines without a 68882 is available, but support for 'LC040-based systems is incomplete.

If your 68030 system is not listed above, it may be because of a problem with accessing onboard video, and it may still work with a serial console. Some of the known ones in this category:

• Classic-series Macs
• PowerBook 100-series and Duo-series Macs

Please note that some of these systems will work with custom kernels. Check out the machine status page for details.

If your 68LC040 system is not listed above, it is due to a problem with floating point emulation (FPE) for this type of processor. Machines in this category include:

• Newer LC-series machines
• Newer Performa-series machines
• Some PowerBook 500-series Macs

If you have a device that's not listed, it might be compatible with something else, or we might have simply forgotten it. If all else fails, maybe you could write a driver! Please note that some of these systems will work with custom kernels. Check out the machine status page for details. Major items often asked about, but not supported in 1.3 include:

• 68LC040-based Macs. Work is in progress on getting Floating Point Emulation support for these machines completed.
• Macintosh IIfx: This machine has unusual custom chips for the ADB interface (the IOP) and for SCSI DMA which makes support for it difficult. Work is in progress on this, though.
• Quadra 900/950: These machines have I/O processor chips for their ADB interfaces similar to those used in the IIfx and thus face similar support problems.
• PowerPC-based Macs. This will be a separate effort from this port. The PowerPC is a much different processor as is much of the hardware inside these machines. If you are interested in this, you might want to take a look at the MkLinux Project. In addition, there is also a NetBSD-powerpc port in progress. For more information, please see NetBSD/powerpc status page.
• Accelerator cards are not supported with cache enabled. Most 68030 accelerators run NetBSD/Mac68k with cache disabled. There are still problems with 68040 accelerators for 68030 machines (these machines may fail to boot).

Other documents of interest

For more questions, see the FAQ, the meta-FAQ, the general info document, or the machine status document.

If you're interested in installing NetBSD/mac68k 1.3, you should look at the installation notes.

There are various NetBSD mailing lists, including a mac68k specific port-mac68k.

To obtain NetBSD/mac68k: via CD-ROM, an ftp mirror near you, or direct from ftp.NetBSD.org.

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