RE: NetBoot & Diskless Stations...
> -----Original Message-----
> Sent: Thursday, December 05, 2002 5:34 PM
> To: R Seiji
> Cc: debian-68k@lists.debian.org
> Subject: Re: NetBoot & Diskless Stations...
>
> On Thu, Dec 05, 2002 at 12:33:32PM -0600, R Seiji wrote:
> > Had believed that it wasn't possible to network boot diskless 68K
> > stations.
> >
> > Revisited the idea a few days ago and discovered that there were TWO
> > products that allowed for network/diskless booting of 68K Macs.
>
> Nice, but unfortunately it won't help.
>
> The problem is that most macintosh hardware is proprietary and secret.
> Until recently[1], there was no documentation at all; this implied
that
> all hardware needed to be reverse engineered, which is a
time-consuming
> process.
>
> The fact that we can run Linux on an m68k Mac now, is due to the fact
> that MacOS is used as some type of 'BIOS', initializing all hardware
in
> the system. Without this initialization, it would be impossible to run
> Linux on your Macintosh.
>
> Thus, a netboot setup (one that bypasses MacOS, at least) cannot boot
> Linux on a Macintosh. Unless some skilled people step in and help
> improving the Linux/m68k kernel, that is.
>
> > Would like help on determining whether or not to pursue this
project.
> > Essentially, can the hangup which prevents booting directly into
Linux
> > be overcome by netboot process?
>
> Hangup? What hangup?
[R Seiji] Sorry for the vagueness. The hangup I was referring to is
precisely that which you describe above: the need to utilize the MacOS
at all before booting into Linux.
>
> [1] The NetBSD project recently received a batch of documentation from
> Apple, on the condition that they would share it with other interested
> parties. They have offered, but AIUI Linux/m68k developers don't have
> the manpower to actually do something with that documentation.
>
[R Seiji] The information you have provided is pretty much what I have
been able to gather already. If one were to pursue the possibility of
acquiring the information necessary to program at these levels (the
BIOS, EPROM, kernel), do you have any suggested resources from which to
start?
Thanks for the feedback.
> --
> wouter at grep dot be
>
> "Human knowledge belongs to the world"
> -- From the movie "Antitrust"
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