status of linux mac68k kernel
Hi all,
I'm a long-time 68k user, especially with debian, since it was my first
linux computer back then and the same IIfx is still faithfully working.
I followed the linux-mac68k list for a long time, but apparently it
"died off" and nobody knows who managed the computer thus I was advised
to subscribe here. I use debian anyway and I think there are no other
68k distributions anymore anyway.
I was quite busy in the past months but I will try in the future to use
and test 68k again a bit more. I like to check that the projects [*] I
am involved in work and compile fine on 68k.
Unfortunately the boxes I have currently working, a IIfx and a Q950,
run a 2.2.25 kernel which was problematic the past year (bad
performance, serious network problems on the IIfx, no SCSI DMA on both
boxes) but after I run an apt update I notice that more packages and
especially start-up scripts cry for a 2.4 or a 2.6 series kernel.
I know 2.4 has always been unlucky on mac but about a year ago I tried
to do several test builds of the 2.6 series and there were indeed
promising news, although it was not yet day-to-day usable to me. Also
the build process was cumbersome (it did build only on gcc 3.0
toolchains or it would not boot) and the kernels I built only attempted
booting on the Q950 and not the IIfx.
I compiled and tested on a well-equipped Q840 which, unfortunately, is
currently broken (PSU).
Are there promising news? Is there interest in testing these particular
architectures at all?
Cheers,
Riccardo
[*] these projects would be the kaffe Java VM, GNUstep and the related
Gnustep Application Project. Further I wrote PRICE, a gnustep image
filtering program, and pico server, a minimal webserver which suits 68k
pretty well. Neither pico server nor some of the gnsutep applications
are currently in debian though.
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