Re: [ProgSoc] Even more raw power

[Ryan Heise <ryan@nospam.whitewolf.com.au>]

On Wed, 2 Jun 1999, Ryan Heise wrote:

> > may be possible to boot the Blue G3, but possibly some hardware won't
> > work, for example, the keyboard. I'm not sure about the details or what
> 
> I'll read up on it and do a lot of experimenting, rest assured.  I've got
> to put the membership first, and that means getting client/server access
> in various departments to work first.  The more it boots like a "real"
> Linux box, the less miscellaneous expertise everybody else will need.

Ok, I said it "might" boot without BootX. I still wouldn't recommend it.
You might get random kernel panics while the machine is running, or it
may not even boot. Since BootX is much easier to use, I would think
_less_ expertise would be required to use it, especially since it is the
only method for which there are installation instructions.

At least you can set it up with BootX initially, then when the kernel
has proper G3 support you can convert your MacOS partition into a linux
one and boot directly into linux with Open Firmware.

BTW, here's the installation instructions for the BlueG3:

	http://www.linuxppc.org/news/BlueG3.shtml

> > Another option is to install a free version of MacOS on your HFS boot
> > partition. I think MacOS 7.something is now available for free.
> 
> Ummmm, hmmm it's not actually GPL or even "open" in any real sense.
> Besides which I highly doubt a G3 can bend down to get into v7.5.3.  (The
> real reason for that was as a freebie Y2K compatibility update for the
> absolutely slow-coach users).

I did not say it was free software, just free. Not even open. My point
was: given that you need MacOS to boot Linux on a Blue G3, and given
that you don't want to pay for a license to use MacOS, you could try the
free license for MacOS 7.x. But as you pointed out, the Blue G3 may
require MacOS 8.x.

> If you're talking about using free OSs, I'd rather play with Darwin, the
> open-sourced components of MacOS X, including the Mach 3.0 microkernel and
> BSD layer.  Fun.

AFAIK BootX has not been ported to Darwin.

--
Ryan Heise
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