Planning for NetBSD 5.0

[Michael Lorenz <macallan%netbsd.org@localhost>]

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Hello,

the release branch for NetBSD 5.0 will be cut in the not so far  
future and there are a few issues that need to be resolved - feedback  
welcome.
- - SMP works fine on my dual 500MHz G4. How is NetBSD doing on other  
SMP models? We know that SMP on old world macs is broken and we can't  
fix it for lack of hardware so unless someone steps up we'll have to  
declare SMP supported on new world macs only.
- - currently my new ADB subsystem is enabled by default. It's got a  
few benefits over the old one ( keyboard LEDs work, things like caps  
lock, scroll lock etc. work properly, more than one device per class  
supported, beige G3 audio works, shutdown via power button, it  
doesn't have a lot of the old subsystem's weirdnesses etc. ) and a  
few drawbacks ( no APM emulation, battery status and such can be read  
via envsys on old powerbooks but not on newer models. I simply didn't  
have the time to add support for smart batteries ). Opinions?
- - the issues with radeonfb couldn't be resolved since nobody with the  
right hardware, knowledge, documentation and time to hack could be  
found to fix it for other chips than the R200 class. Guess it will be  
commented out in 5.0
- - how are the other framebuffer drivers doing? I use chipsfb and  
r128fb myself but that doesn't mean they work for anyone else. Also,  
chipsfb is supposed to work on the original PowerBook G3 but I didn't  
get any feedback. In 5.0 genfb will replace ofb unless someone comes  
up with a serious problem. Benefits: it's also pretty usable on  
machines where ofb's cache hack doesn't work and it's machine  
independent ( sparc64 uses it as well )
- - random PowerBook 3400c ( and similar machines ) fixes - cardbus  
cards should work in the lower slot if you can cram them in, console  
with chipsfb and X with acceleration should work. Onboard ethernet  
should work. Envstat should report battery voltage, temperature, CPU  
temperature and battery charge. Brightness and volume control buttons  
should work. Card eject buttons should work. Media bay devices should  
attach and detach cleanly ( unless you pull the thing out while it's  
mounted - don't do that! ) - tested only with a CDROM drive since I  
don't have any other media bay modules. Do these things work for  
anyone else?
- - random beige G3 fixes - onboard audio should work with the new ADB  
subsystem enabled, additionally you'll get bass and treble control.  
Onboard IDE with DMA should work despite occasional complains about a  
lost interrupt during device discovery. Do these tings work for  
anyone else?
- - some powerbooks used to power down when the ADB subsystem attached  
- - this shouldn't happen with either the new or the old ADB code  
anymore. Since I don't have such a laptop I need feedback here.
- - there used to be problems with genfb and some Apple onboard  
graphics chips, like /chaos/control. I believe I fixed that but I  
never got any feedback and since I don't have the hardware someone  
else needs to test it.
There's probably more but this is what I can think of right now.

There are lots of changes from 4.0 to 5.0, mostly machine independent  
but also things that concern macppc directly. As some of you probably  
remember we rewrote and unified much of the macppc, prep, ofppc and  
bebox-specific code. For instance PCI support, interrupt handling,  
bus_space/busdma are now shared between most powerpc ports, as a  
consequence many macppc-specific drivers had to be adapted. They  
should all work but I think at least some of them didn't get nearly  
enough testing. So please install -current, torture it, report  
success or failure.

have fun
Michael

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