Re: G5 support ( was Re: Booting on a Powerbook6,8 (was Re: Installing 8.0 on a Powerbook6,8))

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

Hello,

On Thu, 18 Feb 2021 19:01:03 -0500
Австин Ким <freennix%gmail.com@localhost> wrote:

> I really appreciate your taking the time to write up that detailed snapshot/status!

No problem :)

> Any way someone could get all the info you just provided onto
> NetBSD’s WWW site or onto the relevant ports/macppc wiki pages for
> reference?  (Or maybe it already is but I couldn’t easily find it.)

I should really update the model support page. Then again, my G5 stuff
isn't in any official release yet, and only two models have gotten any
kind of testing. I'm fairly confident that most G5 tower models will
work, but I know for a fact that at least some iMacs will need help
with the cooling system, and running them without proper cooling isn't
something I'd recommend. "NetBSD fried my iMac!" isn't something I want
to see anywhere, ever.
The Fan controller will go into full 747 mode when it isn't poked by
the operating system for a minute or so ( safety measure I guess -
assume the OS crashed so crank all fans to full blast so we don't burn
up ) but if we miss some sensors we may get the wrong idea on how hot
things are, and may not blow enough air at the CPU(s) while still
poking the fan controller regularly...
And this is why I still consider G5 support experimental.

> Sorry about the inane comment about “porting their kernel”; what I
> meant was more along the lines of, if FreeBSD got full native 64-bit
> support working for IBM PowerPC 970-based Apple Power Mac G5 hardware
> in their powerpc64 kernel (do they?—idk), was wondering if it would
> be easier to try going off their existing code than trying to
> implement full native 64-bit support from scratch in NetBSD’s macppc
> kernel.  I assume this is just a matter of someone putting in the
> work, something I hope I can find time to get more into “one day” :/

I've been looking at their code for inspiration whenever I hit a road block :)
MMU code isn't exactly my area of expertise though, to put it mildly...

> My Power Mac G5s are still running Apple Mac OS X Server version
> 10.5.8 (aka ‘Leopard’); when I last tried FreeBSD 5+ years ago,
> everything worked great but the fan support, so my machines’ fans
> would all be going full-throttle which would result in a sweltering
> room in the summertime (not to mention sounding like being in a
> server room), so I reverted to Mac OS X Server; hopefully will be
> able to try out all three BSDs again sometime on my G5s to see how
> all their 64-bit/SMP/fan support for Power Mac G5s has progressed in
> the last 5 years.

I keep Leopard on most of my machines, for convenience ( easily
accessible place to put ofwboot.xcf ), and occasionally I still play
Civ 4 or Diablo II. Also, Kodak still(!) provides updated(!!!) OSX
powerpc drivers for my not-that-ancient printer/scanner thing, but not
for Windows 10...

> I have not had a chance to try out your NetBSD/macppc kernel with SMP
> support for more than 2 CPUs (_e. g._, the dual 970MP dual-core in
> the Power Mac G5 Quad); did all your work make it into the current
> netbsd-POWERMAC_G5.MP kernel?

Should be.

> I know the world has long since moved on past Apple’s Power Mac G5
> machines, but my Power Mac G5s seem to be indestructible and just
> will not die; plus the IBM PowerPC 970 ISA (
> http://kib.kiev.ua/x86docs/POWER/pem_64bit_v3.0.2005jul15.pdf ) is
> just too beautiful :(

I kinda want to get my hands one one of those POWER4 or ppc970
Intellistations. They seem to be rather rare though.

have fun
Michael