>> I've been looking for a free Unix to run on my SPARCserver 4/470.
>> - Will NetBSD run on a 4/4xx? (I notice the FAQ doesn't mention it)

> Well, if it's supported it should work out of the box.  If it's not
> you should be able to find some help here.

Quite some time ago, I tried NetBSD/sparc on a SPARCserver 470.  It
failed; as I recall, the MMU is different and the code to support it
didn't work right at the time.  (ISTR something about "options MMU_3L"
(the 470's MMU apparently has three levels of tables) in the kernel
config, but I also recall the option changing names, and that may be
the old name.)

Certainly if it does work I want to hear about it - I know a site with
two 470s that wouldn't mind a modern OS.

> I'd say just try it out and see what happens.  If you have another
> machine you can netboot your sparc from it's certainly the best way.

I don't know if the 470 *can* netboot. :-)  I'd be inclined to set up a
boot disk on another machine and move it to the 470, at least for
initial experiments; certainly netbooting is a wonderful source of
problems for many people, so I'd be inclined to avoid it when working
with other dubious things (like the three-level MMU stuff).

But maybe that's just me.

					der Mouse

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