Hello... my first message here. I have a few old macs with which I have used these kernels to get Linux installed and running (and I thank you all for that)... currently a trio of Powerbook 1400's, (166, 133 and 117-overclocked to 133) each running Debian (one Sarge, one Etch and one Lenny/Sid). I have dabbled in a few other distros, but found Debian the most flexible in terms of stripping out the chaff and bloat to deal with the 64Meg RAM ceiling, but I am currently kicking around the idea of a knoppix-based system with a PB1400-tailored kernel and a framebuffer GUI xserver of some sort... although I have had nothing but problems with it. I also considered a custom-build, treating the system as more of an expanded-embedded device of sorts (for lack of a better description) to make it a capable internet appliance/basic kickaround machine since even with the old 603e, it is hardy enough to handle at least those basics.
Anyway, It looks like Debian is moving toward udev, and thus is fairly unusable past Etch, which has a bit of backward support and can work well if you are careful about APT pinning, etc... bit is still difficult to work even in Etch at that because of that new device-tree topology. I have tried patching 2.6 kernels for nubus with no success since I am not much of a programmer, and that difficulty is compounded by the special requirements of the old powerbooks (in addition to nubus there is TREX, SingerSound, media- bay, old pmud, etc). I would like to contribute, but am at a loss as to where to begin. I am not a programmer (I am a musician and amp-builder actually) but I dabble, and have time to sit around and compile, compile compile, so what I lack in technical prowess, I can make up for in experimentation time if given a few tasks to chip away at. I understand that the open firmware device tree is the problem because of the old-world closed-firmware ROM/Apple toolbox, which presents problems for hardware recognition and neccessitates a new installer hack (I use the MkLinux booter off my old Apple DR3 CD's). So are there any solutions being kicked around that I can perhaps work on? Maybe an emulated device-tree or some such? I remember an old Mac OS7 extension that I used to run called 'ROAM' which loaded the 4Meg Apple ROM into RAM , where it then could be either edited, replaced on-the-fly with another ROM, or just sit there for faster ROM access time (a'la shadowed ROM)... perhaps that is one path to take... at least in the boot process? I am just shooting in the dark at the moment. If anyone can offer any specific information on the problems and hurdles of porting 2.6 kernel to nubus/PB1400, I will be happy to brainstorm and see what I can do to keep the project alive. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc. Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop. Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX and a browser. Download your FREE copy of Splunk now >> http://get.splunk.com/ _______________________________________________ Nubus-pmac-users mailing list Nubus-pmac-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nubus-pmac-users
