Mac mini Os4

[sbeehre]

with a name like thepiratebay i just cant believe that there would be copyrighted stuff on there....

[Trev]

A more reasonable question would be, "How can I make my own bootable media?" The simple answer is you can't do it legally. The Open Firmware "second level bootloader," like the one written for U-Boot, is copyrighted, or at least not open source. (As an aside, I'm surprised. I've read that slb makes use of GPL code, but I don't know for sure.)

The good news is that if someone can reverse engineer the process and publish an open method for booting OS4 on Mac hardware, you're good to go in the US, as hardware for OS4 is no longer reasonably available. (Hey, the DMCA exemptions are good for at least some things.) You must, of course, own a copy of OS4. Now that the classic version is available, that shouldn't be an issue.

[persia]

That's why I posted the warning, lest people think it's some sort of Caribbean auction site...

:roflmao:

sbeehre wrote:
with a name like thepiratebay i just cant believe that there would be copyrighted stuff on there....

[downix]

Trev wrote:
A more reasonable question would be, "How can I make my own bootable media?" The simple answer is you can't do it legally. The Open Firmware "second level bootloader," like the one written for U-Boot, is copyrighted, or at least not open source. (As an aside, I'm surprised. I've read that slb makes use of GPL code, but I don't know for sure.)

While the OF for U-Boot might be copyrighted, OF itself is an open standard, with GPL implimentations available.  U-boot itself is GPL'd as well.  This arguement is moot as a result.

[ackerman76]

Is there any way of creating a CD on OSX or Linux that would be bootable on OS4?
Or if there would be an ISO file of OS4. How could I insert some files into that ISO file? Any chance?

Just some thoughts...

Martin

[bloodline]

ackerman76 wrote:
Is there any way of creating a CD on OSX or Linux that would be bootable on OS4?
Or if there would be an ISO file of OS4. How could I insert some files into that ISO file? Any chance?

Just some thoughts...

Martin

Does that make any sense?

Easier surely, would be to run AROS-Linux hosted on Linux on a PPC Mac...

[Hans_]

bloodline wrote:

Easier surely, would be to run AROS-Linux hosted on Linux on a PPC Mac...

That depends on what you're trying to achieve. If you're trying to run OS4 on a Mac Mini, running AROS won't help one bit.

Hans

[Trev]

@downix

While the OF for U-Boot might be copyrighted, OF itself is an open standard, with GPL implimentations available. U-boot itself is GPL'd as well. This arguement is moot as a result.

Open Firmware and U-Boot are two separate pieces of software that serve the same purpose. The OS4 ELF bootloaders (both named slb) are different, and unless they were written with GPL code, they're not bound by the GPL itself.

Regardless, there's nothing stopping someone from writing an open (or closed) replacement bootloader for OS4 on the Mac Mini, PearPC, QuickTransit/Dynamite, or any other platform. The lack of available PowerPC "Amiga" hardware is a boon in that sense.

[gdanko]

I don't think anyone will reverse engineer this thing. The people who are smart enough to do it don't care.

[Trev]

Writing the bootloader isn't the complicated part. The real effort is in writing device drivers to support the hardware on various platforms. There's a fairly dedicated OS4 crowd, though, so having an Open Firmware bootloader available may spur development.

Most likely, we'd see the same thing we saw with Amiga PCI busboards. At least with Macs, what you get per model is nearly universal--no worries about people writing drivers for hardware that's only generally available on second Saturdays at a rural Polish flea market.

[CHR74]

Ok.. downloaded and tried but no cigar. Check pictures:

[ackerman76]

You have to:

setenv boota-device cd:
boot cd:\\slb

Without setenv it won't function here neither.

Martin
BTW: Got OS4-Installer-CD running...

[CHR74]

ok now I get the booting options, I tried some but it hangs at "Installed mem: 128 Megabega", then if I press space or return it starts a whole bunch of loading modules or something but I never get the kickstart screen.



and this is what appears instead of the kickstart screen for some of those configs

[amigadave]

Great to see some progress on booting a Mac other than the MacMini.  I wonder which group of developers will succeed at getting their OS to run on a Mac, the OS4 group, or the MorphOS group?  I hope both succeed soon.  It is a shame that they don't work together or at least share information, instead of competing against each other.

It may be time to get my G4 PowerBook fixed soon.

[CHR74]

If I understand correctly one can set up a config file for a specific hardware configuration. So maybe if I can setup this file to run with this specific imac the kickstart screen should come up.

[Trev]

All, the Moana bootloader (or whatever it's called) was never made legally public, so you shouldn't be having this conversation here. Not trying to play forum police, but you know, someone will come along and kill the conversation eventually.

A more constructive conversation would be an overview of what needs to be done to implement a new bootloader, either as a standalone ELF executable, a standalone Forth program, or some combination of the two. If anyone knows the ins and outs of the OS4 boot process, now's the time to chime in.