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@@ -0,0 +1,128 @@ +=============================================================================== + +OpenHackWare started as a tiny BIOS that I wrote to launch Linux +under Qemu-PPC for PREP emulation. +Then I merged some work I some times ago, which was able to emulate +some OpenFirmware functionalities to be able to launch some other +Linux kernels. +I then tried to improve it to be able to launch MacOSX. + +It's released under the GNU General Public License version 2 + +=============================================================================== +STATUS: +PowerMac emulation: +* Linux: + - Debian: + x 3.0-r1: + install & install_safe crash at startup + install24 & install24_safe boot but installer crashes. + x same goes for 3.0-r4. + x same goes for woody. + x sarge_netinstall installs with some limitations: + if you don't have a DHCP server, expert installation type is needed + linux 2.6 framebuffer driver is buggy, so you'd better use a 2.4 kernel + top is buggy: it complains it can't read /proc/stat + => this seems to be a known propcps bug: + "old" top used with recent kernels misunderstand "/proc/stat" format. + mol does not display anything + + of course, Power3 & Power4 install crashes (unsupported opcodes). + - Gentoo: + x 1.2-r1 ISO CDROM boots and runs + x 1.4.1 live CDROM boots with no problem. + x 2004.1 & 2004.3 CROMs use Linux 2.6, then have frame-buffer problems. + - Mandrake + x 9.1 boots and installer starts + Seems to get stuck during some hardware probe + x 10.1 starts booting, using 2.6 kernel. + Seems to get stuck somewhere inside the kernel. + x 10.2 acts the same way. + - crux + x 1.3 boot but crashes: looks like an i386-only ISOFS bootable CDROM. + x 1.3.1 uses Linux 2.6. I guess I'm stuck during hardware probe or + it panics. + x 2.0 seems to react the same way as 1.3.1. + - knoppix + x 2003-07-13_4 boots but does not detect the hardware the right way: + it wants to use the VESA driver for X. If you are patient, + after a few tries, it will fallback to fbdev driver. + But then, the mouse is broken (uses the Microsoft serial protocol) + and the keyboard is set to german. + x k-mib-ppc-beta uses 2.6 kernel. + - gnoppix hoary boots kernel 2.6, then framebuffer is buggy + (colors are broken: should detect 15 bpp fb, but uses 16 bpp). + - sysrescue boots kernel 2.6 so framebuffer is buggy + (no output but the penguin). + - Fedora Core 3 uses 2.6 kernel then ... + ... seems to stay stuck into a small infinite loop inside the kernel. + - Fedora Core 4 does the same. + - unbuntu does not load: we don't find any bootable file on the HFS partition. + - yellow dog 4.0 boots with 2.6 kernel. + - rock linux: it boots and installs. Unfortunatelly, there seem to be some + bugs in this distribution: I did select the minimal installation, + then it forgot the "hfsutils" package and so yaboot did not install itself. +* NetBSD: + - 1.5.2 fails to boot. + - 1.6.1, 1.6.2 & 2.0 boot-loader loads but stops + (missing available memory property). +* OpenBSD: + - boot-loader cannot run because it's a gzipped ELF file. + (tried 3.4, 3.5 & 3.6 macppc CDROMs). +* Darwin: + - Darwin 7.01 and gnuDarwin 2.3 beta dont run: boot-loader crashes: + seems to rely on special values in registers (or entry point is false...). + looks like Mach-O embedded in XCOFF (?). + - Darwin 6.02 and OpenDarwin 6.6.1, 6.6.2 & 20030212 load + but seem not to like the OF tree as it's shown then crash. + - Darwin 1.41, MacOS X 10.2 & gnuDarwin 2.3 boot + but fail to mount the boot device. Seems related to the OF tree. + - gnuDarwin 7.01 does not boot at all (cannot find the boot file). + - OpenDarwin 7.2.1 does not boot (no boot partition found). +* MacOS: + - Mac OS X 10.2: fails to mount its root device. + - Mac OS X 10.3 crashes: + seems to try to use Altivec instructions. As my CDROM is one for G5, + this may be normal. + - Mac OS 9.2 installation CDROM starts to load then crashes. + - Ibook Restore CDROM loads & starts booting but crashes + - Ibook OS Restore CDROM does not boot (Mac OS X 10.2): + does not find any boot partition. + - Ibook hw check CDROM boots but crashes: + boot loader need its relocations to be resolved by OHW. + - IMac G5 hw check CDROM does not boot: + OHW is unable to find any boot file in the boot directory. +* BeOS: + - not tested for now. Should not load, as fs may be ISOFS. + +PREP emulation: +* Linux: + XXX: to be completed +* Windows NT 4: + - XCoff file loader merges to be done for Microsoft format to be understood. +* AIX: + - The PREP boot image is well located at startup but it seems there are + "magic" values to put in registers. Then, for now, it crashes. + Seeking for informations about this executable format (starting with + "AIXM"). + Tested 4.3.3 and 5.1. I don't even know if they would run on a real PREP ;-) + +CHRP emulation: + TODO (no support in qemu). + +MVME emulation: + TODO (no support in qemu). + +Pegasos emulation: + TODO (no support in qemu). + +=============================================================================== + +Known problems: + +--- +RedHat make 3.79 is fully buggy. You may have several problems trying to build +OpenHackWare using it. You'd better update to make 3.80 or recompile it from +regular sources (ie not RedHat sources). Please don't complain if you aren't +able to build the BIOS using this package. + +=============================================================================== |