NetBSD/distrib/notes/mac68k/hardware

NetBSD/mac68k _VER runs on several of the older Macintosh computers.
About 4MB of RAM should be sufficient to boot, and the system can probably
be squeezed onto a 40MB hard disk by leaving off an unnecessary set or two.
To actually do much compiling or anything more interesting than booting, at
least 8MB of RAM and more disk space is recommended.  About 75MB will be
necessary to install all of the NetBSD _VER binary system distribution
sets (note that this does not count swap space!).  An additional 25MB or so
is needed for the binary X11 distribution sets.  Much more disk space is
required to install the source and objects as well (at least another 300MB).


Supported models:

	Mac II, IIx, IIcx, SE/30, IIci, IIsi, IIvx, IIvi,
	Performa 400/405/410/430, Performa 450, Performa 460/466/467,
	Performa 520, Performa 550/560, Performa 600,
	LC II, LC III, LC III+, LC 520, LC 550,
	MacTV,
	Centris 650,
	Quadra 610, Quadra 630, Quadra 650, Quadra 700, Quadra 800,
	Quadra/Centris 660AV, Quadra 840AV


Supported devices on all of the above systems include:

	Onboard SCSI bus and most SCSI tapes, hard drives, and CD-ROMs
	Internal sound--enough to beep on some machines, anyway
	Most basic NuBus video cards (there have been some
		problems with some 24-bit color cards and with most
                QuickDraw acclerators)
	Both internal serial ports
	ADB keyboards and mice (both Apple and a number of third party
		multi-button mice and trackballs are supported)
	Ethernet cards based on the National Semiconductor 8390 and the
		SONIC (DP83932) chips
		(Asante, Apple, and a few others--problems still
		 with Ethernet and many NuBus video cards).
	Onboard Ethernet based on the SONIC chip for Quadra-series Macs
	Onboard Ethernet based on the MACE chip for the AV Quadras.
	Comm-slot Ethernet may be working for some machines/cards.
	

If your 68030 system is not listed above, it may be because of a problem
with accessing onboard video, and it may still work with a serial console.
Some of the known ones in this category:

	Classic-series Macs 
	PowerBook 100-series and Duo-series Macs


If your 68LC040 system is not listed above, it is due to a problem with
floating point emulation (FPE) for this type of processor.  Machines in
this category include:

	Newer LC-series machines
	Newer Performa-series machines
	Some PowerBook 500-series Macs


What isn't supported, but often asked about:

	Macintosh IIfx:  This machine has unusual custom chips for the
		ADB and serial interfaces which make support for it
		difficult.  Work is in progress on this, though.
	Quadra 900/950:  These machines have I/O processor chips for their
		ADB interfaces similar to those used in the IIfx and thus
		face similar support problems.
	PowerPC-based Macs:  This will be a separate effort from the mac68k
		port.  The PowerPC is a much different processor as is much
		of the hardware inside these machines.  If you are
		interested in this, you might want to take a look at 
		http://www.mklinux.apple.com/.  In addition, there is
		also a NetBSD-powerpc port.  For more information, please
		see http://www.tools.de/~ws/NetBSD/powerpc.html.