NetBSD on LC040

[johnklos]

Hi, all,

If anyone out there would like to run NetBSD on an FPU-less LC040 regardless of whether it's the broken kind or not, I've compiled NetBSD 5.0.2 sets with m68040 optimizations and with -soft-float so that no FPU instructions are executed. 5.0.2 just came out a few days ago, so they're fresh. You can get everything here:

ftp://ftp.mac68k.org/pub/NetBSD/5.0.2/mac68k/

Feedback would be most welcome.

John Klos

[johnklos]

Just a note - I've renamed the directory to distinguish it from the non-soft-float m68040 optimized sets. The location is now:
ftp://ftp.mac68k.org/pub/NetBSD/5.0.2/mac68k-softfloat/

The m68040 optimized sets are here:
ftp://ftp.mac68k.org/pub/NetBSD/5.0.2/mac68k-m68040/

[ppuskari]

Man thanks so much for maintaining this for the older chips. Looks like I have yet another project to freak out the guys at work with. Maybe I'll haul in one of the Q950's to work and put this on it!

I'm assuming then all the normal BSD type tunings would apply here.. IE file descriptors, network tcp stuff, etc? Would love to show them the power of a properly tuned setup!

[johnklos]

Man thanks so much for maintaining this for the older chips. Looks like I have yet another project to freak out the guys at work with. Maybe I'll haul in one of the Q950's to work and put this on it!

I'm assuming then all the normal BSD type tunings would apply here.. IE file descriptors, network tcp stuff, etc? Would love to show them the power of a properly tuned setup!

Yes, all the normal BSD things apply. That's what's so wonderful about NetBSD - you get the exact same OS on your m68k Mac as you would on a brand new amd64 system or on your VAX. Leave no architecture behind!

Your Quadra 950 would make an excellent NetBSD system. I used to use one to route between five different ethernet interfaces... it's nice having a lot of slots. Plus the fact that you can have up to 256 megs is nice.

Let us know how it goes!

[ppuskari]

Okay, now I'm getting really too excited to try this.

Have any experience with NetBSD then on a Radius Rocket card? Would love to try this out on my Mac II with Daystar 040 Turbo card, then 4 Radius Stage II Rockets in the beast

Last time I yanked that machine out was to prove that 1990 tech could perform as well as our 2001 unoptimized mainframe Zlinux. 200 hits/sec to raw html pages.

[johnklos]

Okay, now I'm getting really too excited to try this.

Have any experience with NetBSD then on a Radius Rocket card? Would love to try this out on my Mac II with Daystar 040 Turbo card, then 4 Radius Stage II Rockets in the beast

Unfortunately, the last I heard, they aren't supported... They're more like an entire computer on a card, and while it doesn't appear to be horribly difficult, documentation is rare and I don't know of any NetBSD developers who have Radius Rocket cards... On the other hand, having four or five '040s in a single machine would certainly make doing bulk package builds a lot faster!

Last time I yanked that machine out was to prove that 1990 tech could perform as well as our 2001 unoptimized mainframe Zlinux. 200 hits/sec to raw html pages.

Most people don't get the idea behind "fast enough". One of my DNS servers and backup MX servers is a Jornada 728 partly because of its size and partly because it takes about three watts. People don't believe me when I tell them that it's a useful server doing important things - they think it's a toy! Really, it's about doing something reliably and reasonably quickly. I run Drupal on an Amiga, host about 500 domains on a G4 upgraded PowerMac 9600, and host these NetBSD 5.0.2 sets on a Quadra 630. If they work, they work.

[ClassicHasClass]

No one believes my little IIci is the apartment DNS. They think it's just another of my vintage projects. (Well, I guess it is also, but it's still the linchpin of the internal LAN.)