OpenBSD/macppc runs on the PowerPC-based Macintosh systems from the
"New World" family, i.e. all Apple computers from the iMac to
the PowerPC G5 DC. It does not run on any unsupported
models.
A mailing list dedicated to the OpenBSD/macppc port is available at
ppc@openbsd.org.
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History:
The OpenBSD/macppc port started as OpenBSD/powerpc, and was initially
focused on Motorola computers with Open Firmware, and VI Power4e boards.
This port was eventually thrown away after OpenBSD 2.5 was released.
As a result there was no OpenBSD/powerpc port for the 2.6 and 2.7 releases.
In the meantime, a new port was started, focusing on Apple hardware, and
based on code from NetBSD/macppc, and after a lot of work from Dale Rahn,
OpenBSD 2.8 was released with a powerpc port.
As work on the port continued, it was renamed to OpenBSD/macppc for 3.0.
Support for the 64-bit G5 (running in 32-bit mode) was added in OpenBSD 3.9.
Current status:
Currently, all the hardware listed in the
supported hardware section below boots
multi-user, supports most, if not all, of the on-board devices, and is
generally usable.
The X Window System is supported on all MacPPC systems.
Most ATI graphics adapters and some NVIDIA graphics adapters are
supported by accelerated X servers.
The graphics adapters not supported by an accelerated driver can be
used by X in frame buffer (unaccelerated) mode, at the boot resolution
and color depth using the wsfb driver (installed by default).
Supported hardware:
Supported models
PowerPC-based Macintosh systems are divided into "Old World" and
"New World" systems, the difference being
the design of the system ROM.
Only "New World" machines are currently supported.
Known compatible systems include the following:
iMac (Revision A, B, C, D (iMac,1))
iMac (Late 1999 (PowerMac2,1))
iMac (Summer 2000 (PowerMac2,2))
iMac (Early 2001, Summer 2001) (PowerMac4,1))
iMac (Flat-Panel (PowerMac4,2))
iMac (17" Flat-Panel, 17" 1GHz (PowerMac4,5))
iMac (USB 2.0 (PowerMac6,1))
iMac (20" Flat-Panel (PowerMac6,3))
iMac G5 (PowerMac8,1)
iMac G5 (Ambient Light Sensor (PowerMac8,2))
eMac (ATI Graphics, 1GHz G4 (PowerMac4,4))
eMac (USB 2.0 (PowerMac6,4))
Mac mini (PowerMac10,1)
Mac mini (Late 2005 (PowerMac10,2))
Power Macintosh G3 (Blue & White (PowerMac1,1))
Power Macintosh G4 (PCI Graphics (PowerMac1,2))
Power Macintosh G4 (AGP Graphics (PowerMac3,1, PowerMac3,2 and PowerMac3,3))
Power Macintosh G4 (Gigabit Ethernet (PowerMac3,3))
Power Macintosh G4 (Digital Audio (PowerMac3,4))
Power Macintosh G4 (QuickSilver, QuickSilver 2002 (PowerMac3,5))
Power Macintosh G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors, FW 800, Mirrored Drive Doors 2003 (PowerMac3,6))
Power Macintosh G4 (Cube (PowerMac5,1))
Power Macintosh G5 (Early 2005, dual 2.0 + 2.3 GHz (PowerMac7,2))
Power Macintosh G5 (June 2004, Early 2005, dual 2.7 GHz (PowerMac7,3))
Power Macintosh G5 (Late 2004 (PowerMac9,1))
Power Macintosh G5 (October 2005, quad core (PowerMac 11,2))
iBook (PowerBook2,1)
iBook (FireWire (PowerBook2,2))
iBook (Dual USB, Late 2001 (PowerBook4,1))
iBook (16 VRAM (PowerBook4,2))
iBook (Opaque 16 VRAM, 32 VRAM, Early 2003 (PowerBook4,3))
iBook G4 (PowerBook6,3)
iBook G4 (Early 2004, Late 2004 (PowerBook6,5))
iBook G4 (Mid 2005 (PowerBook6,7))
PowerBook G3 (12", 13", 14" Rev. A and Rev. B, Bronze Keyboard (PowerBook1,1))
Brooktree 848/849/878/879-based TV tuner cards (bktr)
Other Devices
Serial Ports: While the modern PowerMacintosh series has no external
standard serial ports, many have an on-board modem which can be
removed and replaced with an adapter (several manufacturers of these exist)
which will produce a standard (and supported) serial port.
Backlight on lcd devices can be controlled through the brightness control
keys on ADB (laptop) keyboards, or through'wsconsctl display.brightness=xx'
(0 - 100) and 'wsconsctl display.backlight=xx' (0 or 100)
Any older Mac with a 4-digit part number (6100, 7300, 7500,
8500, 9500).
Older Apple PowerMac systems with a 601 processor or lacking
Open Firmware are not supported.
Older Open Firmware machines are not currently supported.
This is mostly due to lack of developer resources and limited
availability of hardware.
Built-in modems on most machines are not supported. In many systems,
the serial port the modem is attached to is supported, but the modem
itself is not supported.
Newer PowerBooks have an internal modem attached as a USB device, these
are not supported.
With the CD inserted in the cdrom drive, powering the machine on
while leaving the "C" key pressed will bootstrap the installation
procedure.
Alternatively, the CD can be booted at the Open Firmware prompt, with
boot cd:,ofwboot 7.5/macppc/bsd.rd
Mac OS based boot
If the system disk is shared with Mac OS, the ofwboot bootloader
and the bsd.rd installation media can be copied to the first HFS
or HFS+ partition.
Then the installation procedure can be booted at the Open Firmware prompt,
with
boot hd:,ofwboot bsd.rd
Multiboot/Shared HFS disks:
Having OpenBSD multiboot, or share, a disk with Mac OS X/Mac OS 9
is possible as long as the disk is first partitioned with the
Mac OS utility, Drive Setup (Mac OS 9) or System Disk
Utility (Mac OS X).
Unallocated space, or a partition not in use, must be left for OpenBSD's use.
Since OpenBSD is only able to boot from an HFS (not Mac OS X UFS) filesystem,
the first partition must be formatted as HFS or HFS+, not UFS, to be able to
boot OpenBSD.
Please refer to the installation instructions for more details on how to
install a shared disk.
Standalone (no Mac OS present) installation is also supported.
Boot device considerations:
Modern MacPPC systems have two IDE interfaces (called Ultra and IDE), each of
which can have two devices on them (ultra0, ultra1, ide0, ide1).
When multiple drives are present in the system, there are limitations
of which drives can be configured as the OpenBSD root drive.
Invalid configurations will not be able to properly
detect which drive is the root drive, so any attempt will either
prompt for a root drive or fail.
ultra0 is always a valid root drive.
ultra1 is valid as a root disk, as long as ultra0
is a hard drive, not a non-hard disk ATAPI device.
ide1 (Zip drive bay) is valid as a root disk if no hard drive is
located at ultra1,
ide0 (cdrom) is valid as a root drive only if no hard
drives are connected to the Ultra bus.
Known Problems
Laptop systems may power off within 2-5 minutes if the lid is closed
while running from battery.
Older iMacs can have a problem with the USB keyboard driver where
the first key pressed after boot will repeat endlessly. The workaround
is to press <SHIFT> first or to disconnect and reconnect the USB mouse
after the problem has occurred.
Other Features
<CTRL><CMD><POWER> on ADB (not USB) keyboards
will reset the computer.