OpenBSD/mac68k

OpenBSD/mac68k runs on many of the Motorola 680x0-based Apple Macintosh computers. It requires a Motorola 68020, 68030, or a 68040 processor. If you have a 68020, it will also need a Motorola 68851 PMMU (note that this is different from the 68881, which is an FPU).

A mailing list dedicated to the OpenBSD/mac68k port is available at mac68k@openbsd.org. To join the OpenBSD/mac68k mailing list, send a message body of "subscribe mac68k" to majordomo@openbsd.org. Please be sure to check our mailing list policy before subscribing.

There is currently no maintainer for the mac68k port.

Table of contents

• History of the port
• Current status
• Supported hardware list
• Getting and installing OpenBSD/mac68k

History:

The mac68k port of OpenBSD was derived from NetBSD/mac68k, and it used to support most of the same hardware as NetBSD. Although this port is still being supported, there has been no effort to catch up with recent NetBSD developments.

Current status:

Currently, all hardware listed in the supported hardware list section below should boot multi-user, and support enough of the on-board devices to be generally usable.

Supported hardware:

Supported machines

OpenBSD/mac68k now runs on a large part of the 680x0-based Macintosh computers. The kernel itself has support for the following processor combinations:

• 68020 with 68851 PMMU and 68881 FPU
• 68030 with 68882 FPU
• 68040 (not including the 68LC040)

The following Macintosh models are ``fully'' supported. This means that at least the SCSI controller, ADB (keyboard and mouse), and some sort of display will function on these models. On some of these machines, a PMMU and/or FPU are required as they are not provided by default with the machine.

• Macintosh II family: II, IIx, IIcx, IIci, IIsi, IIvx, IIvi
• Classic family: Color Classic, Classic II
• Centris family: 650
• some models of the Duo series
• LC family: 520, 550, LC II, LC III
• Performa family: 4xx, 600
• Powerbook family: 140, 145, 145B, 160, 165, 165c, 170, 180, 180c
• Quadra family: 610, 650, 700, 800, 840AV
• SE/30
• MacTV

Supported devices

• Internal SCSI bus and most SCSI tapes, hard drives, and cdrom.
• Internal sound.
• Most NuBus video cards (there have been some problems with some 24-bit color cards).
• Both internal serial ports.
• ADB keyboards and mice (adb).
• Ethernet cards based on the Natl. Semiconductor 8390 (Asante, Apple, and a few others) (ae).
• Quadra/Centris AV series' onboard MACE ethernet. (mc).
• Some ethernet cards based on the SONIC chip including internal Ethernet on many of Apple's non-AV Quadras/Centrises and PowerBook 500 series. (sn).

Partially supported systems

These systems lack support for the on-board frame buffer and/or adb subsystem, but can be used with a serial console:

• LC475
• Performa 475
• Quadra 605
• Quadra 950

Some systems are reportedly almost supported:

• LC/Performa575 (if 68LC040 replaced with a 68040)
• LC/Performa630 (if 68LC040 replaced with a 68040, and booted from an external SCSI drive)
• PowerBook 550c (but the internal SCSI drive is not supported yet)

Unsupported machines

• PowerPC-based Macs. Some of these are supported in the OpenBSD/macppc port.
• Machines based on Apple's IOP technology, including the Mac IIfx.
• Machines based on the 68LC040 processor. Unfortunately, the chip itself contains a major bug for which there is no software workaround available in OpenBSD.

Unsupported devices

• LCPDS ethernet cards.
• Apple Communication Slot (CS) ethernet cards.
• Any other NuBus card not listed above.

Getting and installing OpenBSD/mac68k:

The latest supported OpenBSD/mac68k release is OpenBSD 3.4. Here are the OpenBSD/mac68k 3.4 installation instructions .

Snapshots are made available from time to time, in this location as well as in a few mirrors. Here are the OpenBSD/mac68k snapshot installation instructions as well.