A mountain of old Macs

Andrew argonaut at softhome.net
Fri Jan 18 14:17:32 PST 2002


I'm about to undertake the same challenge myself. I seem to be a
magnet for old, almost-dead Macs. I've already been given a
Centris 610, an LC III, and a IIci, and I'll be receiving a
Quadra 840AV soon. Two have missing or dodgy hard drives, so I
picked up a couple of half-gig SCSIs at the computer show last
weekend for cheap. Once I get my hands on some terminators for
them, I'll have 4 Macs waiting to be resurrected. By the time I'm
done, I'll probably have spent more money than the machines are
worth (I need NICs, maybe an FPU) but I view it as more of a
learning experience than anything practical. But who knows...
maybe I'll end up with a decent router or print server.

(Anybody have any old terminators they want to get rid of? Each
drive takes two 10-pin "resistor pack" terminators. There is some
information on the drives at 
http://www.maxtor.com/Quantum/support/archive/maverick_scsi_support.htm
You can e-mail me directly, but I can't get back to you this
weekend -- I'm going skiing.)

I've done a little looking into m68k Linux and unfortunately I
have bad news for you, Lincoln. If all you have to work with are
original LC's and IIgs's, you're S.O.L. The problem with the LC's
is that their 68020 processor lacks a Paged Memory Management
Unit (PMMU), which m68k Linux requires. So unless you get a brain
transplant from Alan Cox and are willing to do some massive
hacking on Linux's memory management, you'll never get Linux up
on those machines. The same goes for NetBSD and OpenBSD. As for
the IIgs, that's even more hopeless; it's processor isn't even a
Motorola.

It's too bad. RCHS seems to have invested in exactly the wrong
kinds of Macs. Lots of other Macs will run Linux (to some degree,
at least). If you do come across other models in that pile of
Macs, or if anyone else is interested, here are a few links to
look at:

http://linux-mac68k.sourceforge.net/
This should probably be your first stop. The "Status" link will
take you to a page which lists various Mac models and whether or
not they can run Linux. And Section IV of the FAQ describes the
PMMU problem. If you have a Mac that can handle it, detailed
instructions for the install are here, too.

http://www.info.apple.com/applespec/applespec.taf
This is where you can get the official specs for Mac hardware.

http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/mac68k/index.html
http://www.openbsd.org/mac68k.html
NetBSD and OpenBSD on old Macs


On Thu, 17 Jan 2002 17:25:38 -0800
"Lincoln Peters" <lincoln_peters at hotmail.com> wrote:

> I just discovered that in the microscope lab at RCHS, there is
a table at 
> the edge of the room that is piled with old Macintosh LC's
piled on it, as 
> well as at least one Apple IIgs.  Nobody has been able to
explain them, so 
> I'm guessing that they got so outdated that they weren't very
useful anymore 
> (?), but nobody knew what to do with them.  Now, everyone has
either a Dell 
> or a newer Macintosh (an iMac or a G3; I've heard rumors that
someone has 
> G4's, but I've never seen them), and I'm still looking for
soemone who would 
> take Isildur (the donated Linux workstation).
> 
> I'm trying to think of something useful to do with them, and I
remember that 
> Debian supports the m68k architecture.  Isn't that what the old
Macintoshes 
> use?  Has anyone ever tried running Linux on an old Macintosh? 
I'm guessing 
> that if they could run Linux, they could do almost anything
that a Linux 
> system with similar Intel-based hardware could do.
> 
> 
>
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