Martin Bochnig wrote:
> Brian D. Horn wrote:
>> We were also looking at a ram disk image.
>
> Good morning!
> Sorry: You mean similar to how can can mount the linux kernel with qemu?
Correct.
The problem is that while the ODW is perhaps a stable platform for development,
the barriers to entry for anyone who is interested in the port is just too high.
If even a reasonable facsimile of Solaris can be made to run on qemu, you now
have the advantage of not needing to beg or borrow an obsolete hardware
platform
just to contribute to the OpenSolaris PPC community.
Further, you also no longer need an ODW as a baseline to port the PPC code to
other PPC platforms - whether the EFIKA, 405-based single board solutions, or
other boxes.
Since QEMU can emulate a PowerMac, this also increases the likelihood that the
Solaris port could be made to work on actual PowerMacs, by far the most common
PowerPC desktop readily available, with minimal extra effort.
I'm not saying it's possible without a lot of work, or for that matter that
it's
EVEN possible, but it should at least be investigated as thoroughly as possible
at this point as it would make life much, much easier for future users of and
contributors to OpenSolaris.
Any help we can get from members of the OpenSolaris community who have QEMU PPC
experience would be greatly appreciated.
William Kucharski
