On Nov 12, 2007 6:00 PM, Shawn Walker <swalker at opensolaris.org> wrote:
> On 12/11/2007, Eric Wood <ewood at izoom.net> wrote: > > > > In the end, then, why not pick some Mac or IBM reference platform and > then > > worry about compatibility with others down the road? Is the present > "crisis" > > simply to pick the reference platform? I don't see why any should be > ruled > > out at this point. I'd say get it working well on, say, a Mac Mini, and > then > > branch out to include other PPC platforms as time and resources allow. > > I think the main "crisis" is that the only new hardware you can get > that's at least desktop/workstation level comes from IBM now that > Apple has stopped producing PowerPC-based systems. Basing your porting > work around a dead system seems doomed :) > > That's why I mentioned that I think the PS3, or IBM Power hardware > would be a better target. At least those wouldn't be "relatively > wasted" investments. > I thought the topic was picking an interim "reference" platform to continue moving forward on the port . Not pick the ultimate target platform. Who said the hardware had to be new? If that's the case, then among the criteria for selection of such a platform would probably be availability, information availability, and price -- and probably in that order. And for me, availability would trump everything else given the current situation, regardless. I'm not a fan of PS/3 because, although it has a debatable open architecture, it's costly relative to the used new world macs that are so readily available on eBay. I think I paid $200 (shipped) for a G3/450Mhz with 640MB memory 3 years ago. I can't justify spending another $600 on this. Since for me, at least, this porting is a hobby effort, I'm going to stick with the Mac I already own. You can pick whatever reference platform you like, I'll still plug away on the Mac. If the intent is to purchase a cluster of these and allow remote hacking then more power to you if that can get lined up. I'll still plug away on the Mac. My guess is a million other hobbyists will be happy it works on Macs. How many people are really running Linux on their PS/3? (I honestly don't know). And if I get too far ahead of myself, I'll try jamming my head against the IBM 43p/140 I have. Mark -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://mail.opensolaris.org/pipermail/powerpc-discuss/attachments/20071112/c649c7f1/attachment.html>
