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Running Mac OS X Natively on Pegasos
Peter writes "The Pegasos is an interesting new platform, being one of the very few affordable non-Apple PowerPC systems. But to be a real alternative for me, I want it to run Mac OS X directly (without the need to use Mac-on-Linux or such). Have any of you Slashdot readers done this, and how much hacking did it take?" The Pegasos currently uses a G3/600, and ships with Debian Linux for PowerPC and MorphOS.
Mac OS X doesn't rely on the toolbox ROM, though. What it probably _does_ rely on is a version of OpenFirmware compatible enough with the version implemented on Apple's motherboards.
For those of you who don't know, the company behind Pegasos is focused on creating the ultimate "geek" machine. A number of Pegasos machines have been provided to various alternative OS developments, and it seems that the alternative OS market is a good niche that should allow this company to thrive.
from www.pegasosppc.com/operating_systems.php
"The following Operating Systems are in final stages of being ported to the Pegasos Platform and should be completed soon: AROS, Gentoo, Knoppix, NewOS, OpenBSD, QNX
The following Operating Systems are in the early stages of being ported to the Pegasos Platform: AmigaDE, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBeOS, OpenDarwin, Zynot
The following Operating Systems can be run on the Pegasos through emulation: Amiga OS 3.x, Mac OS 9, Mac OS X"
Personally speaking, as a fan of silent machines and a user of a PC that exclusively runs Linux, I am very tempted by this machine. I don't have to worry about the company going bust because by running Linux, I can easily switch hardware platforms should I need to, and I can play with Morphos and all this Mac stuff too.
I am not sure what the obsession with people prepared to spend an unlimited amount to avoid buying from Apple
s .html
From the UK Pegasos site [1] the bare motherboard appears to be $500 which seems somewhat high for a 600MHz G3 - adding disc/memory/peripherals + operating system this doesnt look like a very good deal given that I can by an 800MHz G4 eMac complete with OS-X for $799.
[1] http://www.pegasos-uk.com/english/products_pegaso
Wow... let's get up to date.
Apple's New World ROM based machines which have been shipping for quite some time now (think B&W G3 and the original iMac) are closer to CHRP type systems. A basic OpenFirmware ROM is what is on the motherboard. The rest of the old "Macintosh ROM" is loaded from disk for Mac OS
For more information, see: Apple Technical Note TN1167, The Mac ROM Enters a New World.
Darwin is roughly equivalent to the Mac OS X CoreOS and one would have to write a new platform support code and relevant drivers. One could copy over the parts from a Mac OS X CD after getting Darwin to work. However, to be legal, one would have to obtain a license from Apple that is different from the license that is on the current retail product. But it's not the ROM.