===============================================================================

OpenHackWare started as a tiny BIOS that I wrote to launch Linux
under Qemu-PPC for PREP emulation.
Then I merged some work I some times ago, which was able to emulate
some OpenFirmware functionalities to be able to launch some other
Linux kernels.
I then tried to improve it to be able to launch MacOSX.

It's released under the GNU General Public License version 2

===============================================================================
STATUS:
PowerMac emulation:
* Linux:
 - Debian:
  x 3.0-r1:
    install & install_safe crash at startup
    install24 & install24_safe boot but installer crashes.
  x same goes for 3.0-r4.
  x same goes for woody.
  x sarge_netinstall installs with some limitations:
    if you don't have a DHCP server, expert installation type is needed
    linux 2.6 framebuffer driver is buggy, so you'd better use a 2.4 kernel
    top is buggy: it complains it can't read /proc/stat
     => this seems to be a known propcps bug:
        "old" top used with recent kernels misunderstand "/proc/stat" format.
    mol does not display anything
   + of course, Power3 & Power4 install crashes (unsupported opcodes).
 - Gentoo:
  x 1.2-r1 ISO CDROM boots and runs
  x 1.4.1 live CDROM boots with no problem.
  x 2004.1 & 2004.3 CROMs use Linux 2.6, then have frame-buffer problems.
 - Mandrake
  x 9.1 boots and installer starts
    Seems to get stuck during some hardware probe
  x 10.1 starts booting, using 2.6 kernel.
    Seems to get stuck somewhere inside the kernel.
  x 10.2 acts the same way.
 - crux
  x 1.3 boot but crashes: looks like an i386-only ISOFS bootable CDROM.
  x 1.3.1 uses Linux 2.6. I guess I'm stuck during hardware probe or
    it panics.
  x 2.0 seems to react the same way as 1.3.1.
 - knoppix
  x 2003-07-13_4 boots but does not detect the hardware the right way:
    it wants to use the VESA driver for X. If you are patient,
    after a few tries, it will fallback to fbdev driver.
    But then, the mouse is broken (uses the Microsoft serial protocol)
    and the keyboard is set to german.
  x k-mib-ppc-beta uses 2.6 kernel.
 - gnoppix hoary boots kernel 2.6, then framebuffer is buggy
   (colors are broken: should detect 15 bpp fb, but uses 16 bpp).
 - sysrescue boots kernel 2.6 so framebuffer is buggy
   (no output but the penguin).
 - Fedora Core 3 uses 2.6 kernel then ...
   ... seems to stay stuck into a small infinite loop inside the kernel.
 - Fedora Core 4 does the same.
 - unbuntu does not load: we don't find any bootable file on the HFS partition.
 - yellow dog 4.0 boots with 2.6 kernel.
 - rock linux: it boots and installs. Unfortunatelly, there seem to be some
   bugs in this distribution: I did select the minimal installation,
   then it forgot the "hfsutils" package and so yaboot did not install itself.
* NetBSD:
 - 1.5.2 fails to boot.
 - 1.6.1, 1.6.2 & 2.0 boot-loader loads but stops
  (missing available memory property).
* OpenBSD:
 - boot-loader cannot run because it's a gzipped ELF file.
  (tried 3.4, 3.5 & 3.6 macppc CDROMs).
* Darwin:
 - Darwin 7.01 and gnuDarwin 2.3 beta dont run: boot-loader crashes:
   seems to rely on special values in registers (or entry point is false...).
   looks like Mach-O embedded in XCOFF (?).
 - Darwin 6.02 and OpenDarwin 6.6.1, 6.6.2 & 20030212 load
   but seem not to like the OF tree as it's shown then crash.
 - Darwin 1.41, MacOS X 10.2 & gnuDarwin 2.3 boot
   but fail to mount the boot device. Seems related to the OF tree.
 - gnuDarwin 7.01 does not boot at all (cannot find the boot file).
 - OpenDarwin 7.2.1 does not boot (no boot partition found).
* MacOS:
 - Mac OS X 10.2: fails to mount its root device.
 - Mac OS X 10.3 crashes:
   seems to try to use Altivec instructions. As my CDROM is one for G5,
   this may be normal.
 - Mac OS 9.2 installation CDROM starts to load then crashes.
 - Ibook Restore CDROM loads & starts booting but crashes
 - Ibook OS Restore CDROM does not boot (Mac OS X 10.2):
   does not find any boot partition.
 - Ibook hw check CDROM boots but crashes:
   boot loader need its relocations to be resolved by OHW.
 - IMac G5 hw check CDROM does not boot:
   OHW is unable to find any boot file in the boot directory.
* BeOS:
 - not tested for now. Should not load, as fs may be ISOFS.

PREP emulation:
* Linux:
 XXX: to be completed
* Windows NT 4:
 - XCoff file loader merges to be done for Microsoft format to be understood.
* AIX:
 - The PREP boot image is well located at startup but it seems there are
   "magic" values to put in registers. Then, for now, it crashes.
   Seeking for informations about this executable format (starting with
   "AIXM").
   Tested 4.3.3 and 5.1. I don't even know if they would run on a real PREP ;-)

CHRP emulation:
 TODO (no support in qemu).

MVME emulation:
 TODO (no support in qemu).

Pegasos emulation:
 TODO (no support in qemu).

===============================================================================

Known problems:

---
RedHat make 3.79 is fully buggy. You may have several problems trying to build
OpenHackWare using it. You'd better update to make 3.80 or recompile it from
regular sources (ie not RedHat sources). Please don't complain if you aren't
able to build the BIOS using this package.

===============================================================================