[gentoo-ppc-user] (Slightly OT) PC PCI cards in a Gentoo-ed Mac?

[gentoo-ppc-user] (Slightly OT) PC PCI cards in a Gentoo-ed Mac?

[Colin]

I've been thinking about creating a MythTV server.  I've got two Power 
Mac 8500's and a PowerCenter 180 (low-profile) lying around that I'm not 
using, but the add-in cards are PC-only (an IDE card and a TV tuner).

The Mac OS doesn't detect the ATA card, never tried the TV tuner.  When 
Gentoo boots, would it detect the cards when the PCI bus gets coldplugged?

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Colin

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Re: [gentoo-ppc-user] (Slightly OT) PC PCI cards in a Gentoo-ed Mac?

[Rasmus Wiman]

Colin <signofzeta@gmail.com> skrev:

> The Mac OS doesn't detect the ATA card, never tried the TV tuner.
> When Gentoo boots, would it detect the cards when the PCI bus gets
> coldplugged?

It might. I suppose cards that rely on an onboard BIOS (like gfx cards)
won't work, but others will. I tried an USB 2.0 card in my B&W once,
and it worked.


/Rasmus Wiman

Windsurfing is a great metaphor for life. If you can get in the harness
and foot straps, then you are a person who doesn't give up after the
first try. That goes a long way in this world.
- Björn Dunckerbeck

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Re: [gentoo-ppc-user] (Slightly OT) PC PCI cards in a Gentoo-ed Mac?

[David Holm]

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On Sunday 26 June 2005 22:08, Colin wrote:
> I've been thinking about creating a MythTV server.  I've got two Power
> Mac 8500's and a PowerCenter 180 (low-profile) lying around that I'm not
> using, but the add-in cards are PC-only (an IDE card and a TV tuner).
>
> The Mac OS doesn't detect the ATA card, never tried the TV tuner.  When
> Gentoo boots, would it detect the cards when the PCI bus gets coldplugged?

The TV tuner should work as long as it's supported by a Linux driver. The IDE 
card might be another issue. Normally they come with an x86 BIOS that needs 
to be executed on boot so the card is initialized properly before Linux 
drivers takes over. On the Pegasos for instance there is an x86 emulator in 
the firmware that can initialize cards with an x86 BIOS, Apple does not have 
this feature.
I'm not saying that it's not going to work but afaik it won't work in a Mac 
for the reason given above. You should get a card with an FMOD driver (a 
driver that runs in open firmware) a.k.a. a card made for Mac. One made for 
Sun/SPARC or any other platform which uses Open Firmware should work too.
It's too bad x86 has to live 30 years in the past and rely on stupid 
architecture-dependant BIOS:es. If they were using Open Firmware like the 
modern computer world all cards would be virtually platform independent.

//David Holm

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Re: [gentoo-ppc-user] (Slightly OT) PC PCI cards in a Gentoo-ed Mac?

[Colin]

David Holm wrote:

>On Sunday 26 June 2005 22:08, Colin wrote:
>  
>
>>I've been thinking about creating a MythTV server.  I've got two Power
>>Mac 8500's and a PowerCenter 180 (low-profile) lying around that I'm not
>>using, but the add-in cards are PC-only (an IDE card and a TV tuner).
>>
>>The Mac OS doesn't detect the ATA card, never tried the TV tuner.  When
>>Gentoo boots, would it detect the cards when the PCI bus gets coldplugged?
>>    
>>
>The TV tuner should work as long as it's supported by a Linux driver. The IDE 
>card might be another issue. Normally they come with an x86 BIOS that needs 
>to be executed on boot so the card is initialized properly before Linux 
>drivers takes over. On the Pegasos for instance there is an x86 emulator in 
>the firmware that can initialize cards with an x86 BIOS, Apple does not have 
>this feature.
>I'm not saying that it's not going to work but afaik it won't work in a Mac 
>for the reason given above. You should get a card with an FMOD driver (a 
>driver that runs in open firmware) a.k.a. a card made for Mac. One made for 
>Sun/SPARC or any other platform which uses Open Firmware should work too.
>It's too bad x86 has to live 30 years in the past and rely on stupid 
>architecture-dependant BIOS:es. If they were using Open Firmware like the 
>modern computer world all cards would be virtually platform independent.
>  
>
I remember trying the card in an HP Pavilion.  Instead of initializing 
the RAID BIOS, it gave an error.  However, in Windows, the two extra IDE 
channels were installed and the drives showed up just fine.  Anyway, 
I'll give it a shot.

<rant>
I agree, BIOSes are pretty stupid.  I'm a PC user most of the time (but 
I just bought a beautiful Lombard to take to school as my primary 
computer, which will have OS X/Gentoo).  All BIOSes do is just slow down 
your boot-up time.  First, the graphics card's BIOS loads, then your 
system BIOS loads and does all the boot-up tests, then your network 
card's BIOS loads, then your RAID controller's BIOS... oh god, that's 
the worst BIOS of all.  It takes like 30 seconds just to reach the 
bootloader, and that's with all the quick boot options turned on.  I 
just wish BIOSes followed some kind of standard so I could LinuxBIOS 
every PC I use.
</rant>

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