Development

We need more developers! The biggest obstacle this project faces is a shortage of developer time. If you're interested in contributing to the project, please contact the mailing lists. Technical skills are not necessary.

Some information for developers may be found on the project page, particularly the issue tracker.

Current Projects

• Device driver modernization. Eventually we will need a modern libata driver to replace the macide driver.
• NuBus device drivers. Technical information on NuBus cards is appreciated.
• Multiple monitor support. This has always been a strong point of MacOS. Why can't we do the same for Linux?
• Apple Sound Chip support. I think there is a driver for this in NetBSD.
• Better DMA support. Code for a DMA-capable SCSI driver for 660av/840av has been contributed to NetBSD.
• Better FDD support. Support for SWIM floppy controller is patchy and lacks write support.

Technical Info

What info? On 68k Macs? Who are you kidding? Apple has not been very helpful about providing information on its 68k hardware with sufficient detail to write drivers or port an operating sytem — to say the least.

Apple's developer publications are the only official source of hardware information. Two books in particular are applicable to Macintosh models released up until 1990: The Guide to Macintosh Family Hardware and Designing Cards and Drivers for the Macintosh Family. After that, we have to depend on Apple's Developer Notes (for what they're worth).

Developers have managed to collect some additional technical information. This area will serve as an "information dump" for any and all bits of (public) technical info collected from around the web.

• 68k Mac basic specs

  Some basic machine specs.

• The Mac Almanac by James Olson

  This documents some of the low-level stuff under MacOS. It's current as of 1990 - in other words, perfect for m68k! :) This may be of use to anyone looking to write a new driver.

• IWM floppy controller info

  Provides technical info about the old 800k IWM floppy controller. It's written for the Apple IIgs, but the same might apply to the early Macs, including the II.

• Mac Plus technical info

  Anyone interested in porting uCLinux? Well here's a good start. Some of this information may also apply to the later Macs.

• Serial controller information

  This is an archive of GIF images scanned from info from Zilog about the 8530 serial controller.

• SCSI controller information

  Scanned info about the 5380 SCSI chip.

• VIA controller information

  Scans about the 6522 VIA chip.