NetBSD/mac68k

About NetBSD/mac68k

NetBSD/mac68k is the port of NetBSD to Apple Macintosh computers that utilize the Motorola 68k-series processor. It should run on most Macintoshes with a 68040 or 68030 processor, and on Macs with a 68020 processor (provided that they also have a 68851 PMMU). For Macs using the PowerPC processor, please take a look at NetBSD/macppc.

The mac68k port was originally known as MacBSD. It began as a port of the Berkeley Networking Release 2 (more commonly known as Net/2) with 386BSD-0.1 filling in the cracks. This was running in a basic form in the late spring of 1992. About that time, it became obvious that 386BSD was a dead end, and NetBSD looked like the way to go. The initial NetBSD merge was into the 0.8 released sources. The first formal release of NetBSD/mac68k was as a part of NetBSD 1.0. NetBSD/mac68k was the first free OS to run on a 680x0-based Macintosh, and currently supports more of these systems than any free OS.

Development activity on NetBSD/mac68k continues at its usual pace (in other words, when the volunteers find time). Much progress has been made, however, and most desktop systems can boot to a usable state.

NetBSD/mac68k News

2008-10-13: NetBSD 4.0.1 released: NetBSD 4.0.1 has been released. More information is available in the 4.0.1 release announcement.

2007-12-19: NetBSD 4.0 released: NetBSD 4.0 has been released. More information is available in the 4.0 release announcement.

2006-11-04: NetBSD 3.1 released: NetBSD 3.1, the first maintenance release of the netbsd-3 release branch, has been released with binary distributions for 53 architectures. More information is available in the 3.1 release announcement.

2006-05-09: binary packages for m68k available

About 1000 packages built from the latest branch pkgsrc-2006Q1 by Greg Oster are now available at ftp://ftp.NetBSD.org/pub/NetBSD/packages/packages-2006Q1/NetBSD-3.0/m68k. The packages can be used on all ports based on m68k.

For some more details, see Greg Oster's announcement

2005-12-23: NetBSD 3.0 released: NetBSD 3.0 released with support for 57 architectures. More information is available in the 3.0 release announcement.

Archive of NetBSD/mac68k news items

Supported system models

Mac II, IIx, IIcx, SE/30
Mac IIci
Mac IIsi, IIvx, IIvi
Performa 400/405/410/430, 450, 460/466/467
LC/Performa 520, 550/560
Performa 600/600CD
MacTV
LC II, III, III+
Classic II
Color Classic
Centris 650
Quadra 700^[1]
Quadra 610, 650, 800
Quadra/Centris 660AV
Quadra 840AV
Quadra 630
Centris 610^[2]
Quadra 610 DOS^[2]
Quadra 605^[2]
LC 475, Performa 475/476^[2]
LC 575, Performa 575/577/578^[2]
LC 580, Performa 580/588^[2]
LC 630/630 DOS, Performa 630/631/635/636/637/638^[2]
Performa 640 DOS^[2]
PowerBook 170
PowerBook 160/165/180
PowerBook 550c

NetBSD/mac68k Information

NetBSD/mac68k FAQ
NetBSD/mac68k Meta-FAQ
NetBSD/mac68k Info Sheet
BSD/mac68k Booter Manual
NetBSD/mac68k Supported hardware
History of NetBSD/mac68k
Matthew Theobald's NetBSD/mac68k Installation Guide
Illustrated Installation Walkthrough by Erik Winkler

Mailing Lists

The NetBSD/mac68k mailing list, covering NetBSD's port to m68k based Macintosh machines :
[ subscribe | archive ]
The NetBSD/m68k mailing list, covering all of the m68k-based NetBSD ports :
[ subscribe | archive ]

Current Releases

NetBSD/mac68k 4.0.1 via FTP
NetBSD/mac68k 4.0.1 Install Notes
NetBSD/mac68k 4.0 pre-built binary packages via the NetBSD Packages Collection
NetBSD 4.0.1 release announcement
NetBSD/mac68k changes to 4.0
changes from NetBSD 3.0 to NetBSD 4.0
NetBSD FTP Mirror sites
NetBSD on CD-ROM