Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Beatrice, Nebraska
Posts: 18490

http://www.opensource.apple.com/pro....0/release.html

Servers aren't accepting new registrations (you have to register to download) right now, and after reading the release notes it seems my computer won't run it. But . . . yay . . . I think.

Release notes:

Darwin/x86 6.0.2 Installation Notes (10/22/02)
----------------------------------------------

This is the first release of Darwin/x86.

Supported Hardware
------------------

IDE:
Only the PIIX4 IDE controllers have been found to work.
Attached devices must be UDMA/33 compatible or better.
Ethernet:
Intel 8255x 10/100 ethernet controllers are supported.
Video:
You must have a VESA 2.0 compliant video card. Almost all
modern graphics cards are VESA 2.0 compliant. However, emulators
such as vmware do not have VESA 2.0 compliant emulated video cards.
Successfully tested hardware:
All 440BX motherboards tested have worked with their internal
IDE controllers.
IBM ThinkPad A21m (with onboard Intel ethernet)
Known to not be supported:
All AMD and VIA based systems.


Preparing for Installation
--------------------------

To install Darwin/x86, you must retrieve the installation CD image from
http://www.opensource.apple.com/projects/darwin/. After getting the CD
image, you'll need to write that image to a CDROM. The installation
image is a bootable El-Torito ISO disk image.

When preparing your system to install Darwin/x86, it is a good idea to
disconnect all hard drives other than the target disk. This is to
prevent the accidental destruction of data on the wrong disk.

Installation
------------

After getting the installation CD, and your machine prepared to install
Darwin/x86, insert the installation CD into an IDE CDROM drive and turn
the machine on.
When booting off the CDROM, the first screen you'll see is a bootloader
prompt. You should not need to enter any flags to the bootloader, so
either press enter to continue, or wait 10 seconds and the boot process
will continue automatically.
After the boot process continues, you will see diagnostic output from
the kernel, and you will end up at an installation prompt. The installation
prompt will list the devices it found to potentially install Darwin/x86 onto:

The following devices are available for installation:
1. [ Vendor String ] /dev/disk0 [ size ]
2. [ Vendor String ] /dev/disk1 [ size ]
Which device would you like to install Darwin onto?

At this prompt enter the disk you wish to install Darwin onto (the
number of the disk to install onto; 1 for /dev/disk0, 2 for /dev/disk1).
You can also enter "shell" at this prompt and it will drop you into an
emergency shell.

After entering the disk you wish to install Darwin/x86 onto, the install
script will give you the following prompt:
1) Auto-partition the disk (Destroys all disk contents)
2) Manually partition the disk using fdisk
Choice:

If your disk is already partitioned, you will get a third option:
3) Use existing partitions

The first option (Auto-partition) will destroy the contents of the disk,
and create 2 partitions. A small partition for the booter, and the
rest of the disk will be the Apple UFS filesystem. This is the
preferred option.
The second option (Manually partition) will run the Darwin/x86 fdisk.
Use this only if you know which partition scheme you want.
This option can also destroy all contents of the selected disk.
If you choose this option, you must create at least 2 partitions.
The Apple Booter partition of at least 1MB in size, and of type 0xAB.
You must also create an Apple UFS partition of at least 480MB and of
type 0xA8.
The third option will let you install Darwin/x86 onto an already
existing partition. Make sure you already have the partitions from
option 2 set up. The install script will ask you which partition you
want to use for your booter, and which you want to use for your root
partition. All contents of the two selected partitions will be destroyed.

The install script will then install the booter onto the booter
partition, create a new filesystem on the root partition, and
unpack the Darwin/x86 packages onto it.

When the install script is finished, it will give you the choice
of rebooting or spawning a shell. Unless you have post-install
things you wish to do, you should reboot the system and remove
the install CD from the CDROM drive.

When Darwin/x86 boots for the first time, it will prompt you to enter
a root password. You must enter a password. Not entering a password,
or entering a blank password will result in an unusable system.

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The pinnacle of Failbot technology.

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Registered: May 2002
Location:
Posts: 8

Darwin has been out for a while. That is just a new version.

It's just the BSD based core of OSX, nothing too exciting.

I have installed a previous version of it, and it seems pretty much like a standard BSD distro.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: the heart of an awl
Posts: 3691

yes, i thought x86 darwin had been out for at least a year. Maybe it's new that apple is hosting the files or something. i have to admit that i don't pay much attention to darwin x86 development, since i already have a system that runs darwin, plus a spiffy window manager, too.

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Registered: Jul 2002
Location: St Louis, MO, USA
Posts: 9

darwin for x86 is a far cry from OSX for x86... but it's a step in the right direction. if apple continues to maintain its business position as a hardware company, its days are numbered.

just look at the good ol nerds in redmond - software makes $$. apple could then use its software sales to supplement the price of their hardware components, making them more competitive in the home PC market.

personally, i'd love it if apple would pull their heads out of their asses and make a serious threat to microsoft's dominance. competition is good for the consumer, after all...

-fuzz.

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Registered: Apr 2001
Location:
Posts: 16671

wow, all kinds of names I dont know in here.
welcome smart newbie type people.

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taste the fucking rainbow

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: the heart of an awl
Posts: 3691

i'm against apple opening up the OS to non-apple-tested hardware.

yes, i wish apple hardware cost less, but i'm glad it's not cheap generic shit that causes software/hardware conflicts on a regular basis. It seems that whenever a conflict between software and hardware arises, it's usually third party hardware, like a high-end audio or video card.

i don't tweak my OS, i hardly ever install new software. My computer works without any problems, and i sure appreciate that. I believe it makes up for the premium price (which nowadays isn't all that much more than competing PC hardware).

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: zanzibar
Posts: 10411

quote:

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Originally posted by fuzz
if apple continues to maintain its business position as a hardware company, its days are numbered.

just look at the good ol nerds in redmond - software makes $$. apple could then use its software sales to supplement the price of their hardware components, making them more competitive in the home PC market.

personally, i'd love it if apple would pull their heads out of their asses and make a serious threat to microsoft's dominance. competition is good for the consumer, after all...

-fuzz.

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location: WDM, IA
Posts: 2963

quote:

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Originally posted by DevilMoon

People have made these same predictions for almost 20 years.

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