From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from cthulhu.engr.sgi.com (cthulhu.engr.sgi.com [192.26.80.2]) by neteng.engr.sgi.com (950413.SGI.8.6.12/960327.SGI.AUTOCF) via ESMTP id KAA12542; Thu, 3 Apr 1997 10:53:18 -0800 Return-Path: Received: (from majordomo@localhost) by cthulhu.engr.sgi.com (950413.SGI.8.6.12/960327.SGI.AUTOCF) id KAA09771 for linux-list; Thu, 3 Apr 1997 10:52:41 -0800 Received: from gandalf.engr.sgi.com (gandalf.engr.sgi.com [150.166.61.44]) by cthulhu.engr.sgi.com (950413.SGI.8.6.12/960327.SGI.AUTOCF) via ESMTP id KAA09756 for ; Thu, 3 Apr 1997 10:52:39 -0800 Received: from gandalf (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by gandalf.engr.sgi.com (950413.SGI.8.6.12/960327.SGI.AUTOCF) via SMTP id KAA26978; Thu, 3 Apr 1997 10:51:57 -0800 Message-ID: <3343FC4C.41C6@j.c> Date: Thu, 03 Apr 1997 10:51:56 -0800 From: Jean-Michel X-Mailer: Mozilla 2.02S (X11; I; IRIX 6.2 IP22) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: lm@j.c, neteng@j.c, linux@cthulhu.engr.sgi.com CC: pittet@basel.sgi.com Subject: Linux on N64?? X-URL: http://www.ix.de/ix/artikel/E/1997/04/036/ Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-linux@cthulhu.engr.sgi.com Precedence: bulk This German Computer magazine claims to have seen a prototype of Linux on N64. I send a msg to confirm the prototype. Cheers JM -- http://www.ix.de/ix/artikel/E/1997/04/036/ > [iX-Minilogo] online [blaue Linie] > > [Aufmacher] Linux for Nintendo 64 > > Jürgen Seeger > > German version > > [Leeraum: 25 Pkt.] > > As early as Comdex fall 95 Netscape Corp. is said to have presented a > port of their Navigator to the Mips CPU based Nintendo 64 behind > closed doors. Talking to iX during the 1996 GUUG meeting, SCO's Doug > Michels, too, regarded alliances with Sega or Nintendo as a "real > option", especially as far as the postitioning of the Network Computer > against the wintel dominance is concerned. > > Insiders assume that Netscape's initiative failed because of a > personal animosity between young entrepreneur Marc Andreessen and the > very conservative Nintendo boss Hiroshi Yamaushi. SCO wasn't able to > follow up their plans, for they have to concentrate their resources to > the development of the 64 bit Unix they have codenamed Gemini. > > And, as has happened before, the internet community, strongly > committed to free software, put things to work, which were not > completed in the commercial field. At the end of last year an Italian > programmers' team got hold of the US version of N64 and a SGI Indy, > including the N64 card. Thus the team ported Linux/Mips to the play > station. Linux/Mips originally had been initiated by the music company > Waldorf (see iX 2/96) and, since the beginning of 1996, has been > ready-to-run on R4x00 CPUs. > > The main difficulties, according to the Italians, were caused by the > port of the X Window System to the N64 I/O hardware. At first they > ported the output routines to the dedicated co-processors. Although > N64-X11 is not yet really stable, legendary 500000 XStones have been > reached so far - running on an ordinary TV set, driven by high > frequency signals. Of course, the quality of the picture is much > better, if an AV cable and a high-quality monitor are used. > > Input media can be either the bundled console (see photograph above) > or a PC keyboard via adapter. The first solution requires a bit of > experience when entering text, because each character is represented > by a 3 degree angle of the analog stick. Internationally less > frequently used characters like the backslash were, therefore, not > implemented. > > Those who buy the optional N64 controller pack, can even save some > data, e. g. personal preferences or WWW hotlists. The prototyp > available at editorial deadline hasn't yet got a reliable network > connection, because there are still problems between the manually > soldered 100 MBit/s Digital 21140 chip and the 93.75 MHz of the R4300i > CPU. > > Like the former Mips RISC OS Linux/N64 works in bi-endian mode and, > therefore, can process data of the two possible byte orders. Yet the > kernel version 2.11 based Linux/N64 doesn't use Nintendo's 64 bit > address mode - which is not really a disadvantage, considering the 4 > MBytes of memory available. A further problem: Nintendo Kyoto > headquarter so far has steadfastly refused to build cards in > significant volumes or to include Linux/N64 in their distribution > channels. Siemens Nixdorf and Silicon Graphics, on the other hand, > have expressed "a lot of interest". "This project could lead to a new > deal in the desktop market", a speaker of the Munich based company > figured. According to their speaker, Luciano Aprilia, the Italian > developers, are going to make the software available under the GPL, so > it can be used free of charge. > > [unsichtbares Pixel] [Leeraum] [Leeraum] > > [iX] > > © Copyright by Verlag Heinz Heise GmbH & Co KG > Veröffentlichung und Vervielfältigung nur mit > Genehmigung des Verlags Heinz Heise GmbH & Co KG > > Letzte Veränderung am 624. März 1997 von js - Kritik, Anregungen & > cetera bitte an den iX-Webmaster -----8<----- Jean-Michel Pittet, jmp@sgi.com Phone:415-933-6149 FAX:933-0513 Silicon Graphics, Inc., 2011 N.Shoreline Blvd,9U-510, Mountain View CA 94043 http://www.sgi.com/Products/hardware/servers/products/Network.html