booting NetBSD/atari on TT030 with SMC_TT and EtherNEC

[demoscenes]

Wicked cool machine! The Atari TT is still one of my favorites. You sure got quite some TT-Ram  installed :)

[thebigconsultant]

Did you find me and PM me on the forum?? There is a TT on sale right now (and they are RARE) with a CD Rom, Hard Drive, lots of Ram and other cool stuff. I can send the link!

[Ryoga2K]

What are you? a Mac or a PC? I'm a motherf***n Atari and I own Both!

[trophy242]

@jimmypictures Well, you know, it's not only the great Atari TT, but also NetBSD, so... Is there any other option? :-)

[MagikGimp]

And all that memory checking waste of time can be skipped.

[thebigconsultant]

@MagikGimp This is true... The RAM test is not really the purpose of the countdown, the reason is to give time for hard disk spin up. Remember the TOS operating system built into this machine was per-loaded on ROMS, so OS starts prior to hard disk spin up hence _fast loading_ and stability.

In fact the TT was originally designed I believe to run UNIX alongside the funny Atari green desktop! I have this machine, and due to the hardware difference to PC its surprisingly fast.

[thebigconsultant]

But i'd also like to see if X-Windows runs on BSD 5? That would be impressive!!

[tsutsuii]

@thebigconsultant Old XFree68 server still works on TT030. Of course it runs NetBSD/atari!

[thebigconsultant]

@tsutsuii Hi, I have an Atari TT030 and I am quite interested in trying to run some kind of linux or unix 68k on it. I have not explored the options yet, and a simple Google search turned up confusing results. There appears to be a few options including a 68k linux, can anyone suggest where to start?

[tsutsuii]

@thebigconsultant NetBSD and Linux are different OS so need to google "NetBSD atari" etc. ;-)

"NetBSD on the Atari TT030" wiki written by David Ross has many good pages. ttp://netbsd-ataritt.wikia.com­/wiki/NetBSD_on_the_Atari_TT03­0

[judgewest2000]

@thebigconsultant Yo Biggy, I know it's been 3 months since you wrote comments but I was wondering why do you want to run NetBSD on a TT?

I do like doing stuff 'because I can', but knowing I can go to the shop and buy some simple cheap components which would wipe the flaw in terms of performance against an '030 CPU seems to me to put a spanner on such a project.

Do you have a project / reason in mind? I LOVE the old ST TT Falcon ranges, one of my first proper computers!

Cheers bud.

[thebigconsultant]

@judgewest2000 Hi Pal, I am now registed on Atari-Forum, and it is very active on there. You can see my thread "Atari TT early revision" and also I have a Blog which you can link to from my Atari-Forum signature

Its a proper computer, just like in the olden days. Not like the boxes of components that you can buy now, and great for hacking and learning about.. Plus very retro-cool!! Not well known, but actually with the right software, way in advance of PC's at the time, and can still surprise

[judgewest2000]

@thebigconsultant Very inspiring stuff. I think I need to raid some eBay sections and find a TT or a Falcon and see what I can do with it.

What's your name on Atari-Forum?

[thebigconsultant]

@judgewest2000 My name on the Forum is "Bid". I have posted instructions to easily fit a Compact Flash Card to replace the SCSI hard drive in the TT. This makes it lightening fast, and also the card can be loaded into a PC to read and backup files. The instructions are on the Forum and on my blog link. You can also post your request to obtain one on the Forum, and there might be a seller! But these machines are more collectable and rare than the big Amiga's as there are geeks still using them!!

[judgewest2000]

@thebigconsultant Just checking out your posts now.

Thanks for the heads up!