Windows NT on PowerPC ThinkPad

Windows NT 4.0 booting on a PowerPC system.

This is the real Windows NT 4.0, booting on real PowerPC hardware. This is not VirtualPC running on a Macintosh.

The hardware is an IBM ThinkPad 820, one of IBM's short-lived "Power Series" computers that were sold as "Personal Computers" rather than workstations. (I also have an "IBM Personal Computer Power Series" that is likewise, a PowerPC-equipped desktop.) After IBM discontinued the "Power Series" attempt, this same basic model of notebook was rebranded as an "RS/6000 Workstation Notebook". (Much as the "PC Power Series" desktops were really slightly-modified RS/6000-series workstations rebranded.)

Windows NT 4.0, all versions, on all discs, contain code not just for standard x86 PCs, but also for PowerPC, DEC Alpha, and MIPS 4x00 RISC processors. It will *NOT* boot natively on a Macintosh, as the hardware support chips and firmware on PowerPC Macs are made solely to boot the Mac OS. Likewise, this PowerPC ThinkPad will *NOT* run the Mac OS, because the Mac OS requires Apple's custom firmware.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• powerpc
• thinkpad
• windows
• nt
• 4.0

[ehurtley]

No BeOS, wrong firmware type.

Windows NT 4.0 didn't have a startup sound by default, and I didn't bother enabling one. (Not to mention, it would play after login, I didn't log in during the video.)

Alright, here are the operating systems known to run on this machine: Windows NT 3.5, Windows NT 4.0, AIX 4.1 through 5.1, a beta version of OS/2 Warp, a beta version of Solaris 2, plus a few Linux and Open/NetBSD distributions.

No Mac OS, no Amiga, No BeOS, no i/OS, no Haiku, no Plan 9, no Morph.

[beteigeuze1314]

it could run ppc AmigaOS , does it?

[ehurtley]

@beteigeuze1314 I have never tried. I believe AmigaOS requires *VERY* specific hardware, though.

[RBGHfan]

awesome im buying my own windows nt 4.0 too. i hate pirating isos off google

[gschjetne]

What about BeOS? Could it run that?

[44Bigs]

That, sir, is a neat piece of hardware!

[Mequa32]

Shame on Microsoft and Apple for abandoning the PowerPC platform to go exclusively Intel. Windows 2000/XP kernel ported to PPC (and yes, they had a prototype) could have made the computing landscape during the last decade look very different. At least MS will be porting Windows 8 to ARM. But what a missed opportunity for not porting the lightweight XP kernel sooner to ARM and runnable on almost all mobile gadgets.

[JesdaG]

Wow, very rare

[ehurtley]

@alonsog1997 Would I try it? Sure. But it won't happen. The 'Classic' Mac OS is too dependent on Apple-firmware. There are Mac emulators, but those require emulating the firmware, something this can't do in hardware.

If you mean OS X, then no. This system is WAY too slow for Mac OS X. Even the equivalent Apple systems of the time aren't OS X-supported, and for good reason! (I have gotten OS X to run on an equal-age Mac, it sucks.) Plus this system only has 16 MB of RAM, WAY too little for OS X.

[alonsog1997]

@ehurtley Yes, I know, but if someone did a hack similar to OSx86 (but for PC's designed for windows nt and for System 7), would you try it?

[ehurtley]

@Iisztnut Not possible.  Apple PowerPC hardware cannot run Windows NT for PowerPC. You can run Linux or BSD, though. (Both options use a 'bootloader' that is really a Mac OS application.