Introduction
Linux is a Unix clone written from scratch by Linus Torvalds and a host of hackers from across the Net. It contains code written by some of the best coders in the world. It has all of the features one expects from a modern fully-fledged Unix; multitasking, virtual memory, shared libraries, demand loading, excellent networking, and support for an extensive range of hardware.
The source code for the Linux kernel is distributed under the GNU public license. Linux was first developed for 32bit Intel Architecture (x86) PCs. However, it has since been ported to run on a range of processors and architectures, including Alpha AXP, Sparc, UltraSparc, ARM, m68k, Vax and various other architectures, including the PowerPC chips designed by industry giants Motorola, IBM and Apple.
These pages are in an amniotic state; I'm trying to work on them whenever I get time. Hopefully they'll split off from my personal pages when there's enough content.
There is a complete list of Linux ports maintained here.
The BeBox
The BeBox is a computer that was once manufactured by Be, Inc. You can read the datasheet (which includes a reasonably bad picture) and the technical specifications on their web site. Be no longer manufacture BeBoxes - and they have good reasons for not doing this. Basically, they wanted other hardware manufacturers to bundle their main product, the BeOS, with every PowerPC machine produced. However, these manufacturers were unlikely to bundle software produced by someone who was directly competing with them in the hardware market.
You can still buy BeBoxes second hand; indeed this is how I came across my own. However Be only made about 1,800 BeBoxes, I believe, and they are rapidly becoming collector's items, so you'll have to move fast. Be produced two models, which were identical in all but the processors. The first model was the Dual603-66, which was powered by two PowerPC 603 CPUs, each operating at 66Mhz. The second model was the Dual603-133, which had two PowerPC 603e CPUs. Each of these ran at 133Mhz, and in addition had twice the level 1 cache size of the CPUs in the Dual603-66. Both models of BeBox have been criticised for the lack of a level 2 cache, but it was a simple engineering choice: the MPC105 (the memory controller, bus arbitrator and PCI bridge) could either support a single CPU and a level 2 cache, or two CPUs. The performance gains due to a level 2 cache were vastly outweighed by the performance boost from a second CPU. The CPUs are soldered directly to the motherboard; one cannot swap them for faster (or, if you were perverse enough) slower processors.
The BeBox has some amazing features. Firstly, it has both the ISA and PCI busses which are so common in the x86 PC world. This means that one can plug any standard PC peripheral into it. It also has both ATA (IDE) and SCSI 2 disk interfaces, with an external SCSI 2 port. It has a standard AT keyboard interface, a standard PS/2 mouse port, four standard 9-pin RS232 serial ports, four MIDI ports (two in and two out, for two channels), two standard PC joystick ports and 16 bit sound line in and out through RCA phono plugs and stereo minijacks for a microphone and headphones. It also has some more strange IO abilities; three InfraRed ports (for IR device control, not IrDA) and something known as the "GeekPort".
Plus, the BeBox has one amazingly impressive feature that no other machine in the world has. On the front bezel of the BeBox, there are two bar graphs made of green lights. Each graph represents the amount of work each CPU is doing - you can tell at a glance whether the application you're running is taxing the machine's processors or not. As they say, "We don't understand the software, and sometimes we don't understand the hardware, but we can see the blinking lights!" Read about it all in the BeBox technical specifications.
Suffice to say, the BeBox is a hardware platform that every geek has some deep, instinctive urge to own. It is fast and powerful, almost every piece of hardware in the world works with it, and above all, hardly anyone in the world has one!
Linux for BeBox
Linux for BeBox is a port of LinuxPPC to the BeBox. Since LinuxPPC is now integrated directly into the main Linux kernel distributions, one should eventually be able to build a Linux kernel for the BeBox directly from the standard Linux kernel distribution.
Why should we want to develop a port of Linux for the BeBox? Two reasons spring instantly to mind: Firstly, the BeBox is a powerful piece of hardware, and would benefit from a hefty operating system like Linux. Secondly, Be have declared that they will no longer support the BeBox after 1999, so a replacement operating system must be found!
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© 2002 William R Sowerbutts <will@sowerbutts.com>
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Be is a registered trademark, and BeOS, BeBox, BeWare, GeekPort, the Be logo and the BeOS logo are trademarks of Be, Inc. All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. Yadda yadda yadda.