3 ms·

Solaris could not run on RS/6000 as it had a completely different internal architecture, starting from the POWER (not PowerPC) CPU's, a proprietary IBM system b

Solaris could not run on RS/6000 as it had a completely different internal architecture, starting from the POWER (not PowerPC) CPU's, a proprietary IBM system bus and other proprietary, IBM made peripherals. Solaris was ported to the PowerPC architecture (PPC 601 only, I think) and required a PCI bus to run on, but it was a one-off act and more of a mere curiosity rather than a serious investment, and the Solaris PowerPC port was quickly abandonded. Solaris could run on a Motorola PowerStack though as the PowerStack was essentially a PC with a PPC 601/603 CPU and with standard PC components (e.g. you could install a USB PCI card and attach a USB keyboard/mouse but I do not think AIX 4 had readily available PCI USB drivers, not initially anyway).

atdrummond 4y ago
The initial point release could not run on the RS/6000. There are people who have successfully installed and used it in the following years; it does however require modifications and source that were created after the fact. I’ve personally installed Solaris on a PPC ThinkPad, which is even more different from a PowerStack than an RS/6000 is. My mention of the RS/6000 was mainly to point out something which Spijdar explicitly called out, which is that these PowerPC ports (which wouldn’t be on most PowerStacks anyway as everyone I know ran Unix on them) targeted the PrEP/CHRP platforms explicitly. So just having a PowerPC chip of the right family isn’t enough.
- inkyoto 4y ago
  > The initial point release could not run on the RS/6000. There are people who have successfully installed and used it in the following years; it does however require modifications and source that were created after the fact. I am curious about this. RS/6000's had had a microchannel bus and architecture until mid late nineties – when IBM started the transition onto the PCI bus in their RS6K workstations in the earnest (but not the servers), and – if my memory serves me well – the first few generations of new, PCI-based RS6k workstations had some hardware compatibility issues. Solaris also required Open Firmware to access the device tree and to boot up, and PReP proved to be a problematic replacement. > I’ve personally installed Solaris on a PPC ThinkPad, which is even more different from a PowerStack than an RS/6000 is. The PowerStack was effectively a standard PC with standard PC components inside, but with a PowerPC CPU and it came in a fancy, futuristic looking case which were the only two redeeming qualities / discerning features about the PowerStack. There was nothing else that was special about the PowerStack, and that was the point Motorola, Bull, Be and (to a certain extent) Apple and IBM were trying to make: we also make standard PC's, just like everyone else out there, that have a faster and a better CPU (PowerPC) compared to Intel CPU's. But then Motorola could not deliver, and IBM was not all that interested, and Intel dropped the Pentium Pro. Sun's own Ultra's 5/20/20/60 were, essentially, the same thing: a standard PC with a fancy CPU enslosed.
  - atdrummond 4y ago
    If you email me, when I’m back in the states in a week I can look through my notes about the previous such installs we’ve done, check my PPC software library and determine any modified or alternate software packages, and boot up my personal RS/6000 and run through the process myself again and fully document it. I am happy to share my findings regarding what all needs to be done to install Solaris on this particular system family.

atdrummond 4y ago

The initial point release could not run on the RS/6000. There are people who have successfully installed and used it in the following years; it does however require modifications and source that were created after the fact. I’ve personally installed Solaris on a PPC ThinkPad, which is even more different from a PowerStack than an RS/6000 is. My mention of the RS/6000 was mainly to point out something which Spijdar explicitly called out, which is that these PowerPC ports (which wouldn’t be on most PowerStacks anyway as everyone I know ran Unix on them) targeted the PrEP/CHRP platforms explicitly. So just having a PowerPC chip of the right family isn’t enough.

inkyoto 4y ago
> The initial point release could not run on the RS/6000. There are people who have successfully installed and used it in the following years; it does however require modifications and source that were created after the fact. I am curious about this. RS/6000's had had a microchannel bus and architecture until mid late nineties – when IBM started the transition onto the PCI bus in their RS6K workstations in the earnest (but not the servers), and – if my memory serves me well – the first few generations of new, PCI-based RS6k workstations had some hardware compatibility issues. Solaris also required Open Firmware to access the device tree and to boot up, and PReP proved to be a problematic replacement. > I’ve personally installed Solaris on a PPC ThinkPad, which is even more different from a PowerStack than an RS/6000 is. The PowerStack was effectively a standard PC with standard PC components inside, but with a PowerPC CPU and it came in a fancy, futuristic looking case which were the only two redeeming qualities / discerning features about the PowerStack. There was nothing else that was special about the PowerStack, and that was the point Motorola, Bull, Be and (to a certain extent) Apple and IBM were trying to make: we also make standard PC's, just like everyone else out there, that have a faster and a better CPU (PowerPC) compared to Intel CPU's. But then Motorola could not deliver, and IBM was not all that interested, and Intel dropped the Pentium Pro. Sun's own Ultra's 5/20/20/60 were, essentially, the same thing: a standard PC with a fancy CPU enslosed.
- atdrummond 4y ago
  If you email me, when I’m back in the states in a week I can look through my notes about the previous such installs we’ve done, check my PPC software library and determine any modified or alternate software packages, and boot up my personal RS/6000 and run through the process myself again and fully document it. I am happy to share my findings regarding what all needs to be done to install Solaris on this particular system family.