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NT4 was developed for PowerPC architectures (and MIPS, Alpha). A large portion of the NT4 source code was leaked [0]. I'm not saying the author used the NT4 sou

NT4 was developed for PowerPC architectures (and MIPS, Alpha). A large portion of the NT4 source code was leaked [0]. I'm not saying the author used the NT4 source code in any fashion, but I would imagine using such source would make life much easier to accomplish this task. Or the author clean room reversed engineered the bootloader. Or there is enough information out there to forgo the need for any internal knowledge of Windows code. The PPC code base was never explicitly targeted for Macs, but other systems from IBM/Motorola; but because it is a 'common' platform, the binaries themselves on the NT4 ISO do not need modification. And yes, you can find the source code on GitHub. In multiple repos! [0] https://www.neowin.net/news/exclusive-windows-2000--windows-nt-4-source-code-leaks/ https://www.neowin.net/news/exclusive-windows-2000--windows-...

temac 2y ago
Nt has a dynamic HAL layer to adapt it to platforms. I'm not sure if it was publicly documented, but in any case yes the source code leak don't harm that kind of port, even if you "just" have to write a HAL.
- sumtechguy 2y ago
  The current PE exe format supports it. As well as a few Alpha, a few ARM formats, a few MIPS format, Itanium and of course x86. The big part would be finding a compiler that spits out the right code. The preceding NE format also did a few variations.
aeyes 2y ago
Isn't this just drivers and a HAL? Microsoft built the OS in a way so that such ports would be possible so there should be some API documentation out there. The question is how complete it is because everybody just used the MS provided HAL.
hylaride 2y ago
Yeah, I think the only commercial OEM releases of NT that got sold were x86 and Alpha, though there was support for a handful of specific MIPS and PPC machines, I don't think there were any OEM sales of them with it. I do know that only x86 and Alpha had all the service packs released. There were also at one time internal MS builds on Sparc, but that didn't last long. Alpha did have some pre-release builds of windows 2000 that went out, but there was no final release. A fun fact is that because of where he worked at the time was a DEC shop, the creator of PuTTY originally created it because he got an alpha windows machine and there was no compatible terminal emulator for alpha NT. He supported alpha builds well into the 2000s and IIRC only dropped it as the machine he was using still for builds finally died.

temac 2y ago

Nt has a dynamic HAL layer to adapt it to platforms. I'm not sure if it was publicly documented, but in any case yes the source code leak don't harm that kind of port, even if you "just" have to write a HAL.

sumtechguy 2y ago
The current PE exe format supports it. As well as a few Alpha, a few ARM formats, a few MIPS format, Itanium and of course x86. The big part would be finding a compiler that spits out the right code. The preceding NE format also did a few variations.

aeyes 2y ago

Isn't this just drivers and a HAL? Microsoft built the OS in a way so that such ports would be possible so there should be some API documentation out there. The question is how complete it is because everybody just used the MS provided HAL.

hylaride 2y ago

Yeah, I think the only commercial OEM releases of NT that got sold were x86 and Alpha, though there was support for a handful of specific MIPS and PPC machines, I don't think there were any OEM sales of them with it. I do know that only x86 and Alpha had all the service packs released. There were also at one time internal MS builds on Sparc, but that didn't last long. Alpha did have some pre-release builds of windows 2000 that went out, but there was no final release. A fun fact is that because of where he worked at the time was a DEC shop, the creator of PuTTY originally created it because he got an alpha windows machine and there was no compatible terminal emulator for alpha NT. He supported alpha builds well into the 2000s and IIRC only dropped it as the machine he was using still for builds finally died.