BeOS on Power Mac

[aquajet]

Anybody know if BeOS 5 professional works on a 9600/350? The FAQ I've come across state it's unsupported, but might work. I'd like to get confirmation either way.

 

[bousozoku]

As far as I know, there was no PowerPC version past 4.5.x.

 

[aquajet]

As far as I know, there was no PowerPC version past 4.5.x.

Nah, version 5 is compatible with various PowerPC machines.

 

[RacerX]

I have BeOS 5... but the PowerPC Read Me says that it is BeOS 4.1. This is most likely because it was last updated right after Apple had moved to the G3 and killed off the clones.

As for the question of running it on a 9600... I would think that the main issue is making sure that you have a compatible video card (though the Mach V based systems may have logic board issues... these 9600/8600 systems weren't like any of the PCI Macs that came before them). From what I've been able to gather, the 9500/9600 series shipped with the following video cards:

9500 series (original): ATI Mach 64 with 2 or 4 MB VRAM
9500 series (alternate): IMS TwinTurbo M2 with 2 or 4 MB VRAM
9600 series (200, 200MP, 233): IMS TwinTurbo M4 with 4 MB VRAM
9600 series (300, 350): IMS TwinTurbo M8 with 8 MB VRAM​

TwinTurbo based cards were also used in quite a few Power Computing systems, so I would guess that the TwinTurbo based cards would be supported.

Once you start adding in cards past around 1999, you'll most likely have issues with drivers. Be was encouraging their users to move to the Intel platform and away from PowerPC, so I doubt they put any effort into supporting later video cards.


And all that is a guess, as I haven't gotten around to attempting to install BeOS on any of my systems. After I got the CD, I wasn't quite as interested in the BeOS as I was some of my other operating systems. I guess I should attempt to install it on either my PowerTower Pro or my 8500 at some point... just so I know more about it.

 

[bousozoku]

Nah, version 5 is compatible with various PowerPC machines.

Great, I was they'd offered me that. The last thing I got from them was that they were angry about Apple pulling the plug on the clones and the information associated with it and that there would not be a version 5 for PowerPC.

 

[aquajet]

(though the Mach V based systems may have logic board issues... these 9600/8600 systems weren't like any of the PCI Macs that came before them)

This is basically what I've gathered from reading the FAQs. BeOS was never fully developed or tested with the Mach V systems in mind. They say it "might work" however. It's surprising that I've been unable to find confirmation either way.

Guess I'll just have to try it. It's only a matter of a few bucks really. If it doesn't work, then maybe I'll look for a machine that is capable of running it without issues.

Great, I was they'd offered me that. The last thing I got from them was that they were angry about Apple pulling the plug on the clones and the information associated with it and that there would not be a version 5 for PowerPC.

I'm not familiar with the entire history behind that ruckus, but the BeOS 5 Pro installation disk I bought says "Version 5.0.3 for Intel and PPC". Then again, what 'X mentioned about 4.1 complicates matters even more. So basically, I have no clue what I've got at the moment.