OpenFirmware (was: Re: [PLUG] Sun Ultra 10, Install Help)

[gabriel rosenkoetter <gr@eclipsed.net>]

On Tue, Jan 14, 2003 at 11:52:57AM -0500, Tobias DiPasquale wrote:
> (btw, Sun doesn't
> use OpenFirmware on Ultra 5/10's, Gabe; it's some broke-ass hacked-up
> Forth interpreter that does the job on the PROM for those lowly
> machines).

Huh?

That doesn't make sense to me. OpenFirmware is a term for an
industry (and cross-vendor; at least Apple uses it too, and boy
howdy do I wish I could buy an IA32 BIOS that used an OF interface)
standard for addressing and presenting devices.

So if it presents an OpenFirmware device tree (which it does) and
accepts OpenFirmware commands (it does), then it's OpenFirmware.

Now, if you mean that Sun doesn't use the same version of OpenBoot
(their internally-modified OpenFirmware PROM) on the Ultra 5s and
10s that they do on the Enterprise servers, I'm totally willing to
believe that (though I hadn't heard it anywhere before), especially
since Apple's floated no fewer than five (and, I think, more than
that) versions of their boot PROM (which they just call
OpenFirmware, confusing the situation worse).

-- 
gabriel rosenkoetter
gr@eclipsed.net

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