since the os x/intel deal, i thought that my next computer would not be apple, but another ppc computer. this brought be here, but i have a few questions.

1. in terms of hardware, what is pegasos II? it almost seems like the pegasos II is just a motherboard, with a G4 cpu card. is this true?

2. i found a site that sells pegasos II's, but the g4 that comes with it is limited to 1ghz. is there a way to get a faster g4, or perhaps a g5?

3. is there usb 2 support?

4. does it come with a graphic card, or do i have to supply that?

5. does the MOL setup require an os x installation on a separate partition?

6. does the pegasos come with a case?

thats all i can think of right now, but if anyone else has any advice for someone switching from Apple PPC to pegasos ppc, please share it

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True. There are some G3 CPU module out of there as well.

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Not today.

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The built-in components only offer USB 1.1. However, any EHCI/PCI compliant USB 2.0 card will work.

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Any AGP v3.3/x86 graphic card should just work. However, you may prefer ATI Radeon because they are supported correctly by current OSs.

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not idea. I might be possible to use a 'file as a parition'.

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You can buy the motherboard only or a whole system.

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- You can still use the Mac OS X using MOL. However, MOL misses OpenGL/3D acceleration support
- Linux is well supported. It's possible to get an almost usable system .
- MorphOs is another alternative. However, it lacks a lot of software.

Bye

[ Edited by NicoPPC on 2005/6/6 19:32 ]

Hi macsrule,

Your questions are very interesting and the context even moreso. I'll see what I can do.

1. PegasosII is a mainboard, but their is a fully build version available called the "ODW". Check out www.pegasosppc.com for more direct info about the systems. Also, some resellers have prebuilt machines (such as our advertiser GGSData).

2. Currently, they are stuck at 1Gz models, but this may/will change in the future. They are currently using a "slot one" type card which would make an eventual upgrade to a current system possible.

3. The system has 1.1 installed, but you could buy a USB 2.0 card, depending on the OS you choose to run.

4. if just mainboard, you will need a gfx card. Keep in mind that while the pegasos is PPC, it uses cards designed for the x86 bios. (i.e., don't buy a mac radeon9000)

5. You could do it that way, you should also be able to use a file-disk.

6. Only if you buy an ODW or a dealer made system.

My advice for anyone completely new to the Pegasos is to go ahead and make a bunch of partitions (leave some unformatted), because there are more OS's being ported to it everyday. And you do NOT want to miss out on our own OS - MorphOS. MorphOS is light, small, and even makes MacOS9 look bloated by comparison. However, you will likely still want MOL or just Linux for many things. The other advice is to bookmark MorphZone.org and www.morphos-news.de, and you may want to also check out and bookmark www.pegasos.org.

@ macsrule

Welcome to MorphZone!

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Yes, it is a motherboard with a G4 CPU card. It is also available as a complete system, the Open Desktop Workstation (ODW).

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The single 1GHz G4 is the fastest CPU currently available. The CPU's comes on replacable CPU cards, so they can very easily be replaced. Everyone has been waiting for faster CPU's though, and hopefully some upgrades will be available soon!

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Yes, if you put a USB 2 PCI card in it!

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As mentioned above, you can either buy a motherboard+CPU bundle only, or you can buy complete systems.

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If you want to! As mentioned above, it depends on whether you buy a full system or not. There is no official *Pegasos only* case, like on the Mac.

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Well, you may find info about the Pegasos PPC (and ODW) here, info which includes technical specs and where to buy:
http://www.pegasosppc.com

The Pegasos will soon be carried by the big online store Directron.com. The price is then expected to come down compared to where it is today. I don't know when they will start taking orders, or how much it will cost, but feel free to ask them directly!

Most questions are covered already, but still I answer, too.

You could get preinstalled Pegaosos systems at several dealers, starting at about 800 EUR. MOS and Linux preinstalled.

The processor is upgradeable, but not with a g5. Currently there is only the G4 1 Ghz available. From June the 23rd we will get further information about upcoming devices (Freescale Technology Forum).
A 7447A card using higher clock speeds is more than likely. I would suggest to wait until the Freescale Technology Forum for further information.

Anyway, the PegasosII is a great piece of hardware, MorphOS is lovely, Linux does the necessarities, MOL gives the chance to use OS X (ppc).

All in all a very veratile high quality maschine at a reasonable price.

thanks for your replies! just one more question about emulation of os x. how good is os x emulation in morphos? does it come close to the speed of an actual os x installation?

EDIT: one more thing, i was looking through the screenshots, and noticed ambience and scalos. what are these?

[ Edited by macsrule on 2005/6/7 20:52 ]

OS X works only on top of Linux (MOL - Mac On Linux). You cant run MorphOS and OSX at same time.

but can you run os x binaries in morphos?

No. Only MorphOS and Amiga binaries are supported.

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Ambient and Scalos are Desktop enviroments. Ambient is the default desktop of MorphOS, Scalos is a replacement desktop for MorphOS which can be used instead of Ambient.

[ Edited by DJBase on 2005/6/8 1:37 ]

Which Radeon 9200SE is compatible? Can I use an AGP x8 card? Or does it have to be a x2 or x4 r something? Please tell me by tomorrow.

Just make sure your card supports 3.3V operation (AGP2X standard) which means it has the notch at the correct place to fit into Pegasos AGP Slot (rather in the front than in the back of its connector) - most of the 9200 cards support that while the 9600 series typically does not.

[ Edited by tarbos on 2005/6/8 0:39 ]

I use HIS Radeon 9200SE x8 without any problems.

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There are 3 AGP specifications:

1.0 that is 3.3V
2.0 that is 1.5V
3.0 that is 0.8V

All 2.0 cards (AGP 4x max bus speed) I know about is also 1.0 backwards compatible, and all 3.0 cards (AGP 8x max bus speed) I know about is also 2.0 backwards compatible.

AFAIK, the Pegasos AGP slot is of the 2.0 specification (but with AGP 1x maximum bus transfer, which no cards have *any* problems with at all), which is 1.5V. Hence, electronically, all AGP cards capable of using the 1.5V AGP 2.0 specification can be used in the Pegasos 2, which includes all famous ATI cards from the Radeon series (x86 PC).

Se this chart (look for "1.5V" in the "AGP Signaling" column):

https://support.ati.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=18872

(Edit: Hmm, some session stupidities there, go to www.ati.com -> Customer Care -> Knowledgebase -> Product Information -> Specifications, Characteristics and Comparisons -> ATI AGP Graphics Cards - AGP Compliance Details. Simple, huh! )

Then it's a matter of support in the Firmware (which shouldn't be a problem, I heard the other day that even Matrox cards are set up correctly(?)) and of course drivers in the OS, consult the OS documentation of your choice for more info about this.

When it comes to MorphOS, I believe that some experimental 3D drivers was beeing showed at the last PUSH event for the Radeon 9800 even ...

[ Edited by takemehomegrandma on 2005/6/8 8:39 ]

@takemehomegrandma

FYI AGP slot in pegasos is 1.0 specifiaction, hence 3.3V
I must add that low end Radeon 9800 are 3.3V compliant but high end one are only 1.5V.

Mac OSX is usable under MOL except when it comes to games because there's no hardware acceleration for the graphic part.
But concerning CPU power, it will be the same speed as if you were on a 1Ghz G4 Mac.

Seeing the current bplan situation, I think next gen machines will be 7448 equipped on 200Mhz FSB.

G5 is unlikely because there's no publically available communication controller for it.

But I think that with a bit brainstorming it could be possible to run a G5 on a nVidia nForce 4 ultra chipset (because AMD64 and G5 use the same Hypertransport)

Grandma:

Yeah, everything happens at PUSH. No for God's sake. BE THERE!

Third time's the charm.

Hello tarbos, and thanks for your prompt reply (I posted from work this morning)! I went into the city tonight after work and was unable to find the card anywhere in stock. One last place I went into had an empty 9200SE box. He's going to try to have it in for me by tomorrow evening (which is when I hope I'll be receiving my Peg), so fingers crossed.

@ Krashan

Cheers, now all I need to hope for is that the computer salesma will be able to have it for me by tomorrow evening.


@tmhg
Again, thanks for the detailed information. One thing I am spewing though: That chart does not contain anything on the 9250 (there were stockpiles of these at all the stores). But I am alittle short on the cash now, so probably best to wait a while

As for last years PUSH event details, I sit back and take note and crack open a beer

Hey Macs rule did you come here from the G5support.com forum? MorphOS is not a clone of Mac OS X, its a clone of the AmigaOS with added features and compatable to system friendly AMIGA applications as well as its own apps. Think of it as another OS like linux, OS X, Windows ect. It will run its own software only and several Amiga apps, but not Mac stuff (well not true you can run the morphOS port of basilisk and run classic apps for 68k macs by using system 7 and/or 8)

If your the same one fromg5support msg me on ichat using the AIM user name I have here. I will help you more to understand it.

never been to g5 support forums

and yeah, i understand the whole os concept. of my 6 computers, 3 have linux (gentoo), one os 9, and two os x. i'm no stranger to computers ;)

thanks for all your help! i'll probably wait until the next update of the g4 cpu card before making my purchase (1.8 ghz imac g5 is plenty fast for the time being) yeah yeah, i know its a downgrade, but i just can't part myself from the ppc arch! :D

Macsrule: Don't wait too long. The ODW has been priced at 799 USD!
Noone knows how long this will last.

With your ODW you can have another cute 'lil Gentoo box. :)

I also have a few newbie questions.

1: If dual CPUs where ever done, whould it be two cpus on one card, or two cards with one CPU on each?
2: Are there USB/Firewire headers on the motherboard for conecting to ports on the front of some cases, or is there just the ports on the back of the motherboard?
3:I know that the only way that OS X can be run via MOL, but what prevents OS X from being used by its self?
Also what are the limitatations of MOL? Will there be a big speed problem like running PearPC on an x86, or is it more like running WINE?
4: Finnaly, can morph OS compile and run programs that where written for linux/bsd/*nix?

Any help would be greatly apperciated. Thanks. :D

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There are both FireWire and USB headers on the mobo

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Apple isn't prolly willing to port it. It would requieres some drivers
as well.
Technicaly, I would say nothing: But try to get a licence from
Apple...

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the processing power (CPU/memory...) seems to be almost the same than
on a real Mac. However, graphics operations are really slower due to
no hardware OpenGl support.

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Well, yes and no.
Yes if dependencies can be satisfied. We currently have: SDL, an
'Unix' compatibility layer...

No, otherwise: no GTK, no QT, no X11.

Bye

@ Tenko

I think NicoPPC did a fine job answering your questions, so I will just complement some:

1) The Pegasos 2 has a single CPU slot, so my not so wild guess would be that both CPU's would have to reside on the same card.

2) Here is a post describing the headers: LINK