Actual Apple documentation on Open Firmware

[rharder]

Well I finally found real Apple documentation on Open Firmware. It's a whole new world in there. I wish I had an Open Firmware emulator so I didn't have to reboot and hold down Option-Apple-O-F.

Anyway the base site is http://bananajr6000.apple.com/. I guess the banana jr 6000 is a reference to Bloom County. Wasn't that the comic that had the computer by that name?

There's even a BBEdit plugin, I guess, for Forth, the Open Firmware language, though I've no idea still on how to run such a program from a file.

So...what's the coolest thing you can do in Open Firmware? I've only experimented with a few boring commands.

I think there's a Mac OS X command line utility called nvram or something for storing values in non-volatile RAM.

-Rob

 

[Sighter]

i did not have the time to read a lot in the site you mention.
I do have a really nice command I use in the OF.
when prompt, you type :

set-defaults (then return)

and reset-all (after you hit return there you will see 2 little lines)

Flashing and resetting your machine PRAM and NVRAM

it saved my ass a few times already, this thing is doing a lot more
and the 5 times command+option+P+R

if you already new about this, I hope some others will profit from the info..

-Sighter

 

[dseltzer]

Actually, there is some documentation on OF on Apple's support site, though I don't think it's likely what you're looking for in terms of available commands, etc.

I did find a program (Open Firmware Password 1.0.2) that allows you to set a "low level" password in firmware and really enhance your security. You can download it from Apple's site. Check out Knowledge Base Documents 120095 and 106482.