Are there any members here that have a Radeon 8500 128mb VRAM video card that have an Apple bios for their video card that allows all 128mb of VRAM to be recognized by MacOSX, or more importantly, by MorphOS2.7?

I thought I remembered reading in these forums some time in the past that someone had such a setup with a 128mb VRAM 8500 working on MorphOS, in a G4 PowerMac.

Maybe I was wrong and it was someone using the PC bios in a Pegasos2, that allows them to recognize all 128mb of VRAM while running MorphOS, but the way I see it, it can't hurt to ask, on the outside chance that maybe one member here has learned the secret to unlocking all 128mb of VRAM of the Radeon 8500 while running MorphOS on a G4 PowerMac.

Anybody have this setup (any G4 PowerMac w/Radeon 8500 w/128mb VRAM and all of the VRAM shows up while running MorphOS), or know of anyone else that has such a MorphOS setup?



[ Edited by amigadave 16.03.2012 - 16:43 ]

> Are there any members here that have a Radeon 8500 128mb VRAM video
> card that have an Apple bios for their video card that allows all 128mb
> of VRAM to be recognized by MacOSX, or more importantly, by MorphOS2.7?
> [...]
> Anybody have this setup (any G4 PowerMac w/Radeon 8500 w/128mb VRAM
> and all of the VRAM shows up while running MorphOS), or know of
> anyone else that has such a MorphOS setup?

Discussions of the past indicate that this is not the case:

https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?forum=11&topic_id=7365&start=12
https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?forum=3&topic_id=7518&start=32
https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?forum=11&topic_id=7569&start=15
https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?forum=38&topic_id=7807&start=6

But maybe there's some MorphZone member who has achieved it but has been hiding so far or has achieved it only recently.

> I thought I remembered reading in these forums some time in the
> past that someone had such a setup with a 128mb VRAM 8500 working
> on MorphOS, in a G4 PowerMac.

At least I can't remember such has happened.

> Maybe I was wrong and it was someone using the PC bios in a
> Pegasos2, that allows them to recognize all 128mb of VRAM while
> running MorphOS

I think so.

Yes, the same card with its original bios would use all 128MB of VRAM in a Peg.
The 64MB limitation is a legacy of using Mac bios files as the Mac version of this card comes with only 64MB of VRAM.
If we had a way of recognizing and using PC video cards in a Mac, we might be able to move past this limitation.
I believe the Pegasos has code incorporated into Open Firmware to recognize X86 cards.

> If we had a way of recognizing and using PC video cards in a Mac, we
> might be able to move past this limitation.

True, as that's exactly what the limitation is all about, i.e. the PPC Mac's OpenFirmware being unable to execute x86 binary code.

> I believe the Pegasos has code incorporated into Open Firmware to
> recognize X86 cards.

True, the SmartFirmware of the Peg1/2 (and also the Efika 5200B btw) contains a basic x86 emulator.

So what we need to find is a programmer who can figure out how to hack the Mac bios file for this card, to unlock the extra 64mb of VRAM, and allow all 128mb of VRAM to be used when running MacOSX or MorphOS2.7.

Other people have hacked bios files for Radeon video cards, so it is probably possible. It is just a matter of finding someone who either has prior experience at hacking Radeon bios files, or just a programmer who understands how the bios files work and is willing and able to hack the Mac bios file for this card to allow it to use all of the cards VRAM.

Not an easy task to find such a programmer, but maybe not impossible.

Care to help me look for one Jim & Andreas?

[ Edited by amigadave 17.03.2012 - 09:38 ]

> Not an easy task to find such a programmer, but maybe not impossible.
> Care to help me look for one Jim & Andreas?

Based on his comment from November 2010, to me it looks like Trev could be the man:

https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?topic_id=7569&forum=11&start=17

If Trevor is right, that could prove useful not just to us but to G4 OSX users as well.

I just sent Trev, a PMail, in case he is not watching this thread. I hope he is still active here, or at least checking his PMail occasionally.

I don't know if he is willing to work on attempting to alter/hack an existing 8500 bios file, or write a new one from scratch, that can unlock all 128mb of VRAM for Mac users. I even offered to pay him and attempt to raise more money from other 8500 owners, to pay him for his work, if he thinks that he will be successful in creating the bios file we need.

I should have thought of this before I had you (Jim) re-flash my 8500 and send it back to me, but if Trev, or someone else is able to create a new bios file for the 8500, I should be able to re-flash my 8500 with the new bios file, while it is inside my G4 PowerMac MDD, now that it is already working for that computer.

We will just have to wait and see if Trev replies to this thread, or to my PMail. Thanks for remembering, or searching for that old 2010 thread Andreas.

[ Edited by amigadave 17.03.2012 - 18:47 ]

> I just sent Trev, a PMail, in case he is not watching this thread. I hope
> he is still active here, or at least checking his PMail occasionally. [...]
> We will just have to wait and see if Trev replies to this thread, or to
> my PMail.

According to his account information, he last logged into MorphZone more than a year ago. So sending him an email might be the better approach.

Andreas_Wolf,
Quote:

I have now sent him an email as well. Hopefully he will send me a reply. If he does not think that he is able to create the required modified bios file, hopefully he might know of someone else that can do it.