171–180 of 337 posts
Before figuring out how to tackle this project, I needed to know whether it would even be possible. According to a 2021 Reddit comment: There is a zero percent chance of this ever happening. Feeling encouraged, I started with the basics: what hardware is in the Wii, and how does it compare to the hardware used in real Macs from the era. I LOL'd
I almost think such projects are worth it just to immortalize comments like these. There's a whole psychology of wrongness that centers on declaring that not-quite-impossible things will definitely never happen, because it feels like principled skepticism.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
IOKit was actually built from the ground up for OS X! NeXT had a different driver model called DriverKit. I've never coded against either, but my understanding was they're pretty different beasts. (I could be wrong) That said, indeed, the abstraction layer here is delightful! I know that some NetBSD devs managed to get PPC Darwin running under a Mach/IOKit compatibility layer back in the day, up to running Xquartz on…
As I remember it, they were basically the same—but IOKit is C++ (with restrictions) because 3rd party developers didn't want to learn Objective-C. But that's a hazy, 20 year old memory.
I had been under the impression that DriverKit drivers were quite a different beast, but they're really not. Here's the layout of a NS ".config" bundle:
./CG6FrameBuffer.config/English.lproj
./CG6FrameBuffer.config/English.lproj/Info.rtf
./CG6FrameBuffer.config/English.lproj/Localizable.strings
./CG6FrameBuffer.config/CG6FrameBuffer_reloc
./CG6FrameBuffer.config/Default.table
./CG6FrameBuffer.config/Display.modes
./CG6FrameBuffer.config/CG6FrameBuffer
Now, on OS X:
./AirPortAtheros40.kext/Contents
./AirPortAtheros40.kext/Contents/_CodeSignature
./AirPortAtheros40.kext/Contents/_CodeSignature/CodeResources
./AirPortAtheros40.kext/Contents/MacOS
./AirPortAtheros40.kext/Contents/MacOS/AirPortAtheros40
./AirPortAtheros40.kext/Contents/Info.plist
./AirPortAtheros40.kext/Contents/version.plist
In addition to the incredible engineering work here the OP casually flexes by showing the development happening _in an economy class airplane seat_.
I can't imagine concentrating on a complicated project like that on the go, but I went back to stare in awe at said picture and I think its a train or bus. Still a flex.
Before figuring out how to tackle this project, I needed to know whether it would even be possible. According to a 2021 Reddit comment: There is a zero percent chance of this ever happening. Feeling encouraged, I started with the basics: what hardware is in the Wii, and how does it compare to the hardware used in real Macs from the era. I LOL'd
I almost think such projects are worth it just to immortalize comments like these. There's a whole psychology of wrongness that centers on declaring that not-quite-impossible things will definitely never happen, because it feels like principled skepticism.
In addition to the incredible engineering work here the OP casually flexes by showing the development happening _in an economy class airplane seat_.
That being said, that is absolutely amazing they brought a wii where ever they were going to write and debug this while traveling! That is dedication!
EDIT: nvm, there are multiple pictures of them traveling. First one looks bus like, second one look like an airplane.
> In the end, I learned (and accomplished) far more than I ever expected - and perhaps more importantly, I was reminded that the projects that seem just out of reach are exactly the ones worth pursuing.
Couldn't agree more. I've had my own experience porting something that seemed like an intractable problem (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31251004), and when it finally comes together the feeling of accomplishment (and relief!) is great.
I kind of want to try some project like this sometime, but I wouldn't even know where to start...
Before figuring out how to tackle this project, I needed to know whether it would even be possible. According to a 2021 Reddit comment: There is a zero percent chance of this ever happening. Feeling encouraged, I started with the basics: what hardware is in the Wii, and how does it compare to the hardware used in real Macs from the era. I LOL'd
Plus the internet basically equates cynicism with intelligence
There is somehow no concept of "ignorant cynicism"