PowerPC Reference Platform (PReP) was a standard
system architecture for
PowerPC
PowerPC (with the backronym Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC – Performance Computing, sometimes abbreviated as PPC) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) created by the 1991 Apple Inc., App ...
-based computer systems (as well as a
reference implementation) developed at the same time as the PowerPC processor architecture. Published by
IBM in 1994, it allowed hardware vendors to build a machine that could run various operating systems, including
Windows NT,
OS/2,
Solaris
Solaris may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Literature, television and film
* ''Solaris'' (novel), a 1961 science fiction novel by Stanisław Lem
** ''Solaris'' (1968 film), directed by Boris Nirenburg
** ''Solaris'' (1972 film), directed by ...
,
Taligent and
AIX.
One of the stated goals of the PReP specification was to leverage standard PC hardware.
Apple, wishing to seamlessly transition its
Macintosh computers to PowerPC, found this to be particularly problematic. As it appeared no one was particularly happy with PReP, a new standard, the
Common Hardware Reference Platform (CHRP), was developed and published in late 1995, incorporating the elements of both PReP and the
Power Macintosh architecture. Key to CHRP was the requirement for
Open Firmware (also required in PReP-compliant systems delivered after June 1, 1995), which gave vendors greatly improved support during the boot process, allowing the hardware to be far more varied.
PReP systems were never popular. Finding current, readily available operating systems for old PReP hardware can be difficult.
Debian
Debian (), also known as Debian GNU/Linux, is a Linux distribution composed of free and open-source software, developed by the community-supported Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock on August 16, 1993. The first version of D ...
and
NetBSD
NetBSD is a free and open-source Unix operating system based on the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). It was the first open-source BSD descendant officially released after 386BSD was forked. It continues to be actively developed and is a ...
still maintain their respective ports to this architecture, although developer and user activity is extremely low. The
RTEMS real-time operating system provides a board support package for PReP which can be run utilizing the
QEMU PReP emulator. This provides a convenient development environment for PowerPC-based real-time, embedded systems.
Power.org has a
Power Architecture Platform Reference (PAPR) that provides the foundation for development of
Power ISA
Power ISA is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) currently developed by the OpenPOWER Foundation, led by IBM. It was originally developed by IBM and the now-defunct Power.org industry group. Power IS ...
-based computers running the
Linux operating system. PAPR was released in the fourth quarter of 2006.
See also
*
PowerOpen Environment
*
IBM ThinkPad Power Series
References
{{Reflist
External links
*
tp://ftp.software.ibm.com/rs6000/technology/spec/ PReP Specification Version 1.1 and related documents*
tp://ftp.software.ibm.com/rs6000/technology/spec/jointhrp.ps The PowerPC (TM) Hardware Reference Platform an overview of
CHRP
QEMU PReP emulation for RTEMS operating system
PowerPC mainboards
IBM computer hardware