The Most Perilous Bootloader Code

This article recounts the author’s experience in 1999 after acquiring an HP 9000/720 workstation and attempting to run the OpenBSD operating system on it. The piece details the hardware background, the challenges of porting the operating system, and the efforts of open-source community members like Michael Shalayeff and Matt Fredette. Despite facing hardware failures and a lack of documentation, the author witnessed the progress of the OpenBSD port to the PA-RISC architecture through testing and participation. This historical story offers tech readers valuable insights into early open-source software development and hardware porting, showcasing the persistence and collaborative spirit of the open-source community.