Technical Q&A

HW 33 - Concerning Open Firmware and PCI (15-February-99)

Q: What are NewWorld and Open Firmware version 3, and are they related?

A: NewWorld is a project to reduce the size of the 4MB Mac ROM by removing the Tool Box code contained in that ROM. For details see the iMac Developer Note.

Open Firmware version 3 is a part of that project. When the Tool Box was removed from the 4MB ROM, a portion of the booting logic was also removed. Open Firmware version 3 also provides for booting using FCode drivers. Version 3 first appeared on the iMac and is being used on all future platforms.