Haiku’s BeBox Emulates Be Inc’s Dual‑Processor Computer

BeBox is a Haiku application that mimics the original Be Inc. BeBox, a dual‑processor machine that powered BeOS. The emulator runs both PowerPC 603 and 603e models and the earlier Hobbit prototypes that used two AT&T Hobbit processors. It emulates the processors, the MPC105 bridge, the interrupt and CPU control registers, the boot ROMs (bootnub.rom and bootmain.rom), the NVRAM and real‑time clock, the video cards (Number Nine GXE64 or Cirrus Logic CL‑GD5434), the Crystal CS4231A audio codec, AT keyboard and PS/2 mouse, four game ports, SCSI, IDE, floppy, four serial ports, a NE2000 Ethernet card, and a shared folder that appears as a SCSI disk. Some older ports, such as parallel, MIDI, infrared, and GeekPort, are not yet emulated.

To run BeBox you need the boot ROM files and a BeOS PowerPC CD image. In Haiku’s Open Machine preferences you set the ROM folder, select the boot ROM image, and put the CD image on a SCSI ID (ID 3 is common). Create a raw or QCOW2 disk image for installation, put it on another SCSI ID, and power on the machine. BeBox supports profiles, so you can keep separate settings for each BeOS release, including the boot ROM, the disk, and the NVRAM. Shared folders let you mount a Haiku directory as a SCSI disk that BeOS can read and write; changes return when the machine shuts down. Networking works with a virtual NE2000 card and optional port forwarding. The status line shows CPU load and speed, and the serial console can be opened for debugging.