[bighead]

I have a PowerMac 8100 that I'd like to do some things with, possibly sell it, but I want to see what it is really capable of first. I am currently downloading the latest CD image of MkLinux from their server and had a few questions.

Is it as easy to install and support as, say LinuxPPC? I might want to run something like Apache and/or BIND on it and use it as a secondary server to the 9500 I have running OS X 10.2. I don't have much UNIX experience, but I am learning. Is software easy to download and compile for MkLinux? I haven't had a lot of trouble doing stuff under Darwin, but I know that MkLinux is a lot less common than OS X, so it might be a gamble.

I would prefer to run a BSD-based OS on it, but I know that FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD will not run on it (unless someone knows something I don't.) Any heads up on the BSD front for Gen1 Power Macs would be appreciated as well.

[bluedog]

You'll be fine to use it as a backup webserver and for bind and others. Downloading from source and compiling isn't too bad.

The Xwindows server and limitations of the graphics card make this really ONLY good for a server without a GUI. Use the command line for your configurations and you'll be fine.

The difficulty with the MkLinux is getting the partitions right. The utility isn't 'mac-centric' or friendly. If you understand enough about unix or disk partitions it shouldn't be too hard and once its installing you're fine.

Be sure to only used drives hooked up to the built-in hardware (drivers for anything else is almost non-existant). And watch which kernel you load in the boot process whether you are using the HPV (high-performance video card) or the built-in video with the adapter. These are minor issues and I've used a 7100 for a personal webserver for about 9months while I was building a better server. Now its set up as a backup (not automated or with mirroring).

It can perform admirably for basic web serving and services. I don't think MySQL or other database functionality will work well as they are more processor and disk intensive and will likely be slow.

Good luck and post questions if you have any difficulties.

[tooki]

Actually, the Linux kernel has been hacked such as to work on an 8100 (using any standard PPC Linux distribution you want). Follow these instructions. (My vote is to use Yellow Dog, which is a Red Hat clone, or SuSe, which is practically identical on PPC to the Intel version.)

tooki