Just for fun, you can download and install the MkLinux version which was the only really 'supported' release for that generation of machine at the time. It is a bit out of date, but can do much of anything you'd like to 'play' with it.
But really any distribution should work with the kernel patched for nubus at
www.sourceforge.net.
Here's a link:
http://nubus-pmac.sourceforge.net/
Enjoy! The video will be achingly slow for X windows, but you can use it for a server and the CLI with good results. Try and have at least a 2GB drive if you can to install and play with all the applications. The larger the drive the better, but I don't think the hardware of this machine will address more than an 8GB partition and it may be smaller (I can't honestly remember).
But I have run linux on this generation of machine. The first chance I got I put MkLinux on a 6100/80mHz in 1995-6 when it first came out. What a blast, but the download of 60+MB over a 28.8 modem was a killer.
The easiest thing will be to download an ISO image and burn it, then use the patched kernel to do the install with whatever bootloader is appropriate for your setup (different ones work with the HPV card if you have one or the onboard video).
Good luck!
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