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Anybody use mkLinux?

W

Workin'

Diamond Member
I'm in the process of setting up mkLinux on an old Power Macintosh (Performa 6115CD) computer I have, and would be interested in hearing from anyone who has used this OS. I can't use PPCLinux because the Performa is a NuBus machine and not supported, but mkLinux is *supposed* to be binary compatible with it. Anyone know how true that is?

If it makes a difference, here's the specs for the Mac - 60MHz PPC601, 72MB RAM, 2GB SCSI HD, SCSI CDROM, ethernet, etc.

I'm not sure what I plan to do with it when it is set up, maybe if Apache will run on it I will have it serve web pages on my LAN or something.

Any comments or pointers are welcome!
 
I havent used mklinux, but Id personally go with OpenBSD or NetBSD if they support the hardware. They get plenty of use on that platform.
 


netbsd requires the mac to have openfirmware. none of the nubus macs have this. your best bet is mklinux. best thing about these free unix oses is that if it's not binary compatible, then get the source and compile it.
 


<< netbsd requires the mac to have openfirmware. none of the nubus macs have this. your best bet is mklinux. best thing about these free unix oses is that if it's not binary compatible, then get the source and compile it. >>



Good call. I see the mk and think 68k processors 😛
 
Yeah, the Nubus Macs are the bastard children of the line. But mine was free (actually I have 2 but 1 has a G3 card and runs OS 9 quite well) so I thought I'd do what I could with it. Unfortunately all NuBus machines are incompatible with OS X 🙁

After some more hunting around I found a kernel that is supposed to work with the PPC port of Debian 2.2. After I get mkLinux working and download the Debian ISO's I'm going to give that a shot. It sucks installing from a 2X CDROM drive...

Hehe, I also have a 68k machine but it's a laptop and uses a 68LC040 which is the only CPU that won't work with any version of Linux. But that was free, too. It runs OS 8.1 with no problems so I can live with that.
 


<< Go with NetBSD. 😀 >>

Doesn't support NuBus Macs!

<< where are you getting these free macs? >>

From clients of my consulting business who switched to PC's and don't want to bother trying to sell equipment they see as worthless. Also from friends of friends, etc. who are in that situation.

<< and how do i get my hands on one? >>

Make some friends? 😉 or start an IT consultancy? 😉 It's surprising how much of this stuff is out there gathering dust.

Oh, and I have MkLinux up and running now - it was pretty easy. Even X works without having to pull any hair out of my head. Sound, too. The GUI (Gnome+Sawmill) is a little slow, but what can you expect at 60MHz? Actually it's quite a bit faster than on my old 60MHz Pentium.
 


<< The GUI (Gnome+Sawmill) is a little slow, but what can you expect at 60MHz? >>


you should seriously think about nixing gnome and using a wm like blackbox, windowmaker, or icewm.
 


<< you should seriously think about nixing gnome and using a wm like blackbox, windowmaker, or icewm. >>

I might, but after the machine is all configured I'll likely rarely use the GUI. I think it's going to just be an Apache server on my local network and a command-line plaything.

What's really cool about it is that with Linux, both my PC and Mac now look and work the same. Except the 60MHz Mac is a bit slower than the 750MHz P3...
 
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