OS for macppc fileserver

[Vadatajs]

I'm setting up a fileserver (first time) for a lab at college. The machine is a rev A imac, and I need to run a *nix variant. My choices it seems are: Mandrake, Ydl, Net/openbsd, gentoo and debian. Mandrake is too bloated, it doesn't leave enough space on the drive, gentoo takes too long to set up so they are out. I've heard good things about debian. How does it compare to the bsd's?

If possible I would like to go with one of the bsd's as documentation is generally better, and I have more experience with FreeBSD than linux. Any suggestions? Also, what issues can I expect to run into? Do the bsd's have problems with new-world macs and adb raw keycode support (messed-up keymap)? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Originally posted by: Vadatajs
I'm setting up a fileserver (first time) for a lab at college. The machine is a rev A imac, and I need to run a *nix variant. My choices it seems are: Mandrake, Ydl, Net/openbsd, gentoo and debian. Mandrake is too bloated, it doesn't leave enough space on the drive, gentoo takes too long to set up so they are out. I've heard good things about debian. How does it compare to the bsd's?

If possible I would like to go with one of the bsd's as documentation is generally better, and I have more experience with FreeBSD than linux. Any suggestions? Also, what issues can I expect to run into? Do the bsd's have problems with new-world macs and adb raw keycode support (messed-up keymap)? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Hm, isn't ppc a freebsd supported architecture now?

I can't give any comments that come from experience, but generally, the weirder the machine, the better the chance NetBSD will work (well) in comparison to other OS's.

http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/mac68k/faq/
http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/mac68k/
http://www.macbsd.com/macbsd/jpw/adb.html

Give those a whirl I suppose...

 

[lowtech1]

Try Debian minimal install, no X.

 

[Nothinman]

Debian.

 

[Vadatajs]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Debian.

debian it is then.

Freebsd's ppc support is experimental at the moment, that's why I wasn't considering it.

 

[n0cmonkey]

One of the OpenBSD developers I talk to once in a while had an iMac. I think he dualbooted between OpenBSD and Mac OS X...

I dont see any reason to use anything but OpenBSD on most machines.

 

[Nothinman]

I dont see any reason to use anything but OpenBSD on most machines.

11,000 packages one command away from being installed is a pretty big one for me. Also the fact that the packages are very well maintained and not treated like 3rd party tools is nice.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

I dont see any reason to use anything but OpenBSD on most machines.

11,000 packages one command away from being installed is a pretty big one for me. Also the fact that the packages are very well maintained and not treated like 3rd party tools is nice.

I knew something like this was going to come along. As long as you realize my post was just my opinion, Ill play. Its been a while since we have a BSD vs. Linux (aka stupid opinion vs stupid opinion) debate

pro-police soon to be installed and enabled by default. Systrace installed by default. non-exec heaps and stacks and whatever else on mature platforums (non x86/ppc of course :|). PacketFilter is the best firewall out there. The author of sudo writing parts of the OS.

OpenBSD packages are just that, 3rd party applications. The OpenBSD developers dont write them. Port maintainers have the job of keeping the port up to date. The OpenBSD development team is much smaller than Debian's. Of course, they have more work to do too...

 

[Nothinman]

I knew something like this was going to come along.

6PM and I'm stuck at work bored, what do you want =)

I have yet to move my OpenBSD Ultra1 into it's firewalling position, but so far pf looks a lot more sane than iptables ever did. I'd like to get a little QOS kicking too, but I'm sure that'll be more complicated :/

OpenBSD packages are just that, 3rd party applications. The OpenBSD developers dont write them. Port maintainers have the job of keeping the port up to date. The OpenBSD development team is much smaller than Debian's. Of course, they have more work to do too...

I realize that but it sucks to have to fetch things that I consider basic parts of the OS now like bash, vim, screen, ntpd, etc. Maybe not ntpd, but it would be nice =) If it's a desktop it's even worse.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

I knew something like this was going to come along.

6PM and I'm stuck at work bored, what do you want =)

Its fine with me. You and I can keep it sane, and atleast interresting to me

I have yet to move my OpenBSD Ultra1 into it's firewalling position, but so far pf looks a lot more sane than iptables ever did. I'd like to get a little QOS kicking too, but I'm sure that'll be more complicated :/

If I ever bother getting this ultra 10 in shape, Im thinking of using it as my firewall. Seems kind of like a waste though.

ALTQ looks kinda tough. Im planning on looking at it more when I upgrade to 3.3.

OpenBSD packages are just that, 3rd party applications. The OpenBSD developers dont write them. Port maintainers have the job of keeping the port up to date. The OpenBSD development team is much smaller than Debian's. Of course, they have more work to do too...

I realize that but it sucks to have to fetch things that I consider basic parts of the OS now like bash, vim, screen, ntpd, etc. Maybe not ntpd, but it would be nice =) If it's a desktop it's even worse.

You have to download some of them in Debian too. Its a 2 minute download. A 30sec installation.

 

[Nothinman]

You have to download some of them in Debian too. Its a 2 minute download. A 30sec installation.

But it's a lot less work. I got used to Debian packages doing nearly all the work for me, almost everything has a working configuration out of the box that only needs a little tweaking, I'm having to setup everything from scratch with OpenBSD and it's a bit of a PITA for things that think should 'just work'.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

You have to download some of them in Debian too. Its a 2 minute download. A 30sec installation.

But it's a lot less work. I got used to Debian packages doing nearly all the work for me, almost everything has a working configuration out of the box that only needs a little tweaking, I'm having to setup everything from scratch with OpenBSD and it's a bit of a PITA for things that think should 'just work'.

That's the same thing I went through when I went from debian->netbsd, the fact that you need to make your own config files. I don't know how openbsd is with packages, but netbsd does install example rc files in /usr/pkg/share for packages.

The way I look at it, you make your own config files once, you keep them for years, no biggie, especially when it means I don't have to worry about relying on the OS supplying one I like. And I always plan on trying different OS's, sticking with one 100% is boring

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

OpenBSD packages are just that, 3rd party applications. The OpenBSD developers dont write them. Port maintainers have the job of keeping the port up to date. The OpenBSD development team is much smaller than Debian's. Of course, they have more work to do too...

I realize that but it sucks to have to fetch things that I consider basic parts of the OS now like bash, vim, screen, ntpd, etc. Maybe not ntpd, but it would be nice =) If it's a desktop it's even worse.

You have to download some of them in Debian too. Its a 2 minute download. A 30sec installation.

Debian doesn't have sudo, vim, nmap, tcpdump, screen, lots of things, by default.

 

[Nothinman]

Debian doesn't have sudo, vim, nmap, tcpdump, screen, lots of things, by default.

I know, but I'm already in dselect in the installation so I just select them too. Searching the package list and hitting + is simple.