Re: distro rec for beige g3 & sys reqs.

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Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 10:44:46 -1000

At Thursday 2004-10-21 03:19 "BK" <3vn5l9b02@sneakemail.com> posted
<383d8fee.0410210519.6a1e8419@posting.google.com> to
comp.os.linux.powerpc:

> Which Linux distribution would you recommend for a beige g3? I guess
> this is considered an Old World Mac. It sounds like Debian may be one
> of the few options. (Does Open Office work with Debian?)

Yellow Dog 3.? unless you have the Build-To-Order G3 with only an
UltraWide SCSI drive, in which case Yellow Dog 2.3.

> The g3 is currently running MacOS 8.1. Currently has 4 gig hard drive,
> 64 meg RAM, DVD drive.

with that config, you'll have to use a lightweight X-window manager, not
KDE or GNOME, and you will only be able to do a limited install of
Linux.

> Rather than reformatting the hard drive, I figured it would be best to
> get a second drive for Linux. I guess it could also be used to back up
> the original 4 gig drive. Would a 60-80 gig drive be enough?

You can run MOL (Mac On Linux), and share data between Linux and MacOS
IFF you have an HFS partition, whereas HFS+ is risky to mount in Linux
in R/W mode rather than RO. Although formatting a 4gig drive in Mac as
a single HFS partition (plus the umpteen little beginning-of-the-drive
partitions Apple Mac OS demands and creates) is inefficient due to
minimum allocation block size, it greatly simplifies running MOL.
On the Old-World-ROM Macs, you need BootX with a minimal Mac OS, though
if you want to run MOL, just go ahead and allocated that drive for the
Mac/MOL software use, and it can spin-down when not running MOL.
Configure BootX to auto-boot into Linux, then when you manually start
MOL, you can catch the Dialogue of BootX and manually click on Boot
MacOS to get MOL running. That way, upon crash or power outage, the
computer will come up running again in Linux automagically.

The full install of YDL is about 5Gig, and you'll want some space to
play, so an 80G drive will work well (mine has a 72G Drive for Linux
and a 4G drive for Mac/MOL)

> Also, how much RAM is recommended for running Linux and any popular
> applications, like Open Office? Is 64 meg enough?

Well, with a big swap space and lots of patience and a minimal window
manager you might be able to get something done. It's just not worth
the failure to spend the money to max-out the RAM on a *NIX system...
I cranked mine up to its' max of 768M of RAM and it never really swaps,
though it will park idle programs out on swap space and then fill RAM
with buffers and cache so that active applications are working in RAM
at RAM speed rather than slowing down for disk access, and the system
is fast even with only a 266MHz G3. Most Linux distros running KDE or
GNOME cite a minimum of 128Meg RAM... so the difference is between CAN
run, and runs *fast*.

> Thanks. BK
Here's a snapshot of my G3 webserver/fileserver with the KDE
windowmanager screenlocked with the slideshow screensaver running:

 10:24am up 14 days, 19:00, 5 users, load average: 1.38, 1.42, 1.50
100 processes: 98 sleeping, 2 running, 0 zombie, 0 stopped
Mem: 769524K av, 713788K used, 55736K free, 0K shrd, 160396K
buff
Swap: 262136K av, 55168K used, 206968K free 314976K
cached

So, if you subtract buff and cache from installed, there's about 300MB
full of code, less 55MB swapped out, leaves 256MB of active code space,
so would you really want to run a FULL install of YDL2.3 in less than
say 384MB? I wouldn't recommend it. YOU CAN run in less, if you like
thrashing your disk and waiting. You can install and run less software
than the full server/workstation/development install.

Your Milage May Vary

-- 
Copyright 2004 Angela Kahealani. All rights reserved without prejudice;
UCC1-207. All information and transactions are non negotiable and are
private between the parties. http://www.kahealani.com/

• Previous message: Gavin Sandie: "Re: distro rec for beige g3 & sys reqs."
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