Thanks to everybody for all their feedback on this.
I have learnt an awful lot.

I'll let you all know how it progress... but to be honest Linux is looking like
the choice for this box..... We'll see....

many many thanks again,
Alan P



On Wed, 31 Jan 2001, J. Scott Kasten wrote:
> Just my $0.02 worth.
> 
> I have not looked into AX25, so I cannot comment on that.  However, I
> can comment on some kernel issues that may affect the end choice of what
> you use this box for.  The latest linux kernels, meaning 2.3.xx/2.4.x with
> their "improved" vm subsystem have not performed will at all on Suns with
> older MMUs.  Specifically, I tried running a 2.4.0-test5 kernel on a Sparc
> 1+ and it got so slow that it took 6 hours to unmount the swap space after
> 2 days of up time.  The 2.2.xx series seem useable.  So if you use this
> box for AX25, then use a 2.2.xx kernel.  (2.2.17 worked for me.)  I don't
> remember where I saw this, but someone had prepared a Linux/Sun3 boot
> image for use as a dedicated XServer.  Do a search on Google and see if
> you can find it.  That would be the best way to start since there is no
> distro for that that I am aware.
> 
> Now, if you want to improve the speed of the box, solid reliability, or
> anything like that, then I would side with Jeremy here and say that you
> will find NetBSD performs better for general use on these boxes.  I
> presently have a Sun 3/80 that I'm using as a caching DNS and NIS server
> for my home network.  I stuffed a large capacity SCSI drive into it, and
> set up cron jobs for it to mirror important data from other systems over
> night.  With the latest pmap kernel patches in place, this box has been
> rock solid and doing a very good job with about 3 months of up time now.
> 
> By today's standards, these boxes are hardly speed daemons, but they work
> reliably for tasks that are amenable to slow and steady...
> 
> On Wed, 31 Jan 2001, Jeremy Cooper wrote:
> 
> > 
> > 
> > On Fri, 12 Jan 2001, Alan Pearson wrote:
> > 
> > > I was wondering how NetBSD shapes upto the world of AX25, as I would like to
> > > use this machine as an AX25 sort of router for HAM packet radio.
> > > Not sure quite what yet, but silly questions here they are.
> > 
> > I'd love to say that NetBSD is the most wonderful OS for AX25 support, but
> > then I'd be lying.  As it stands NetBSD has no AX25 support.  So although
> > it certainly does make your Sun 3/50 usable in many ways, it doesn't make
> > it a very good AX25 router.  AX25 support was something I was dreaming of
> > implementing for all the BSDs, but I sorely lack the time to do it these
> > days.  I haven't heard much of anyone else doing it either.
> > 
> > Conclusion?  Run linux for AX25 support if that's what you need.  
> > Otherwise, NetBSD is a good choice.
> > 
> > -J
> > 
> > 
> >