> Hello--
> 
> I traded my PowerMac 5400 to a friend for her Performa 550

Heh

> so I could 
> run NetBSD without the agony of the Open Firmware boot. (Apparently 
> somebody can make that work, but it's beyond me.) Anyway, I have to 
> congratulate you guys on how well the Booter app works! That has got to 
> be one of the most painless installs of NetBSD I've ever experienced...

Man, I want to know what hardware you have in that 550. How big is the
internal HD, and are you using any external HD?

> I'm planning on running Apache on this little box. Everything seems to 
> be going pretty well so far, so I've only got one question, of personal 
> curiosity: How does NetBSD run so fast on such an old machine? I used 
> to run NetBSD-i386 (v. 1.5.2) at the office on an old 486/33 box, and 
> it was pig-slow, taking 10-15 minutes just to boot. It took a solid 24 
> hours just to compile Samba! (We replaced that computer with a Beige 
> G3--I got lazy and installed Jaguar on it.) This little Mac has the 
> same clock speed, and only 12 MB of RAM, but I'm to the login prompt in 
> less than two minutes!

(Mumbling something unintelligible about the industry never has
understood CPU speed issues.)

> My friend told me she had it upgraded, but she 
> can't remember the particulars. LowEndMac tells of a Sonnet upgrade 
> that changed the 68030 processor to a 68040, but at the same clock 
> speed.

It should not be hard to get a look at the motherboard, and a quick look
at the motherboard (and what's plugged into it) should tell.
Instructions with photos may still be available on the web, I think
low-end-mac should have links. The plastic back cover may have two
screws, but most people don't bother. There are two push-down latches on
the top edge, and it just swings back a bit, slides up and off. There
usually are two screws holding the metal backplate in, but with those
removed, you just pull the wire handle firmly back and the motherboard
slides out. Make sure you take precautions about static before you pull
it, of course, and be careful not to force anything.

You should be able to get a good look at the parts, they all have
recognizable numbers. There may be a 68882 FPU, it's a small, square
flat-pack (and I'd be interested to know if there isn't). If there is a
68040 upgrade, it will be in a daughterboard plugged into the Processor
Direct Slot. 

Of course, I take no responsibility if anything untoward happens should
you decide to take a look. Nobody's twisting your arm or anything. If
you feel uncomfortable about it, don't do it. (And I do mean this.)

> Is the Motorola processor that much better than the Intel? (No, 
> I'm not trolling,

Oh, come on, sure you're trolling. Nobody brings this kind of
irrelevant stuff up anymore. ;)

> it's just a pretty remarkable difference to me.) The 
> Performa, by the way, is running MacBSD v. 1.5.2.
> 
> Any thoughts on the ultimate NetBSD-Mac68K machine?
> 
> Gary Montcalm

-- 
Joel Rees, programmer, Kansai Systems Group
Altech Corporation (Alpsgiken), Osaka, Japan
http://www.alpsgiken.co.jp