Smith Family wrote:

>I've been running FreeBSD on my PCs for a while now, but have a huge load of
>Macs downstairs I would like to run NetBSD on. If at all possible, I would
>like to get the better choices running first. My question, then, is this:
>what would you consider to be the "best" (hardware compatibility, speed,
>etc.) to run NetBSD on?
>  
>

You want a Quadra, basically.  Fastest 68040 chips in Macs were 33MHz 
(630, 650, 800, 950 models) or 40MHz (840AV).  I've heard that the SCSI 
driver that NetBSD uses on the AV models is not as well developed 
though, so you might have slower disk throughput.  (Anybody know if this 
is still true?)  Some people swear by the Quadra 605, as it is 
physically small, even though it has only a 25MHz LC chip. 

When getting a 68040, you probably want a model with a full 68040 chip, 
not the 68LC040.  The LC variety lacks the math coprocessor (FPU), but 
can sometimes be upgraded to a full '040 if you know what you're doing. 
The reason is that the NetBSD build for FPU-less machines is still a bit 
experimental.

68040 rocks 68030 about 2:1 speedwise, BTW.  That said, some of the '030 
machines are still nice.  The IIci has nice expansion possibilities. The 
SE/30 is my personal favorite, even though it is at the low end of speed 
(only 16MHz...but some other 16MHz models are slower for other design 
reasons) it can accept up to 128MB RAM (!) and large SCSI drives.

If you get a 68030, you probably want a model that has a 68882 math 
processor (or find a way to add one), for the same reason as above.

I wouldn't consider a 68020 machine (I think there's only one model 
that's supported anyway), and the 68000 machines will not run NetBSD.


Tim

-- 
Tim & Alethea
www.ChristTrek.org