On Wed, 6 Sep 2000, Michael Jeffrey Tucker wrote:

> 
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2000 11:15:33 -0400 (EDT)
> From: Michael Jeffrey Tucker <mtucker@fas.harvard.edu>
> To: mklinux-setup@public.lists.apple.com
> Subject: Choosing a Unix
> 
> Hi all,
>   I was wondering if someone could offer some advice or point me at a FAQ
> about picking a UNIX distribution for a beige G3. I am currently running
> NetBSD on an 68k machine, and mklinux on a 7200. Now I am looking at
> setting up a machine that I will be using heavily under X. I'd say that
> rules out NetBSD because the graphics support seems minimal. I
> want something secure, I want something decently fast, and I want
> something that will work well with X applications am I out of luck? ;)

	That depends on your video hardware. If you're talking about using
the built in 2MB VRAM Rage II+ video chipset, X will not be that
snappy. Even at 8bpp, my XClaimVR (Rage Pro) add in card in my Beige G3
kicks some serious booty in X. By the time you let go of your mouse button
to start an X term, the term is already there. It seems quite fast to me,
but considering my other X boxes are MIPS DECstations and a 486, that
might slant things a bit.
 
>   Well, if anyone has a recommendation I would love to hear it, just drop
> me a line. To an extent this will be my experimental box, I will probably
> end up screwing it up royally, but as my desktop machine it'll be my
> little toy so it will be ok.

	If you can, wait for the XFree86 4.0x integration. As of now
Tsubai has XF86 4.x running in 24 bpp accelerated under the Rage Orion in
a G4. When the integration is finished, all the Mac and PC video cards
should be usable in macppc. (ATI Rage *, Voodoo *, Cirrus Logic *,
etc.) You might consider checking out the code base from XF86.org's CVS
server and try building it. Check the XFree site for more info. This will
probably be implemented into -current, so I don't know where that leaves
you.


	Chris