Thus spake Chris Wareham ("CW> ") sometime Today...

CW> Anthony Watters ("AW> " --*greywolf;) wrote:

AW> newbie questions

Welcome, newbie ;).

AW> I recently picked up a Sparc Station 5-170 (turbo sparc). currently it has a
AW> Plextor CDROM, 256 MB of ram, and a additional 10/100 Ethernet card.

Welcome to the world.  I've had one with 192MB running as my main do-all
for at least two years now.  Solid as a rock.  I run it headless, since
it works best that way.  I'm spoiled -- I can't go back to 8-bit graphics.

AW> I am interested in running linux and setting it up as a firewall.

*vwiiiiiipp!*  ...excuse me?  Sorry, man, but that just sounds like you
are asking for grief.  Firstly, linux firewalling is far more convolved
than NetBSD is.  IPChains/IPTables should have been wiped up off
the floor after it was the gleam in an eye and before it was conceived.

CW> IMHO running NetBSD on a 32bit Sparc is going to result in less grief
CW> than trying to run Linux on it. The SparcLinux port was unmaintained
CW> last time I checked, with former maintainer David Miller concentrating
CW> on the 64bit stuff. Unless you like Debian (I don't), then there's a
CW> limited choice on the distribution front. The Aurora project is aiming
CW> to produce a more user-friendly SparcLinux distro based on RedHat, but
CW> version 1.0 wouldn't install on my Sparc5 despite several attempts.

I remember installing DeadRat/SPARC once.  I was extremely frustrated
because even when I said explicitly that I did not wish to use the second
disk (that was where my solaris install lived at the time), it wiped out
my disklabel on that disk.  "Okay, you're not going to use it.  I'll
just make sure you can't use it."

"Gee, thanks a lot."  Needless to say, I ripped DeadRat off that system
faster than a professional car thief rips off a Honda.

AW> With that in mind, could someone recommend a specific linux distribution
AW> that works on a SS5-170? Maybe something with a friendly user interface
AW> perhaps?

Installing from /dev/zero is about as useful.

CW> The Turbo Sparc has always been a bit problematic on Linux - some people
CW> seem to get by OK, others have no end of trouble. On NetBSD I believe
CW> that the problems have been solved. As for "user-friendly", it depends
CW> on your definition of that term. I find NetBSD's installer and package
CW> tools to be *very* user friendly. Debian Linux is supposed to be user
CW> friendly if you can get it to install, and there are a number of GUI
CW> frontends available for the package tools.

Debian Linux is the ONLY Linux I will install on a non-professional
basis, if ever.

[Professionally, DeadRat looks like it's winning over all the rest,
so I'll probably have to learn that at some point if I am to continue
being employed in the technical sector.]

AW> I was thinking of possibly debian or openBSD or something else along those
AW> lines. Any installation advice would also be appreciated.

CW> OpenBSD and NetBSD on Sparc have little to choose between them. Security
CW> fixes in one soon percolates into the other, likewise for hardware
CW> support. The NetBSD mailing lists seem to be a little more active
CW> though, and don't suffer from the lack of manners that seem to afflict
CW> OpenBSD officionados at times. As for installation, with NetBSD it's as
CW> simple as downloading the ISO image from an official mirror site,
CW> burning to a disc and booting with it.

I swear by Net across multiple (well, two at the moment!) platforms; if
anything nicer than my IA32@1600 happens to cross my path, I'll probably
install it there, too.

[I really need to build for macppc and see how it goes :)]

AW> In addition, since I have multiple sparcs here,  I would also be interested
AW> in recommendations for an adapter that I can use to convert my moniter ,
AW> mouse/keyboard for use with a VGA moniter, ps2 mouse & standard 101
AW> keyboard?

CW> There are adapters to allow you to connect a typical PC monitor to a
CW> Sun, look for 13W3 adapters at a decent computer parts website. As for
CW> using PS/2 keyboards and mice, I think you could be out of luck.

There are converters to be had but they may co$t you ju$t a bit more
extra ca$h than you will be willing to $spend...

Besides, Sun kbs feel good.  The USB model 6s are nice, though I wish
there were USB model 5s!

				--*greywolf;
--
NetBSD: free yourself from Stallmanist thought!