Good uses for old Macs - Page 8

#1 Rhapsody · #57 October 29th, 2008, 08:04 AM

Which would be faster? My iMac G3 233MHz with 96MB RAM running Mac OS 8.6 with MacHTTP or it running linux with Apache (or some other hosting program)? If linux what distro would you recommend?

nixgeek · #58 October 29th, 2008, 11:51 AM

I would say it depends on how you're going to run it. Let's consider the following scenarios with only 96 MB RAM:

Scenario 1

iMac + Mac OS 8.6 + MacHTTP
iMac + GNU/Linux + Apache (no GUI)

Outcome: Possibly a tie. You'd have more options with Apache than with MacHTTP. However, OS 8.6 would give you a GUI as opposed to the command line in GNU/Linux.

Scenario 2

iMac + Mac OS 8.6 + MacHTTP
iMac + GNU/Linux + Apache (GUI)

Outcome: Mac OS 8.6 would be faster. Today, Xorg on GNU/Linux with a desktop environment would run quite sluggishly on only 96 MB RAM compared to Mac OS 8.6, even if you were only using a light window manager. That extra layer for the GUI on only 96 MB RAM would not leave enough for Apache to work with IMO. But again, you're faced with the limitations of MacHTTP.

None of this is scientifically precise, of course.

This is all just from my experience with the two operating systems.

As for a Linux/ppc distribution, Debian hands down. It just works on all PPC Macs that I've come across. Ubuntu, while much nicer, would not even install with that little memory and has been riddled with problems since 7.10. You can also try Yellow Dog Linux which is tailored for server use, but expect the packages to be even less current than those in Debian "stable".

You can also look into running Lighttpd (pronounced "lighty") instead of Apache. Lighttpd is much leaner than Apache and has been picking up steam in the last year or so. Lighttpd should be in the Debian repositories, so it's just a matter of pulling it with either aptitude or Synaptic (CLI and GUI, respectively).

CharlieJ · #59 November 3rd, 2008, 10:00 AM

I use a G3 at work as a web server/print server.

and I also use one at home as a media server which streams all my tunes to XBMC (xbox media centre)

G3's are great machines

P.S. Both G3's run MAMP and my stripped version of tiger (no dock, dashboard, and OpenGL effects e.t.c)

nixgeek · #60 November 3rd, 2008, 10:19 AM

BTW, I've installed Ubuntu 8.10 on my iMac G5 and save for two small issues, I was finally able to install it successfully. The first issue was that the optical drive was not detected upon bootup of the installation. That was solved by Alt-F2 to a command prompt and typing "modprobe -a ide-scsi", and once I hist Alt-F1 to go back to the installation, the installer was able to detect the optical drive after I chose the language and keyboard setup.

The second issue was post-installation where I needed to do the following:

Type "video=ofonly nosplash" at the boot: prompt in yaboot. That got me to the login screen, where I was able to login.
Launch a Terminal session after logging in.
Type "sudo -s" to become root.
Modify the "append=" line for the default boot option in /etc/yaboot.conf to read "quiet video=ofonly nosplash" (I added the nosplash option due to the fact that the boot splash does not work with XFS filesystems) and then save the /etc/yaboot.conf file.
Type "ybin -v" to finalize the changes to yaboot.

Aside from that, everything was detected properly and even Compiz Fusion was working with my RADEON 9600 graphics on the iMac G5. The only side issue is my M-AUDIO MIDIsport 2x2 which requires the firmware to be loaded each time. I've installed the midisport-firmware package but udev isn't loading the script to load the firmware. Still working on that one.

#1 Rhapsody · #61 November 12th, 2008, 06:45 PM

Could I make my iMac G3 233MHz a web server for multiple people if I upgraded it to max RAM? The site that is currently being hosted on it is here (I'm still working on it).

nixgeek · #62 November 12th, 2008, 06:57 PM

Absolutely. The amount of concurrent connections can be configured on whatever web server software you use. Even MacHTTP has a setting for concurrent connections to the server in its configuration file.

#1 Rhapsody · #63 November 13th, 2008, 08:59 AM

But will it be fast enough? Right now it runs slow in my network, I don't know how fast it runs outside of my network. Also are both memory bays in my tray-loader the same size (they look different)? I am actually thinking of having my own really cheap hosting service for beginning webmasters. It could be partially ad supported.

nixgeek · #64 November 13th, 2008, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by #1 Rhapsody

But will it be fast enough? Right now it runs slow in my network, I don't know how fast it runs outside of my network. Also are both memory bays in my tray-loader the same size (they look different)? I am actually thinking of having my own really cheap hosting service for beginning webmasters. It could be partially ad supported.

What are you using for your web server? I disabled DNS resolution on MacHTTP and it helped speed things up a bit. There's an option in the configuration file to disable that.