PowerPC 6400/200 now what?

[***** charles]

Hi all,

I just got handed a PowerPC 6400/2000. The first time
it booted it came up to MacOS 8.6 that has bee modified
at least a little. It has 104M of ram and a 2.4G hd that is
about half full. It seems to have a lot of software on it but
the biggest problem is that when using it, it hesitates every
once in a while. Then it seems to catch up. I think it has
a virus. I thought I could wipe it and start from scratch
but I think this is one of the Macs that is too old to install
Linux on its' own. I have no cd's for it and I am just
starting on this journey. Any advice?

My end goal is to just browse the Internet and do light
emailing and wp.

thanks,
charles.....

[Keith Keller]

Post by ***** charles
I just got handed a PowerPC 6400/2000. The first time
it booted it came up to MacOS 8.6 that has bee modified
at least a little. It has 104M of ram and a 2.4G hd that is
about half full. It seems to have a lot of software on it but
the biggest problem is that when using it, it hesitates every
once in a while. Then it seems to catch up. I think it has
a virus. I thought I could wipe it and start from scratch
but I think this is one of the Macs that is too old to install
Linux on its' own. I have no cd's for it and I am just
starting on this journey. Any advice?

If it's a real PowerPC, then it's not too old for linux, even on its
own, if you can find a copy of quik, the OldWorld bootloader. Older
Debian distros included quik in their PPC installer (but IIRC didn't
configure it properly, so had to be done from the boot CD commandline).

--keith

[***** charles]

Post by Keith Keller

Post by ***** charles
I just got handed a PowerPC 6400/2000. The first time
it booted it came up to MacOS 8.6 that has bee modified
at least a little. It has 104M of ram and a 2.4G hd that is
about half full. It seems to have a lot of software on it but
the biggest problem is that when using it, it hesitates every
once in a while. Then it seems to catch up. I think it has
a virus. I thought I could wipe it and start from scratch
but I think this is one of the Macs that is too old to install
Linux on its' own. I have no cd's for it and I am just
starting on this journey. Any advice?

If it's a real PowerPC, then it's not too old for linux, even on its
own, if you can find a copy of quik, the OldWorld bootloader. Older
Debian distros included quik in their PPC installer (but IIRC didn't
configure it properly, so had to be done from the boot CD commandline).
--keith
--
(try just my userid to email me)
AOLSFAQ=http://www.therockgarden.ca/aolsfaq.txt
see X- headers for PGP signature information

where do I get the software and instructions on how to use it?

thanks......

[Anders Eklöf]

Post by ***** charles
Hi all,
I just got handed a PowerPC 6400/2000. The first time
it booted it came up to MacOS 8.6 that has bee modified
at least a little. It has 104M of ram and a 2.4G hd that is
about half full. It seems to have a lot of software on it but
the biggest problem is that when using it, it hesitates every
once in a while. Then it seems to catch up. I think it has
a virus.

Quite unlikely - that is more typical for a hardware driver glitch.
Deos it sport any third party hardware, like a RAGE128 video card?
(That series is known to have issues)

Post by ***** charles
I thought I could wipe it and start from scratch
but I think this is one of the Macs that is too old to install
Linux on its' own. I have no cd's for it and I am just
starting on this journey. Any advice?

PPC Linux 2000 will run just fine. Or BeOS :-)
Possibly some newer distro of, say, Ubunto, too.
Just remember that you must have a small Mac partition
with a boot loader and a minimized system on it.

I think BeOS will run without a bootloader.
I still have it on a EZ135 disk - but no 6400 any more :-(

[Wolfgang Koch (blackspion)]

On Thu, 26 Oct 2006 20:11:27 GMT, "***** charles"

Post by ***** charles
Hi all,
I just got handed a PowerPC 6400/2000.

Hi,

best choice to make yourself familiar with your 6400
would be <http://www.zone6400.com/>

also <http://www.lowendmac.com/ppc/6400.shtml>

You`ll find some information about linux at PPC there also

kr
Wolfgang

[***** charles]

Post by Wolfgang Koch (blackspion)
On Thu, 26 Oct 2006 20:11:27 GMT, "***** charles"

Post by ***** charles
Hi all,
I just got handed a PowerPC 6400/2000.

Hi,
best choice to make yourself familiar with your 6400
would be <http://www.zone6400.com/>
also <http://www.lowendmac.com/ppc/6400.shtml>
You`ll find some information about linux at PPC there also
kr
Wolfgang

I have visited both. One thing I noticed is the that hard
drive is pretty slow. No one talks about putting a faster
IDE drive in this computer which I assume is possible.
Can I put in say a 40G'er IDE from the pc world to
speed up this computer?

thanks,
charles.....

[Anders Eklöf]

Post by ***** charles

Post by Wolfgang Koch (blackspion)
On Thu, 26 Oct 2006 20:11:27 GMT, "***** charles"

Post by ***** charles
Hi all,
I just got handed a PowerPC 6400/2000.

Hi,
best choice to make yourself familiar with your 6400
would be <http://www.zone6400.com/>
also <http://www.lowendmac.com/ppc/6400.shtml>
You`ll find some information about linux at PPC there also
kr
Wolfgang

I have visited both. One thing I noticed is the that hard
drive is pretty slow. No one talks about putting a faster
IDE drive in this computer which I assume is possible.
Can I put in say a 40G'er IDE from the pc world to
speed up this computer?

Definitely, yes. The limit is 128 GB due to the ATA controller.
If you want more - or really faster - add an ATA133 PCI card to the box.

[Wolfgang Koch (blackspion)]

On Fri, 27 Oct 2006 14:57:26 GMT, "***** charles"

Post by ***** charles
I have visited both. One thing I noticed is the that hard
drive is pretty slow. No one talks about putting a faster
IDE drive in this computer which I assume is possible.
Can I put in say a 40G'er IDE from the pc world to
speed up this computer?

That should work if the drive is recognized
by apples HD Formater.

But remember the IDE port only supports
PIO mode 4 with 16.7 MB/s
so the speed wouldn`t increase incredibly fast


You only got 2 PCI-slots, so if you really want
to speed up und tune-up your 6400
best choice would be a USB2/FiWi/IDE-combo
card and a faster graficcard.

kr
Wolfgang

[***** charles]

Post by Wolfgang Koch (blackspion)
On Fri, 27 Oct 2006 14:57:26 GMT, "***** charles"

Post by ***** charles
I have visited both. One thing I noticed is the that hard
drive is pretty slow. No one talks about putting a faster
IDE drive in this computer which I assume is possible.
Can I put in say a 40G'er IDE from the pc world to
speed up this computer?

That should work if the drive is recognized
by apples HD Formater.
But remember the IDE port only supports
PIO mode 4 with 16.7 MB/s
so the speed wouldn`t increase incredibly fast
You only got 2 PCI-slots, so if you really want
to speed up und tune-up your 6400
best choice would be a USB2/FiWi/IDE-combo
card and a faster graficcard.
kr
Wolfgang

Any card suggestions that are "cheap"?

later.....