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B&W Server?

Shake 'n' Bake

Shake 'n' Bake

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Mar 2, 2009
2,186
2
Albany
Hello,

I read that someone in this forum has a G3 server. I was thinking that with the G3s being really cheap, I could also get a server going.

The only things that I need to know are what OS to get (i.e. Panther, Jaguar, etc.), will it work with Intel Macs, would it be functional (i.e. work with Leopard Macs and be fast enough) and would I be better off with an Xserve G4, which is about 10x more money?

Thanks in advance for your help.
 
you probably can't run Leopard, but you could run Tiger server on there. What are you looking to "serve"
 
Flyinace2000 said:
you probably can't run Leopard, but you could run Tiger server on there. What are you looking to "serve"
Click to expand...

I know Leopard won't run, but Tiger, even non-server, is still pretty expensive.

I'm looking to "serve" email, websites, local network iChatting, file storage/sharing (kinda like a mainframe) to keep everything centralized.
 
You could probably do all of that with Tiger Client, or even Panther Client. Tiger runs very slowly on my B&W and Panther is much more usable, however if it's just going to be "serving" then maybe Tiger will be acceptable.

I guess I didn't really contribute anything by saying that :p
 
Shake 'n' Bake said:
I know Leopard won't run, but Tiger, even non-server, is still pretty expensive.

I'm looking to "serve" email, websites, local network iChatting, file storage/sharing (kinda like a mainframe) to keep everything centralized.
Click to expand...

That might be a lot to throw at G3. How many users? What OS are you planning to run on it?
 
Nermal said:
You could probably do all of that with Tiger Client, or even Panther Client. Tiger runs very slowly on my B&W and Panther is much more usable, however if it's just going to be "serving" then maybe Tiger will be acceptable.

I guess I didn't really contribute anything by saying that :p
Click to expand...

I know that the "client" OSs can't serve email.

Flyinace2000 said:
That might be a lot to throw at G3. How many users? What OS are you planning to run on it?
Click to expand...

No more than 5 or 6 separate computers/devices, a mix of Mac, PC, and iPod Touch. I'll most likely get Panther, unless Tiger comes down.
 
I'm on a B&W server right now. It's been running >5 years 24/7, on Jaguar 10.2.

I wouldn't recommend 10.2, as the Mail server has it's issues (one being pretty limited spam handling). But, I'm betting you can get Tiger server fairly cheaply these days (even Panther might not be too bad).

I use it for a handful of users for Mail, some web service, and it's my router (2nd enet card). It's also the DNS for my domain, and several others (virtual hosting on Apache).

As for investment, I'd say try and find a G4 (QuickSilver), but if you can get your hands on a B&W cheap enough, go for it.

The B&W's being retired soon, though (as in: when I get around to it...) and replaced with a 933MHz G4 QuickSilver which I got from MacOfAllTrades for $250 last year. I have Leopard Server installed and it's more or less ready for me to migrate from Jaguar. Looks like all they have at the moment is an 867, with 512MB RAM for $150, but it'll run Leopard (it's the minimum configuration, though). eBay isn't too bad, but as you know, you have to check specs carefully (and the seller).

My research steered me away from the mirrored door models - noise being one factor.
 
gr8tfly said:
I'm on a B&W server right now. It's been running >5 years 24/7, on Jaguar 10.2.

I wouldn't recommend 10.2, as the Mail server has it's issues (one being pretty limited spam handling). But, I'm betting you can get Tiger server fairly cheaply these days (even Panther might not be too bad).

I use it for a handful of users for Mail, some web service, and it's my router (2nd enet card). It's also the DNS for my domain, and several others (virtual hosting on Apache).

As for investment, I'd say try and find a G4 (QuickSilver), but if you can get your hands on a B&W cheap enough, go for it.

The B&W's being retired soon, though (as in: when I get around to it...) and replaced with a 933MHz G4 QuickSilver which I got from MacOfAllTrades for $250 last year. I have Leopard Server installed and it's more or less ready for me to migrate from Jaguar. Looks like all they have at the moment is an 867, with 512MB RAM for $150, but it'll run Leopard (it's the minimum configuration, though). eBay isn't too bad, but as you know, you have to check specs carefully (and the seller).

My research steered me away from the mirrored door models - noise being one factor.
Click to expand...

The G4s are a little expensive for me now (saving for a PB), but if someone offered me one I'd take it, as I don't care about the noise because it would be in the basement.
 
Shake 'n' Bake said:
Darn. You can't ship it?
Click to expand...

Them. I have two, but one is a little dustier than the other.
I've been meaning to haul them to the recycling centre for over a year now... it would be cool to have them put to use, but I'd never get around to packing them up.
Sorry. :(

Albany isn't THAT far from the border, though. We love it when you guys visit. :)
 
brad.c said:
Them. I have two, but one is a little dustier than the other.
I've been meaning to haul them to the recycling centre for over a year now... it would be cool to have them put to use, but I'd never get around to packing them up.
Sorry. :(

Albany isn't THAT far from the border, though. We love it when you guys visit. :)
Click to expand...

Oh well. The things are cheap enough. Also, they can be overclocked just by changing some jumper settings, so I can go even cheaper.
 
I'm running a Yosemite with Tiger Server.

I have a G3 B&W that I'm running as a file server. It works great. It has three Hard Drives. It needed a PCI card for the large drives. I think the drive size limitation on the B&W is 128 Meg. It runs without a monitor, mouse or keyboard. I control it with my MBP through Apple Remote Desktop. Great little 'puter.

Terry
 
I'm looking to "serve" email, websites, local network iChatting, file storage/sharing (kinda like a mainframe) to keep everything centralized.
Click to expand...
You can do all of that with Linux. If you put Debian on the machine, it would work much better than an old version of OS X that's not being updated/supported anymore. It would also be faster, since OS X server generally runs a graphical interface, right?
 
Nermal said:
Reserve not met and buy now is $175... :(
Click to expand...

Better value than the "client" version as that is still going for ~$120.

gmanterry said:
I have a G3 B&W that I'm running as a file server. It works great. It has three Hard Drives. It needed a PCI card for the large drives. I think the drive size limitation on the B&W is 128 Meg. It runs without a monitor, mouse or keyboard. I control it with my MBP through Apple Remote Desktop. Great little 'puter.

Terry
Click to expand...

That pretty similar to what I'd do.

Matek said:
You can do all of that with Linux. If you put Debian on the machine, it would work much better than an old version of OS X that's not being updated/supported anymore. It would also be faster, since OS X server generally runs a graphical interface, right?
Click to expand...

Good point. I got Xubuntu, but never installed it on anything.

I may be able to get a G3 or even an early G4 from my school next time they have an auction.
 
Shake 'n' Bake said:
Hello,

I read that someone in this forum has a G3 server. I was thinking that with the G3s being really cheap, I could also get a server going.
Click to expand...



The server would be very fast, or at least fast enough for homeise. I would run either BSD Unix or Linux. Not much reason to run Mac OS X on a file server. You want an OS that is both faster and smaller than Leopard.

If you are in a Mac environment may as well make it BSD as that is what Mac OS is based on. I'd choose based on wich has the best implementation on the PPC chip. Likely a tossup there too. Nt much reason to run Mac OS on a server unless you need to run Photoshop or the like on it.

All you care about with a server is that it is fast enough to "flood" your network. That is push data out as fast as the wire can go. Those old G3 machines had 100BaseT networking that goes at 100Mbits/sec. The G3 is as fast as you need to make that network become the bottleneck. This is roughly the same speed as "wireless". The new gigabyte Eithernet s 10X faster but you'd need wired gigabyte Eithernet at each end to make that work.
 
ChrisA said:
The server would be very fast, or at least fast enough for homeise. I would run either BSD Unix or Linux. Not much reason to run Mac OS X on a file server. You want an OS that is both faster and smaller than Leopard.

If you are in a Mac environment may as well make it BSD as that is what Mac OS is based on. I'd choose based on wich has the best implementation on the PPC chip. Likely a tossup there too. Nt much reason to run Mac OS on a server unless you need to run Photoshop or the like on it.

All you care about with a server is that it is fast enough to "flood" your network. That is push data out as fast as the wire can go. Those old G3 machines had 100BaseT networking that goes at 100Mbits/sec. The G3 is as fast as you need to make that network become the bottleneck. This is roughly the same speed as "wireless". The new gigabyte Eithernet s 10X faster but you'd need wired gigabyte Eithernet at each end to make that work.
Click to expand...

I sure wouldn't run Leopard on a G3. I also mentioned that I'd like to serve email and a bunch of stuff that (unless someone says otherwise) OS X can only do. Plus, my environment isn't only Macs. In fact, it is mostly PCs. That's why I won't get BSD, but I've also got Xubuntu, and I just need to get a big IDE HDD for a Dell I've got laying around. But that can't do everything that I want, unless someone knows for sure.

Probably something worth mentioning, I don't really want to learn a command line interface, so I need a GUI.
 
I've got my B&W G3 setup with 10.4 Server, 512mb of RAM, an 80gb drive and 10gb drive. It runs pretty well, and I just use Remote Desktop to control it.
 
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