Darwin on x86!

darwin for x86 archictecture has been around for quite a while...

ive been running for quite some time...

 

I think the ISO is the big deal vs. otherways of getting it?

 

Firewire2001- Is darwin stable on x86? is there a gui available for it?

I ask because I was just given an older PC and want to turn it into a test server running apache. I am looking for a free unix based OS to run on it. Where can i download and find information on darwin for x86?

I don't want to use the windows build of apache, its quite buggy. I want to run apache on a *nix box the way it should be.

 

You may want to consider QNX and FreeBSD as good *nixes to run on an old pc. I've heard that QNX performs quite well even on an old 486 pc...

 

Darwin is just as stable on x86 as it is on PowerPC. There is no Quartz-like GUI available for it; you'll have to settle for X11. Darwin's home page is http://developer.apple.com/darwin/ , but if all you're looking for is a free Unix on which to run a web server on a PC, I would recommend installing Linux or one of the free BSDs (Free, Net, Open) before Darwin. They're each better-performing and more mature, and Darwin won't give you any Mac-like advantages.

 

Thanks everyone, many good suggestions, i'm going to look into them. If anyone has anything else to add I'd love to hear it. Thanks again.

 

Thanks, i think i will go with redhat, i'm gonna DL one of the free distributions. Does the free distribution thats available via ftp have a gui or command line only? Not that it matters i need to spend more time using a command line anyway....

 

The free distribution has everything on it, including the GUIs. All you really miss out on is support direct from RedHat.

It's made up of 5 ISOs, if you want to save some time, just download & burn the first three. The last 2 aren't installation stuff, just RPMs. You can download just the ones you need.

Then, when you've graduated from RedHat, give Debian a try! You can even run it on a Mac!

 

Hey thanks for the info TheJ,

Forgive my ignorance here but what is an RPM?

Also do you have any info(or know where i could find some) on running a dual boot system with redhat and windows 98, i have windows 98 on there now and someone told me that i could install red hat anyway and it should let me without disturbing windows. He said i shouldnt' need to reformat and partition the drive but i could if i wanted to. I was thinking about borrowing a copy of partition magic and maybe doing that. Thanks again for the info.

 

RPM=Redhat Package Manager. Basically, it's just Redhat's way of packaging programs. Like, for example, if you want to download binaries for Mozilla, you might get something like "mozilla.rpm".

As for a dual boot, the Redhat installer makes this very easy. Partitionmagic beforehand would be a good idea, you want to free up a couple GB minimum for Redhat. Make sure Windows is installed first, then install Redhat in the free unpartitioned space, and tell the installer to write GRUB to the MBR. This will give you a little menu on boot that will let you choose between windows & linux. Easier done than said!

Good luck, the new Redhat is very good, I'm sure you will have fun!

 

so is it possible to do this without partitionmagic then? win98 is already on the computer

Will i still get a prompt at boot up that way.(thats what i want).

Oh and how will i know if my network card is supported. I was told that it may not be. The thing has some cheap sohoware nic card that the person got with their broadband purchase.

I was thinking of doing a regular desktop/personal installation. Then adding apache at a later date once i'm confortable with linux. Can this be done or do i have to do a Server install of linux right from the start?

Sorry for so many damn questions. Very new to this but getting the old PC for free got me excited at the possibilities for it.

Too bad its just an old celeron 333mhz.....but it was hardly used and is quite snappy for what it is...

Thanks again.

 

Sure you can do it without PartitionMagic, the benefit of PM is that it is non-destructive (you will not lose your data on the Win98 partition).

There are other ways to install, but for simplicity keep your linux & windows partitions seperate for now.

As for your NIC, start here at RedHat's HCL. Keep in mind I have hardware not on that list that works fine w/ RH, but checking there is a start.

Lastly, you will have no problems adding Apache later on.

 

what exactly is Darwin? is it like DOS on old PC's?

i'm still relatively new... got my first Mac this year.

 

Thanks again theJ, i'm gonna borrow a copy of PM to make a partition.


CB911- darwin is the core of OS X. You can loosely compare it to DOS in early versions of windows. Darwin however is much more stable and has way more functionality. Any unix system has that advantage over DOS, not just Darwin. I'm sure someone can explain it to you much better than this, but at least you have a general idea.