[rescue] Xserve without OS X Server?

[velociraptor]

On 2/7/06, Matthew Weigel <unique at idempot.net> wrote:
> Steve Hatle wrote:
>
> > So- the question is: lacking the correct Server version of OS X, is
anyone
> > familiar with other OS's that can run on Xserve? "Regular" OS X? *BSD? I
> > seem to have googled reference to debian being booted on an Xserve, but
> > that's about all.
>
> OpenBSD 3.9-beta supports G4 and G5 XServes, but only one processor;
> NetBSD 2.0 supports G4 XServes, but supports dual processors in them.

It is also supported by a couple of flavors of Linux.  I'd vote YDL if you
are planning on going that route, YMMV, but they have the most
experience with PPC.

I tried out SuSE and Debian on one when I was toying with NFSv4 as a
possible use for the extra space that it had on internal IDEs (fine for sys
admin collection spot/web service).  But the XServe seemed picky about
kernels; I couldn't get 2.6 to work and ran out of time so I didn't get to
FreeBSD (the only other NFSv4 candidate).

It'll probably end up under someone's desk as a workstation (not at that
$ork anymore) or surplussed.

Fiddling with NFSv4 was one of those things that made me appreciate
Solaris more than ever (similar to Mac on the desktop--it just "works").

=Nadine=