yellowdog... does it work well is it all its cracked up to be?
I can't get approval for the PO for OS X server 
... I need some fairly good filesharing and backup utilities... i guess I need to learn linux... I've installed it before, and barely setup crap for counter-strike with a friends help...
what/where are some good resources to figure out how to do what I need to make it do.
filesharing, for 5 users, possibly some FTP access, possibly some SMB, but most just filesharing. I want everyone to be able to log on to one share.. and be able to use and edit files in a directory and such.
-c
... I need some fairly good filesharing and backup utilities... i guess I need to learn linux... I've installed it before, and barely setup crap for counter-strike with a friends help... what/where are some good resources to figure out how to do what I need to make it do.
filesharing, for 5 users, possibly some FTP access, possibly some SMB, but most just filesharing. I want everyone to be able to log on to one share.. and be able to use and edit files in a directory and such.
-c
Comments
By far the easiest installation was OpenDarwin. Not quite as simple as Mac OS X, but compared to the BSDs (which are more difficult than you probably want to attempt), and the GNU/Linuxes (that I tried). NetBSD and OpenBSD both require you to muck with OpenFirmware, which gave me a very dirty feeling, and it wasn't easy to work with. The YDL installer was easier to deal with than Debian's. It wasn't as down-and-dirty, so its less likely to scare away someone not familiar with the command line. YDL is probably the best bet if you aren't cool with GNU/Linux yet. If you aren't scared of the new OS, I think Debian is a lot better.
FTP and Samba (SMB) can both be run as servers. Samba has special support though, and can be built into the linux kernel (if you go with a GNU/Linux distro). I don't know if it really adds any benefits (I assume its faster in kernel). With Debian, make sure (at the appropriate menu) you select smbfs as one of the File Systems, as a module for the kernel. If its not in kernel, it won't hurt you too much, so don't stress it.
I didn't use YDL too long before going to Debian, but I think it uses rpms (for installations). That may get confusing, because .rpms are very common (its what RedHat for x86 uses), and most rpms you find on the net are for x86s not ppcs. Debian can be pretty mucky like that too, since it uses .debs for its x86s and ppcs. Basically, if you get YDL, don't trust any old .rpm on the net unless the site claims it works with powerpcs; Same goes for Debian, and .debs. With Debian, you can avoid downloading odd .debs on the net with their installation programs, used like this: 'apt-get install <program>'. If you use fink on your mac(s), you may recognize that command (if you don't, I recommend it; avail at http://fink.sf.net/). Fink was designed to mimic Debian's installation system (Apt). If you use OpenDarwin (or another Darwin based distro, like GNU/Darwin, and Mac OS X for that matter), you can use fink to install programs. The reason I didn't stick with OpenDarwin, is because several programs in fink (particularly audio related stuff), depended on stuff that wasn't in darwin, but was in mac os x, and I didn't care to search for alternatives. Stuff like ftp and samba won't be a problem though with fink and OpenDarwin (they probably even come with the distro, so fink may not be necessary).
If you really want to go with GNU/Linux (for the sake of learning "Linux"), I suggest you get Debian. If you want an easy linux to install and leave alone get YDL. But if you're looking for an inexpensive and the easiest solution, get OpenDarwin. All the systems mentioned are Unix-like, and will essentially offer the same services and functionality (after getting through each one's installation scheme).
Give YDL a try. It's a great PPC distro. (BTW, ppc rpms are blah.ppc.rpm, not blah.rpm)
It is a great distro but I have some video issues... as a server it will run smooth!
Originally posted by kraig911
I can't get approval for the PO for OS X server
what/where are some good resources to figure out how to do what I need to make it do.
filesharing, for 5 users, possibly some FTP access, possibly some SMB, but most just filesharing. I want everyone to be able to log on to one share.. and be able to use and edit files in a directory and such.
-c
you dont need OSX Server for that. you can use regular OSX, heck you can do that with almost anything.
YDL I hear runs ok, I'm not interested installing wierd crap on it anyhow as, just extreme filesharing.
what i really need is something like microsoft storesafe... for mac anyone seen that or something like that? we go through so many renditions of ads, and going back to old ones, and the same with scripts, and traffic it becomes a headache and something automized would be a huge hassle lifted off my chest.