mac68k (& i386) - Will X Win run acceptably fast on a Mac Performa 550

["Larry A. Smith" <lasmith@budget.net>]

9-Jan-99 (7:45 AM)

I am considering the purchase of OpenBSD 2.4 for my Apple Macintosh Performa
550.  It has a 68030 processor running at 33 MHz, 36 MB of RAM (I can't add
any more RAM - its maxed out), and I have two unused 650 MB external drives
available.  The internal 163 MB MacOS hard disk has 72 MB of available space,
but some additional space can be made if needed.  I prefer to confine the
OpenBSD to external drives only. The web site says this Mac model is supported.

Is this Mac to old/slow to run the basic text-based functions of OpenBSD 2.4
'acceptably' fast (subjectively speaking)?

Is this Mac to old/slow to run X Windows 'acceptably' fast (subjectively
speaking), or is it totally insane to consider it?  I like the GUI
environment, as opposed to the text environment.  My main applications are
Netscape Communicator, word processing (hopefully WYSIWYG), spreadsheets,
relational databases, web page development, graphics, etc.  The kids want
games, of course.

This Mac system may have as many as seven users on it over a period of a year.
 I'm the most demanding and advanced user, the others are lightweight users
(basically word processing, a few games, and surfing the web).  This  system
is not networked, it is standalone, with an Apple LaserWriter IIg attached via
AppleTalk cabling.  The modem is a US Robotics (3Com) Courier V.34 model.

I am in the process of getting two dead Digital DECpc XL4100 (486DX4-100) PCs
that I recently purcahsed up and running, and am considering loading OpenBSD
2.4 on both of them as well and then networking them with the Mac.

If the Mac system can run X Windows acceptably fast, and the PCs and Mac
become networked, what is the ideal way to partition the two 650 MB hard disk
drives so that the 'Mac' (not the 'PC') can act as BOTH a file server AND
workstation (very subjective question)?  (Yes, I understand that my PCs are
faster, and may be more suitable to act as the file server.  I'm hoping to buy
a faster, more robust, Mac in the future.  The question remains).

If I only use one 650 MB drive, not both of them (I'm considering using one of
them in one of the DECpc systems), how would you configure the one hard disk
with the Mac still acting as both server and workstation?

At work, I am a computer specialist with extensive end-user support experience
in Macs and PCs (DOS & Win 3.1/95/98/NT Workstation & Server).  As for UNIX, I
have attended 3 weeks of IBM AIX system administrator training over the past
five years.  But like all things, if you don't use it, you lose it.  I haven't
touched a UNIX box in any serious way for many years, and only as a user,
never as a "real" system administrator - the workstations were administered by
the computer room staff only.

Are there any things I should know about running OpenBSD on my Mac, or in this
kind of environment, BEFORE I buy the CDs that may cause me to think twice
about even considering this adventure?

Any tips to help make this happen as painlessly as possible?

Thanks in advance,
Larry Alan Smith
Beaverton, OR
USA
lasmith@budget.net