> Initially, I just want to play with the unix/linux command line and some > of the non-GUI programs that I understand come with all BSD and linux > installations everywhere....
That shouldn't be a problem, regardless of the window manager you end up installing. On a 7300, I'd go with something middleweight like AfterStep or WindowMaker. I used to run AfterStep on a beige G3 and it was wicked-fast. > I want to be able to print to my Epson SC740 color inkjet > printer with some kind of simple formatted text such as I hear I might > get from vi and nroff or their equivalents. You'll want to look at gimp-print and GhostScript. Most Un*x programs output either plain text or PostScript; GhostScript is a sort-of bridge between PostScript and your printer, while gimp-print adds some conveniences. My opinion is that after partitioning, setting up a non-PostScript printer under Un*x is the most difficult thing to do... but like partitioning, once you've done it you don't have to go back & do it again. :-P > I want to be able to > connect to the internet via a dialup connection with a Global Village > 56k serial modem, send and receive email from my usual ISP, read and > post to Usenet groups, and use a (text-only?) browser to get weather > reports If the modem is external, it should work without any trouble. I wouldn't be terribly confident about getting an internal Mac modem to work though. For getting the connection established, kppp (KDE's PPP control) is probably the easiest way to go. There are command-line utilities that work well too, but I've forgotten the name. Sylpheed would probably be a good choice for mail & news on a 7300; it has a decent interface & doesn't need a lot of CPU horsepower. For browsers, links (different from lynx) is a great text browser, but if you're getting weather from the NWS you can use Dillo -- like Sylpheed, it's fast and graphical. Maybe Firefox (Mozilla's lighter-weight browser) would work too. > It would also be nice if I could record from the radio using the 7300's > audio input, turn these recorded files into mp3 format, play the mp3s > back, and write them to CD-R or CD-RW on an internal SCSI CD-RW drive. Assuming the sound-in hardware is supported (should be), you could use Audacity for input & MP3 conversion. There's a zillion MP3 players; xmms has a GUI and there are a couple of text-mode players too. For burning, the command-line tools are somewhat convoluted; use Xcdroast to front-end the whole mess & you'll be happy. > Ripping audio CD's and making new ones from uncompressed music files of > some kind is another thing I'd like to be able to do. Xcdroast again. > Later, if I decide to keep going, I'll probably want to use a graphical > web browser with 128 bit security (for banking and buying stuff online), Mozilla, Konqueror, Mozilla Firefox > and get JPEG format digital photographs off my camera's compact flash > card, hopefully by using a Kodak SCSI PCMCIA card reader with compact > flash adapter that I'm already using with the Mac OS now. Gphoto > I'll want to > be able to do some simple editing of the pictures (cropping, changing > color balance, things like that) and print the pictures on the Epson > SC740 or a better printer that I don't have yet. Gimp for editing (heavy-duty but effective), printing we've covered.... > I'll probably want to network the 7300 to a Mac OS 8.6 G3 All-In-One, > but I don't foresee any need to set the 7300 up as a server other than > as may be necessary to connect these two computers. Netatalk > For some reason I'm personally attracted to netBSD, probably because it > seems to be more simple and straightforward than Yellow Dog. The only thing NetBSD can't do that Linux can (on Macs) is run the Mac-on-Linux compatibility box. If you think you'll ever want to run MacOS apps on that box, you'll need to use Linux. Otherwise, pick one & assume you'll wipe it out later on & reinstall something else. > I happened to mention my plans to some people on a Usenet newsgroup not > devoted to computing, and someone there thought that it would be very > hard to use Yellow Dog without a three button mouse. I see that > Kensington markets a four button ADB trackball, but it's very expensive. If you don't have (or plan to use) a USB printer, get a USB card and plug your mouse into it. YellowDog will find it right away. Keep the ADB mouse attached since you'll need it to control BootX. Oh yeah, BootX. All beige PPC Macs use a MacOS app called BootX to launch Linux. You need to keep at least a minimal MacOS system on your hard drive to get the boot process started, then you can have BootX switch over during the boot or wait until MacOS loads completely before switching. Either way, it should work. I believe that NetBSD does some things to Open Firmware that let you boot directly to BSD (no MacOS required). According to http://netbsd.org/Ports/macppc/models.html, the 7300 is supported... follow the directions and you should be OK. -- Larry Kollar, Senior Technical Writer, ARRIS "Content creators are the engine that drives value in the information life cycle." -- Barry Schaeffer, on XML-Doc -- MaX-list is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... / Buy books, CDs, videos, and more from Amazon.com \ / <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/lowendmac> \ Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> MaX-list info: <http://lowendmac.com/linux/max.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/max-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
