[snippage]
> 
> 3) Given the following, which will be the easiest to set up:
>    - SE/30
>    - IIcx w/Apple video card (Toby?)
>    - IIsi
>    - LC
>    - LC II

http://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~magus/bench/benchres.html

This won't tell you what's easiest but it will tell you what's
fastest...I see at the bottom of your message you've got a Q650....that
would certainly be easy _and_ fast, everything is on board and just
works.  If you are going to compile anything, the Quadra would be 5 to 6
times...well a _lot_  faster...you could also set up _more_ than one
machine.  Really once you get one machine running you will _want_ to set
it up on anything that will run it (take my word for it).  

If I had to rate the machines you have listed:
1. IIcx (16Mhz)
2. SE/30 (16Mhz) with small screen I wouldn't try to run X11R6
3. IIsi (20Mhz/no fpu) If nubus card w/fpu ==1 then rate #1 

> 
> All have 8+ MB of memory.

Does this mean 8 or more?

If you don't use the IIsi, the 8 megs of ram in it comes in (4) 2Meg
chips and could be used in the IIcx or SE/30 to give you 12 meg of ram
in one of those boxen.  

||||||||
22221111
||||||||


If memory serves me right an 8 meg LCs might come w/ (2) 4 meg simms,
I'll have to check,  that could give you :24 megs in the IIcx;SE/30

||||||||
44442222
||||||||


> I plan on putting BSD on an external drive.

This is good and easy!  Once installed on the external HD you could plug
it into any machine, and try to boot it w/ a generic kernel!!!!!!!!!!

> All 
> but SE/30 have Dayna ethernet cards. (SE/30 should arrive next week, so I 
> don't know which ethernet card it has.)

Good luck,
Jer