Anthony Watters wrote:
> newbie questions
> 
> I recently picked up a Sparc Station 5-170 (turbo sparc). currently it has a
> Plextor CDROM, 256 MB of ram, and a additional 10/100 Ethernet card.
> 
> I am interested in running linux and setting it up as a firewall.
> 

IMHO running NetBSD on a 32bit Sparc is going to result in less grief 
than trying to run Linux on it. The SparcLinux port was unmaintained 
last time I checked, with former maintainer David Miller concentrating 
on the 64bit stuff. Unless you like Debian (I don't), then there's a
limited choice on the distribution front. The Aurora project is aiming
to produce a more user-friendly SparcLinux distro based on RedHat, but
version 1.0 wouldn't install on my Sparc5 despite several attempts.

> With that in mind, could someone recommend a specific linux distribution
> that works on a SS5-170? Maybe something with a friendly user interface
> perhaps?
> 

The Turbo Sparc has always been a bit problematic on Linux - some people
seem to get by OK, others have no end of trouble. On NetBSD I believe
that the problems have been solved. As for "user-friendly", it depends
on your definition of that term. I find NetBSD's installer and package
tools to be *very* user friendly. Debian Linux is supposed to be user
friendly if you can get it to install, and there are a number of GUI
frontends available for the package tools.

> I was thinking of possibly debian or openBSD or something else along those
> lines. Any installation advice would also be appreciated.
> 

OpenBSD and NetBSD on Sparc have little to choose between them. Security
fixes in one soon percolates into the other, likewise for hardware
support. The NetBSD mailing lists seem to be a little more active
though, and don't suffer from the lack of manners that seem to afflict
OpenBSD officionados at times. As for installation, with NetBSD it's as
simple as downloading the ISO image from an official mirror site,
burning to a disc and booting with it.

> In addition, since I have multiple sparcs here,  I would also be interested
> in recommendations for an adapter that I can use to convert my moniter ,
> mouse/keyboard for use with a VGA moniter, ps2 mouse & standard 101
> keyboard?
> 

There are adapters to allow you to connect a typical PC monitor to a
Sun, look for 13W3 adapters at a decent computer parts website. As for
using PS/2 keyboards and mice, I think you could be out of luck.
However, if you can get a real Sun keyboard then I'd recommend using
that. I still use my elderly Sparc5 as a glorified terminal because I
love the feel of the keyboard. Otherwise you could run the machines
headless, and simply ssh or (if you are in suitably safe environment)
telnet to them.

Chris
-- 
chris.wareham@iosystems.co.uk (work)
chris.wareham@btopenworld.com (home)