DigitalSonata

My school finally got the new computers we have been going for, while they aren't spectacular, they are more than sufficient for web browsing, programming, and other uses.

Specs on the new ones are:
1.67ghz CPU (Probably Intel)
512mb RAM 133mhz
Various HDs
Integrated GPUs

There are also some old eMacs that I don't know the specs on except for the RAM (256mb) but they are running on PPC CPUs.

I'm wondering what distro to put on them, I saw a video where a computer science teacher using Gentoo could install software seamlessly on all the other computers while students were using them. Is this software available for Debian? If so what is it called?

I also have concerns about installing Gentoo on all the computers, as it would most likely take alot of time, on top of the moderate difficulty.

I do not want to install Ubuntu on these as I've been using it on my home machines and I've been very dissatisfied with its performance(very slow boot up, and slow performance even with XFCE) and various tweaks(no swap partition by default).

Would it be better to install Debian or Gentoo (or possibly Arch)?

I also want to setup a fileserver so students can get files easily and fast, instead of searching around the net for them and slowing our connection to a crawl. What distro would be good for handling this?

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reset3x

Try using this: http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/ Maybe it will help you decide..

You also may want to consider Debian (Faster than Ubuntu even though Ubuntu is based on Debian), Linux Mint (Faster than Ubuntu even though its based on Ubuntu) or Fedora.....

Mint has a lot of great tools to set up networking and NTFS support....

Hope this helps you some...

Peace!!

EDIT: Debian would probably be easiest for your server...

DigitalSonata

Eh, I'm on the fence here. With a Debian based distro I can get it installed easily and have it be stable, but packages are a pain on the PPCs (or lack of, rather). From what I gather, with Gentoo after getting it installed, I can use just about any software I want on the PPCs easily.

For the server I'm still wondering if I should go for Gentoo/Arch for the performance, or Debian for the easy install and "out of the box" stability. (Arch can get fussy sometimes, no experience with Gentoo past install).

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reset3x

If your not in a hurry and can wait a few days (Oct 18) Ubuntu Server will be released.... Lots of new improvements... And updated more frequently then Debian... Just a thought... Check here for a little info: http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/gutsybeta

As far as your PPC Macs... I would be doing you a disservice giving you advice about them.... I've never even touched one... Though I've been tempted to grab one from Computer Geeks and check it out...

dangerousHobo

You could also check out Yellow Dog Linux, as I've heard it does well on PPC.

I've never even heard of the PPC Arch port
As far as speed and ease of upgrading, it does a good job as that. Also you can install packages from source via ABS.

Gentoo is going to have an advantage like you said b/c of the ability to build any package from source. (Though that can be done on any system with a tad extra work)

If possible try each one out and see if its going to be able to offer what you need.

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DigitalSonata

I'm trying to avoid Ubuntu at all costs, its very bloated (even when running XFCE) and I'd like them to run as fast as possible.

Eh, I tried it once and hated it, though that was a few years ago on a G3 system.

Arch is a possibility for the server, as I know I can get it optimized for the task.

Yeah, I'm just really looking for a way to get all the computers, across both architectures to work seamlessly with eachother, and run the same software (IDEs, ect). Right now Gentoo is looking like the right choice, but installing it on every machine is a rather big task, unless ghosting the HDs for each architecture would work(Is it possible to change the hostnames of computers after you have installed the OS?).

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priapus

YDL only does PPC.
Edit: Also does cell processor.

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daljeet2

gentoo
built for optimization
and if u want to update all your packages on all ur computers
u can do it via 1, and it will update the whole lab.

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DigitalSonata

Ok, it looks like Gentoo is the best for the job here, is there a good way to install it fairly quickly across multiple machines?

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Pooping^fish

Gentoo I believe is very advanced and does not seem like you have the knowledge to install it.