fernandoMar 12
Jeff Geerling
I liked this era of Mac OS X
Mar 12 at 1:02amIvory for iOS
Show threadHanno ReinMar 12
@geerlingguy I recently found one of these in the dumpster. Works great! After a bit of persuasion, even with Linux.
Show threadgaryMar 12
@geerlingguy I will be the hacker to bite on that strident comment, even rsj approves of this - walled gardens can be great #kext #bearcat scanners #kismac
Show threadSchamschulaMar 12
@geerlingguy Indeed, however the first Xserve (G4) was rather noisy! MacOS X Server was great. Then Apple moved to the Server App, and proceeded to dumb it down every year, until it was dead. I switched to FreeBSD.
Show threadRoadskater, Ph.D.Mar 12
@schamschula @geerlingguy Trying to use the GUI that Apple came up with for managing Apache, what a nightmare.
Show threadJeff GeerlingMar 12
@roadskater @schamschula Couldn't be worse than MAMP... could it?
Show threadRoadskater, Ph.D.Mar 12
@geerlingguy @schamschula I dunno about MAMP, but imagine an API that allowed you to enter multiple configuration entries in a text area, and then it would delete/ignore half of what you set. Okay, this is 2026, where you can imagine an AI doing exactly that for you.
Show threadSchamschulaMar 12
@roadskater @geerlingguy I never used the MAMP stack. At that time I used a combination of Apple's stack and tools compiled using my own build system. Towards the end of MacOS X Server the machine was a Mac Pro and the add on tools were transitioned to MacPorts.
Show threadcosMar 12
@geerlingguy they were _so loud_ though
Show threadwww-gemMar 12
@geerlingguy I first thought this was an old X-Files (the series/movie) CD-ROM lol
Show threadPaul Dot XMar 12
@geerlingguy my only question is does it sound like your average rackmount of that era?!?!?
Show threadAnthonyMar 12
@bosconet @geerlingguy Yes it does. At the time I ran a lab that did testing across all major OS and we had a dozen or so Xserves.
Show threadSamMar 12
@geerlingguy And a couple generations besides it. Managed to snag a G4 cube at a hamfest over the weekend.
Show thread36 Pickled Eggs Mar 12
@geerlingguy I was very close to ordering two of those when they came out. I think I even had them in my cart. But, I chickened out and bought Sun hardware instead. I think it was the right move at the time, but the temptation was strong.
Show threadPeter FletcherMar 12
@geerlingguy 10.6 is the greatest OS of all time.
Show threadSolo Ham  Mar 12
@geerlingguy good times when ReiserFS’ maintainer could make to the news,
Show threadRick KenobiMar 12

@geerlingguy I never had one of them fancy rack mounted jobs, but I did run my website on a G4 Cube on my desk for many years (running Mac OS X Server 10.4).

I too liked that era of Mac OS X. I miss it.

#Apple #Macintosh #G4 #G4Cube #MacOS #MacOSX #OSX #Toaster

Show threadFrank Paul SilyeMar 12
@VA3DSO @geerlingguy Sill have my Cube on a shelf 😊
Show threadT_XMar 12
@geerlingguy oh, reminds me of when I was in the General Students' Committee in our university ages ago and its IT department. And we were buying a new server for the GSC. Somehow we decided on a Mac server :D. With the argument that it'd be so easy then that even the medicine students could administrate it. But funnily it was a medicine student asking during one of the meetings: "What is a server?"
But granted, the Time Machine backups were super easy to set up. (maybe @kellertuer remembers)
Show threadT_XMar 12
@geerlingguy @kellertuer (also it were mainly others administrating it in the end, so I can't really share first hand experiences/complains of using a Mac as a server. But that decision back then just looks funny to me now. :D )
Show threadKellertuerMar 12

@T_X @geerlingguy when I joined the Mac was already there, I think it was Mark back then who went for it.

Also the Time Machine back then was ignoring most of the server config, which was not so funny.

Show threadaardvarkMar 12
@geerlingguy ever count the thermistors and ADCs on those?
Show threadTobiasMar 12
@geerlingguy this.
Show threadBenoMar 12
@geerlingguy I miss it
Show threadColin WatsonMar 12

@geerlingguy Three of these were the first build servers for Ubuntu powerpc. I might have been one of the first people to get Linux working on them; I remember it needed a small patch backported from ppc64 to ppc32.

One of our sysadmins had to carry them across London on the tube for installation after we got them bootstrapped. This caused one of our other staff to say "that's a fucking big iPod".

Show threadAhoMar 12
@geerlingguy I was more this kind of user
Show threadAnthony SoraceMar 12

@geerlingguy @me_ I’ve got 5 of these sitting in the garage I got from a decommissioned supercomputer cluster (I think; I wouldn’t *swear* they aren’t the G4 models). Some have bad parts and I need to see how many complete working systems I can get out of them, but that’s been on the back burner for years.

I’ve used the PPC and Intel versions in production. They really were the most power you could get in 1U (off the shelf) for much of their lifetime.

Show threadAnthony SoraceMar 12
@geerlingguy Also, hi! I don’t think I realized you were on the fediverse; happy to see you here. I really enjoy your work.
Show threadJeff GeerlingMar 12
@a Thanks! I am on the blue sky, the mastoverse, Zuck's thread-sphere, and still on X — the problem is Musk's nuking of Twitter has scattered all the communities I've loved staying in touch with :(
Show threadmacfixerMar 12

@geerlingguy

WHAT DID YOU SAY???

I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE XSERVE FANS!!

Show threadAndiS 🌞🍷🇪🇺Mar 12
Aah, the good old days 😉