Apple Power Macintosh 6100

Manufacturer: Apple Computer
Model: Power Macintosh 6100
CPU: PowerPC 601, 66MHz
RAM: 64MB
HDD: 2GB
Release date: March 1994

The Power Macintosh 6100 (a.k.a. Performa 6100) was essentially a PowerMac architecture machine stuffed into a Quadra 610 case. I originally purchased this Mac so that I could tinker with MkLinux Developer Release 3. MkLinux was one of the first projects aimed at making a friendly Linux distro for PPC Macs, and the installation procedure was eerily similar to RedHat 5.x's once you had the hard drive properly partitioned on the Mac.

I never was really a huge fan of the old MacOS (pre OSX), so to me, this was a cool way to get a somewhat useful OS loaded onto a neat machine. For about a year, MkLinux running on this computer was my main desktop system, my workhorse if you will. DR3 was the last official release of MkLinux for quite some time, and as it started to fall behind further and further, I eventually abandoned it (and this computer) completely. I formatted it, re-installed MacOS 9, and handed it down to my sister for school work. MkLinux did eventually start back up again but never got too far. Their page hasn't seen an update in close to 2 years.

Once my sister graduated high school and picked up a laptop for college, she gave the 6100 back to me. I've since installed Firefox, fetch, AIM and a few other packages on it, and it's "the bastard workstation" that I let people use when they come over and want to check e-mail. The original 15" monitor it came with is in use by my wife's BBS/Mud server, and the 6100 stays tucked away most of the time. I still somewhat loathe MacOS "Classic", but the PowerPC 6100 is still useable if you can stomach a user interface that's showing its age more than 20 years after its introduction.