I picked up a nice little RaQ4 off of ebay. I was curious the best method to getting a standard Linux install on it. (The previous owner didnt format the drive, i was quite surprised. Not to mention the last time it was logged in via ssh was 2005! I was in shock.)

The specs are really impressive for what I paid.
450mhz CPU
256mb pc100
2x20GB Raid1
Dual 10/100 Ethernet
SCSI port on the back


I came across "Raqcop" which seems to be a fairly painless process, however I really don't need it to be a firewall.

Anyone have a guide, or know of a guide that's fairly painless to install something such as Debian or Gentoo? (Also I don't have a serial cable, so that currently is out of the question until I purchase a new one.) Also I could care less if it was for web hosting as it's not going to be for that, it's going to sit in my closet and run some eggdrops and an IRC client.

Any ideas are welcome, as long as it's helpful ideas.

Thanks

You can't do a standard install on this thing easily- part of the kernel loads from the ROM. However, it *can* be done- http://www.cobaltfaqs.com/index.php/Debian_on_Cobalt
(This does require a serial connection to do.)

Or you can use the original modified Redhat from Sun-
ftp://ftp.cobalt.sun.com/pub/iso/

I'd use the Qube3 software to start. That's what I learned here. When you get comfortable messing about with it, move on to the Raq550 software. It requires you flashing the ROM and loading the software twice, but it's got some great stuff in it.

..Joe