switch.richard5.net

I’ve started the blog at switch.richard5.net in 2005 to document my experiences as a switcher from a combination of Windows and Linux to Mac OS X. I had bought one of the first Mac mini’s when OSX was released which promised the usability of Windows and the robustness of a Unix core.

Fortunately the switching was quite easy and painless when it concerned applications on the desktop. OS X was far more intuitive then any other OS I’ve ever encountered. The only difficulty was to discover the easier way to do things.

Therefore the purpose of the blog somewhat changed because I had more problems getting the server side of things to work as they where not that obvious as the desktop apps. I wanted the Mac mini to replace the old Sun Ultra 5 Sparc stations I had running as my internet infrastructure at home. I hosted my own web and mailserver of a couple of old Sun Sparc stations that I got from work.

Documentation was available on the internet but mostly for Linux or FreeBSD installs, the docs for OS X mostly concerned older versions of the OS or the applications in question. I was spending a lot of time googling, posting questions on forums and mailinglists to find the specific info needed to get everything I want in working order. I documented my progress and the steps I took as I learned the hard way when one of the Suns failed earlier and I could not rebuild it quickly because I forgot how to do this and didn’t remember all the settings. Later came the idea of sharing the information in the blog and it transformed into a manual of some sorts which others can use to install the software themselves.

I’m not pretending to be an expert on any off the stuff you find here. I’m just writing down my findings and the settings that made it work for me. I do learn a lot by trying on my own systems and helping out others with the problems they encounter with installing the software. I don’t have all the answers but the ones I do find I try to write down as clear and understandable as possible.

The blog became quite popular and therefore in 2007 I started a new dedicated site to support this endeavor: diymacserver.com