Cobalt's "RaQ 3" Linux operating system (based on Red Hat 6.1)
released in roughly 1999 this OS was designed for Cobalt Networks "RaQ" and "Qube" network appliances. Popular with ISP's, small businesses and other customers in the late 1990's through the 2000's.
This port is largely derived from "
The Phintage Collector" a Retrocomputing YouTuber who previously ported it to
Virtualbox
Default login is admin/admin and root can be gained by running "su" with no password
A few important things to keep in mind
1. THIS IS NOT SECURE. DO NOT RUN IT ON UNTRUSTED NETWORKS! This software is over 25 years old, it's made of Swiss Cheese by modern security standards. Don't put it on the internet! (or don't blame me if you do and something bad happens)
2. This is an unpatched release I didn't apply any updates before starting this port. There are mirrors of Cobalt Networks FTP and other updates on the internet archive, but I didn't try installing them with this release.
3. This is using an updated kernel. Since Proxmox's oldest supported NIC is an RTL8139C we need to use a 2.4 kernel. I installed 2.4.15 as that was also offered by Cobalt Networks for their final "RAQ 550" product. This kernel was custom-compiled inside the VM and added to LiLo. The config file is also in /boot if you want to build your own kernel instead.
4. Due to the lack of an LCD panel some things *might* not work. I haven't dug very deep so your mileage may vary!
5. The disk has been completely redone from the original (10GB) Cobalt Networks disk. The current partitioning is a 20GB rootfs and 80GB /home for user files. These disks are also using ext3 instead of ext2 for (marginally) better reliability
6. The default network config is set to 192.168.1.2 with a subnet of 255.255.255.0 You will probably want to edit the network file under /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
7. There's no nano. You need to use pico (which thankfully has largely the same syntax)
Any additional questions please feel free to reach out via Mastodon https://social.restless.systems/@CursedSilicon
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