Woody on IBM pSeries 630 (POWER4)

[JP Glutting <jpg@research.dfci.harvard.edu>]

Hi,

I am trying to figure out how much work it will be to get Debian working 
on an IBM pSeries 630 (with a one-way POWER4). We are getting one here 
at work, and we will be transfering our software from our current 
server, a dual Athlon, onto that. IBM has worked some things out with 
RedHat and SuSE for installations of Linux after shipment. I contacted 
the SuSE folks, and they said that they have a working 64-bit compiled 
kernel that should work.

I have a few questions for the list:

Does Debian have a kernel that will work on this chip?

What are the trade-offs for 64 vs. 32 bit kernels?

How much trouble will it be to compile source from unavailable packages 
on this computer?

Thanks for any help!

Cheers,

JP