Antique computers (was Re: LILO and Zone Alarm)

[Rick Stevens]

Andrew Kelly wrote:
> On Wed, 2004-05-26 at 20:38, Bob McClure Jr wrote:
> 
>>On Wed, May 26, 2004 at 10:51:01AM -0700, Rick Stevens wrote:
>>
>>>mylar wrote:
>>>
>>>>On Tue, 2004-05-25 at 20:56, Rick Stevens wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>mylar wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>On Tue, 2004-05-25 at 12:40, Rick Stevens wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Jo
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>6.1?  That's over three years dead!  Why are you still running that?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>And you _really_ should think about updating your Linux.  6.1 is
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>ancient, creaky, full of security holes and not supported anymore by
>>>>>>>anyone.  Heck, it's still a 2.2 kernel even!  Fedora Core 2 is using
>>>>>>>the 2.6 kernel.
>>>>>>>------------------------
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Believe it or not I still have an old 166 mhz machine still running
>>>>>>Redhat 6.0!!! It's still used to provide backup on demand dialup service
>>>>>>and dns service to a few machines on a home network. I've patched the
>>>>>>heck out of it and firewalled it as best I can via ipchains. Dial on
>>>>>>demand service is still provided by the "diald" daemon. It's an oldie
>>>>>>but serves it's purpose.
>>>>>
>>>>>And I have an Alpha machine with 5.2.  It's more historic than anything
>>>>>else.  I love having to boot "milo" from a floppy to get it to run.
>>>>>
>>>>>That and my MicroVAX II and MicroVAX 3100/10e running VAX/VMS.  Oh, 
>>>>>yeah!  Ancient technology!  Gotta love it!  (now, where did I put those
>>>>>old 9-track tapes of mine...?)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Yeah, I started with an early version of Redhat (2.0 I think) running
>>>>one of the early monolithic  1.X kernels on that 166 Pentium. I
>>>>gradually upgraded to redhat 3.0 then 5.2 then 6.0  where it's stayed
>>>>since.
>>>>
>>>>Way back when I was pretty adepts in running the Vax systems we had in
>>>>college and I was interested in acquiring a MicroVAX running Vax/VMS for
>>>>my at home computing interests. Unfortunately as a  college student I
>>>>couldn't afford such fancy high end computing equipment.
>>>>
>>>>I'd still like to acquire a PDP-11
>>>
>>>I've got an old MicroPDP-11 (well, LSI-11) at home that runs (gulp!)
>>>RSTS/E, RSX-11M/Plus, and RT-11/XM.  And somewhere in the deep, deep
>>>recesses of my horde is a (get ready!) PDP-8!  Yes, a 12-bit computer!
>>>Weird! I dunno if it works now or not.  It did when I mothballed it
>>>20-odd years ago.  I had WPS-8 on it (a three-user word processor).
>>
>>Gadzooks!  In 1970, I did my (Univ. of Okla.) senior project on a
>>PDP-8L.  Rocker switches and TeleType ASR-33 to load the boot loader,
>>then it would load the OS from a high-speed optical paper tape reader.
>>
>>
>>>Ah, memories! ;-)
>>
>>Indeed.
> 
> 
> This is fun!
> 
> It's kind of like going to NASA and hearing how some of the old hands
> used to track lunar movement by throwing goat entrails into a defoliated
> yew tree and timing the descent of the tail feathers dropped by the 
> magpies that were frightened off.

But you had to do that on alternate Thursdays and they had to be fresh
entrails.  And if you saw a one-legged man with a monkey on the morning
of your test, you had swing a dead chicken over your head for 15
minutes, then hurl it into the river to ward of the jinx.  That's what
"JPL" stands for...Jinx Poultry Lobbers (yes, I used to work there).

> Nurse, another leach, quickly! This man's sweetbreads are full of demons!

Yes, Doctor.  Here's your trephination drill too.  Shall I alert the
town crier and lay out your Druidian garb as well?  We have an
appointment at the henge!  ;-)

> Andy
> (sorry, debugging all night, not a pretty sight)

Been there.  Done that.  Have the T-shirt and baseball cap to prove it.
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- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
-                                                                    -
-                       When in doubt, mumble.                       -
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