Antique computers (was Re: LILO and Zone Alarm)

Thu May 27 18:00:51 UTC 2004

On 27 May 2004 08:53:08 +0200, Andrew Kelly <akelly at transparency.org>  
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.
>
> Nurse, another leach, quickly! This man's sweetbreads are full of demons!
>

Just in case you haven't been paying attention to medical news, leaches  
are back in favor, and maggot therapy is being used to clean up dead flesh  
in recalcitrant wounds.

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