[rescue] VAX 11/750s - Re: Linux wet paint, was Re: Spark10 CPU question (must fix - SPARC damnit :-) )

[Ian Finder]

Replacements? You basically got only 4 options, these days. And I don't
think android is a replacement for solaris- how'd we get on that... ;)

The 11/750s seem to all develop some kind of power supply gremlins.
Definitely a weak point.

As of last week it was happily runing, but one of the supplies died on
Wednesday- I disconnected the logic today in preparation for load testing.

Fingers crossed it's just caps, but I definitely smelled something funny.

Anyone else out there have experience with these seemingly tempermental
supplies?

Cheers,

- Ian

On Sun, Dec 18, 2016 at 21:48 Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com> wrote:

>   I thought the thread had to do with appropriate/useful replacements
>
> for Solaris, now that it's possibly getting discontinued.  As the
>
> operating systems being discussed run on the hardware that is the stated
>
> purpose of this list, this is, in my opinion, squarely within the scope
>
> of the list.
>
>
>
>   Now, about this 11/750 of yours...I didn't know you had one!  I love
>
> 11/750s; I managed one at work for years, and I have one in the museum.
>
> It needs a lot of help; it has some power supply problems.  Where are
>
> you with yours?
>
>
>
>               -Dave
>
>
>
> On 12/18/2016 07:55 PM, Ian Finder wrote:
>
> > First CCtalk and now Rescue.
>
> >
>
> > Can this entire genre of devolving discussions into "modern OS rant
> thread"
>
> > please go die in a fire? Permanently?
>
> >
>
> > A few of us actually subscribe to this list for the nominal purpose of
>
> > classic computing, and couldn't give two shits about these never-ending
>
> > battles of "wit."
>
> >
>
> > When 9/10ths of the volume of the list traffic are for shitposts like
> this,
>
> > it makes me eye the unsubscribe button.
>
> >
>
> > This is not a criticism of Dave in particular. If you are engaging on
> this
>
> > thread you are all part of the problem- now I am part of it too.
>
> >
>
> > Now back to working on my VAX 11/750 project.
>
> >
>
> > Happy holidays, and may you all get lots of downtime to work on your
>
> > vintage gear!
>
> >
>
> > Cheers,
>
> >
>
> > - Ian
>
> >
>
> > On Sun, Dec 18, 2016 at 15:26 Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com>
> wrote:
>
> >
>
> >> On 12/18/2016 06:14 PM, Mouse wrote:
>
> >>
>
> >>>> I can't disagree on any of those points.  However, the real-world
>
> >>
>
> >>>> situation with Linux isn't quite so bleak.  This is evident by the
>
> >>
>
> >>>> simple fact that, in a great many applications, including the sending
>
> >>
>
> >>>> of this email, it works.
>
> >>
>
> >>>
>
> >>
>
> >>> If all you're interested in is a black-box tool, then, sure, go ahead
>
> >>
>
> >>> and use Linux.  Or WinCE.  Or VxWorks.  Or whatever else you find does
>
> >>
>
> >>> what you want it to do without doing too much you don't want.
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>   As far as my desktop system, a black-box tool is exactly what I want.
>
> >>
>
> >> Whether I'm designing hardware, writing firmware, testing either,
>
> >>
>
> >> gathering data, controlling instrumentation, or typing an email, I want
>
> >>
>
> >> (and demand) a tool that works 100% of the time, the way I want it to,
>
> >>
>
> >> and doesn't get in my way.  That's what I have, right now, with a
>
> >>
>
> >> high-end PeeCee running Linux.
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>   A Linux fanboy I am not, and you know full well how much I dislike
>
> >>
>
> >> PeeCees.  But that doesn't change the statement above.
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>> Assumng, of course, you can _tell_ what it's doing, which I suspect you
>
> >>
>
> >>> mostly can't, except for the most superficial user-interaction things.
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>   I'm reasonably adept at figuring out what a UNIX system is up to, as
>
> >>
>
> >> you well know.
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>>>>> And Android is just fantastic and generally just WORKS, 'nuff said.
>
> >>
>
> >>>>> [...] I disagree.  [...]  It's a huge crawling horror pitched over
>
> >>
>
> >>>>> the fence with no real documentation.
>
> >>
>
> >>>> Mine just works.  All day, every day.  My phone and several tablets.
>
> >>
>
> >>>> I reboot a couple of times per year to install OS updates, but that's
>
> >>
>
> >>>> it.
>
> >>
>
> >>>
>
> >>
>
> >>> Sounds like poor QA to me.  Unless you've been meddling with the OS.
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>   I think we have a disconnect.  Please re-read what I said above your
>
> >>
>
> >> response.
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>>> How do yours fail?
>
> >>
>
> >>>
>
> >>
>
> >>> I don't have any, because Android fails to do what I want in one of the
>
> >>
>
> >>> very first, and most important to me, ways: it is not open source.
>
> >>
>
> >>> Every Android device I have found such information out about has
>
> >>
>
> >>> required binary blob drivers for at least some of the hardware.  (That
>
> >>
>
> >>> it's hard to find such information at all for most Android devices is
>
> >>
>
> >>> another, and perhaps worse, failing.  For my purposes, of course.)
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>   Ahh ok.  I, on the other hand, want to make phone calls and send text
>
> >>
>
> >> messages.  That's why I have a phone.
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>>> Not liking the way something is designed is very different from
>
> >>
>
> >>>> thinking it doesn't or cannot do its job.
>
> >>
>
> >>>
>
> >>
>
> >>> But what is "its job"?  The first job of an operating system for one of
>
> >>
>
> >>> my computers is to be fully open source.  Computers are _not_ black-box
>
> >>
>
> >>> tools to me, and a system - hardware or software - that assumes they
>
> >>
>
> >>> are has, for my purposes, already failed.
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>   Understood.  To each his own.  I don't like some of the design
>
> >>
>
> >> decisions either, but there exists nothing better in the current era,
>
> >>
>
> >> that I've been able to find.  If I'm wrong (and I'd love to be, since I
>
> >>
>
> >> hate running friggin' PeeCees) please point me in the right direction.
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>            -Dave
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >> --
>
> >>
>
> >> Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
>
> >>
>
> >> New Kensington, PA
>
> >>
>
> >> _______________________________________________
>
> >>
>
> >> rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue
>
> > _______________________________________________
>
> > rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue
>
> >
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
>
> New Kensington, PA
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue