>> If you're just going to run a modern
NetBSD, why on earth would you
>> bother running it on slow, memory-constrained hardware from the
>> 80's?
> Why? Probably because the new OS does something the old one doesn't
Or the old hardware does something the new hardware doesn't?
Personally, that "something" is twofold. One is giving me warm
fuzzies (I went through much of my larval phase on SPARCstations); the
other is keeping me, as a software author, honest about algorithmic
efficiency and the like, rather than letting me cover for sloppiness
with a flood of raw computrons.
It's actually the reverse when it comes to SGI
systems. With a new
OS you lose access to features provided in the hardware or in IRIX.
Yes...in large part because SGI never documented their hardware.
It's one reason I don't go for SGI machines much.
Learning about the vintage experience is more than
just running a new
OS on the old hardware.
Yes. If your reason for running old hardware is "for the original
experience", then yes, you probably want the old OS.
So far, for me, that effect hasn't been strong enough to outweigh my
reasons for sticking strictly to open-source software.
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