9 Apr
2013
9 Apr
'13
1:15 a.m.
On 04/08/2013 07:56 PM, MG wrote:
I dunno, I had quite a few of them in my datacenter. They were very common
in my world. Some of them still are.
As I said, which is quoted below, IN THE 1990s.
Dropping a quarter mil on a big server isn't usually done via ads in
computer magazines.
Are you under some impression that these machines were intended for home
use by consumers??
Pkgsrc? Nope, but I built stuff all day long back then. I had no
problems. It was no easier nor more difficult than building things on any
other OS.
...for the cheap consumer market, and the idiots...
Besides, DEC would *give* you OSF/1 if you bought an Alpha, in nearly all
cases. Once again, you're dead wrong. At least you're consistent.
I didn't work in that world. It was owned by SGI anyway; Alphas were never
a serious player in that world.
Here we go again!
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA
Alphas were
never hard to obtain.
Okay, AlphaPCs, AXPpci and the like were offered to 'lower end'
and consumer markets. But, like I said, for what were they
actually useful and why did nobody end up getting them? I
mean, since they weren't hard to obtain, wouldn't that be
worse then? Pick up the
phone and order one, and it shows up.
I regret to have to inform you that my phone isn't capable of
time traveling yet... I did it
myself, time and time again, through the 90s.
I did see them on offer in computer magazines. But, again,
the aforementioned variety. From tiny
desktops to several-hundred-kilobuck AltaVista-class
machines with 8GB of RAM (in 1994!), they were all just a phone
call away.
Also a few additional loans and mortgages... (Especially the more
useful and interesting "AlphaStation"/"AlphaServer" systems.) As far as
software...you got UNIX and a C compiler, and the
net provided the rest.
Have you recently tried to build Tru64 UNIX pkgsrc offerings?
(For instance.) That convenience, although I can't retroactively
check that, is hardly there... (Or, certainly not anymore.) Digital/Tru64 UNIX saw quite a bit of usage,
especially here.
Many companies and government agencies ran VMS and Tru64 UNIX,
but it's sadly all dead now and gone to Windows and Linux.
ALL of it, huh? *chuckle*
Life was good.
Nobody in their right mind ran Windows on
Alphas
Guess what those affordable Alphas were only capable of
running... (Hint: It starts with a /W/.) [T]he
"getting work done" part of the networking world
neverwanted to play in that dirt.
You are forgetting about graphics and post-production now.
Look up things like SOFTIMAGE|3D, mental ray and LightWave
3D, amongst other things. Those enjoyed Windows AXP ports,
Tru64 UNIX (and VMS, needless to say) never did... They were
expensive, but no more so than their peers.
Well guess what happened with their peers as well?