11 May
2013
11 May
'13
10:59 a.m.
SunOS on 3/50s, 3/60s, with a server and thick Ethernet cabling. This was around 1986 to
1988, while I was in graduate school. After that, 1994 to 1999, it was administering a
whole office full of Sun networked workstations (10, 20, UltraSparc). My first non-Sun
Unix experience was testing BSD on a small PC.
As one you has never really had DEC PDP-11 or Vax experience to any extent, I look at
those computers and think more about wanting to put Ultrix or some other Unix/BSD/Linux
system on them and don't think nostalgic about DEC operating systems. My first big
computer experience (not counting some timeshare Basic programming on MECC/MERITS systems
in Minnesota) from 1977 to 1981 in college was with Harris computers running Vulcan or
VOS. That is my frame of reference for major computer, followed by SunOS/Solaris. Today
my operating system of choice is Linux (e.g., Xubuntu).
Having said that, I do have a healthy respect and admiration to those of you here who know
PDP-11 and Vax systems, plus before that PDP-8 and things like OS/8. Let alone the
various obscure systems. I just can't relate at the same time.
Kevin Anderson
a lurking subscriber from Iowa
11 May
11 May
12:23 p.m.
As one you has never really had DEC PDP-11 or Vax
experience to any extent, I look at those computers and think more about wanting to put
Ultrix or some other Unix/BSD/Linux system on them and don't think nostalgic about DEC
operating systems. My first big computer experience (not counting some timeshare Basic
programming on MECC/MERITS systems in Minnesota) from 1977 to 1981 in college was with
Harris computers running Vulcan or VOS. That is my frame of reference for major computer,
followed by SunOS/Solaris. Today my operating system of choice is Linux (e.g., Xubuntu).
Having said that, I do have a healthy respect and admiration to those of you here who
know PDP-11 and Vax systems, plus before that PDP-8 and things like OS/8. Let alone the
various obscure systems. I just can't relate at the same time.
Kevin Anderson
a lurking subscriber from Iowa
And VOS isn't obscure??? You might just be the first person I've ever heard
mention it. My first work in computers was on a Harris running VOS. Gotta love a system
where you can get Super-Vulcan access.
Zane
12:30 p.m.
Yggdrasil Linux distribution (remember them?) on a 486/50 EISA bus
machine. 16M of memory, Adaptec 2740 SCSI controller, 1G Seagate Hawk
drive, Tseng ET4000 ISA video adapter.
IIRC, X was actually usable albeit a bit slow.
After Windows 3.1 and OS/2 2.0 it was a breath of fresh air. I never
looked back. Still remember the thrill of watching the initial boot
sequence: "... going multi-user..." Hooray!
Steve
--
12:58 p.m.
On Sat, May 11, 2013 at 12:30 PM, Steven Hirsch <snhirsch at gmail.com> wrote:
Yggdrasil Linux distribution (remember them?)
I remember them. That was my first at-work Linux experience (I'd been using
Slackware at home) c. 1996.
IIRC, X was actually usable albeit a bit slow.
Yeah... I remember all the "fun" of trying to find a VGA card with a
specific Cirrus
Logic chip on it that was fully supported under X. We eventually did,
but it took
two or three tries.
-ethan
1:17 p.m.
Microsoft Xenix 3.1 on a Tandy 6000HD in 1985, followed by SunOS 4.0.3
on a Sun 3/60 in 1989.
Mike Loewen mloewen at cpumagic.scol.pa.us
Old Technology http://sturgeon.css.psu.edu/~mloewen/Oldtech/
1:18 p.m.
On Sat, 11 May 2013, Ethan Dicks wrote:
XFree86 was not in terrific shape for a number of common chip sets. I had
so many problems that I ended up springing for an Xi Graphics
Accelerated-X commercial license. They had the first stable Tseng
drivers. Nice folks and great support. Just did a quick Google search
and discovered that they are still in business - for some definition of
"in business" (looks like there were financial and/or legal problems).
Steve
--
On Sat, May 11, 2013 at 12:30 PM, Steven Hirsch
<snhirsch at gmail.com> wrote:
I had actually thought they were gone by then. My first install was in
August, 1994.
Yggdrasil Linux distribution (remember them?)
I remember them. That was my first at-work Linux experience (I'd been using
Slackware at home) c. 1996. IIRC, X was
actually usable albeit a bit slow.
Yeah... I remember all the "fun" of trying to find a VGA card with a
specific Cirrus Logic chip on it that was fully supported under X. We
eventually did, but it took two or three tries.
1:55 p.m.
On Sat, May 11, 2013 at 1:18 PM, Steven Hirsch <snhirsch at gmail.com> wrote:
On Sat, 11 May 2013, Ethan Dicks wrote:
They may have been gone by then. I was doing this in Antarctica where
computers (and other equipment) are ordered in one fiscal year, delivered
by boat during the next fiscal year, then pulled out and used at the
beginning of summer in the *next* fiscal year.
In other words, if you ordered a machine in August, 1994, it would
arrive in February, 1995, and you would stick it in a warehouse before
heading home for the season, then pull it out to use it when you got
back in October, 1995.
So that Yggdrasil disk was probably purchased in in 1995, etc., etc.
I was one of the first to bring Linux to the continent, but we already
had SunOS (and VMS!) well established at that time.
-ethan
On Sat, May 11, 2013 at 12:30 PM, Steven Hirsch
<snhirsch at gmail.com>
wrote:
I had actually thought they were gone by then. My first install was in
August, 1994.
Yggdrasil Linux distribution (remember them?)
I remember them. That was my first at-work Linux experience (I'd been
using Slackware at home) c. 1996. 
13 May
13 May
6:14 p.m.
On 5/11/13 11:58 AM, Ethan Dicks wrote:
On Sat, May 11, 2013 at 12:30 PM, Steven
Hirsch<snhirsch at gmail.com> wrote:
My first exposure to UNIX was AIX, v4.2 IIRC. Then SCO OpenDesktop
v5, then Slackware Linux, don't remember the version. I do remember I
downloaded 54 floppy images and had to rotate 10 o 12 disks through that
install. Buying 54 3.5" disks would have cost real money.
There was a screwdriver shop here that would let me unbox video cards
during that time. They'd let me look at the chips, and do "no-penalty"
exchanges till I found one that worked. Their price was I'd tell them
which specific video card worked with which release of XFree86 and give
them a copy of my config file.
One of their techs used to ding me every time I went in for spending
so much time and money on a toy OS. He kept telling me I should get
MCSE certified, make some real money, and "go places".
I'd REALLY like to find that guy now, just to be a tool. :)
Doc
Yggdrasil Linux distribution (remember them?)
I remember them. That was my first at-work Linux experience (I'd been using
Slackware at home) c. 1996.
IIRC, X was actually usable albeit a bit slow.
Yeah... I remember all the "fun" of trying to find a VGA card with a
specific Cirrus
Logic chip on it that was fully supported under X. We eventually did,
but it took
two or three tries. 
11 May
11 May
12:41 p.m.
New subject: [cctalk] Re: first unix experiences / was Re: [cctalk] Re: An IRIX time capsule...
On 05/11/2013 10:59 AM, Kevin Anderson wrote:
Having said that, I do have a healthy respect and
admiration to those of
you here who know PDP-11 and Vax systems, plus before that PDP-8 and
things like OS/8. Let alone the various obscure systems. I just can't
relate at the same time.
It is never too late to start! The DEC machines are fascinating systems,
both the hardware and the operating systems. They're a real pleasure to use.
If you ever want to learn more about them, I or any number of people here
would be happy to help you get started.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA
4088
days inactive
4090
days old
9 comments
8 participants
participants (8)
-
cclist＠sydex.com -
doc＠vaxen.net -
ethan.dicks＠gmail.com -
healyzh＠aracnet.com -
kevin_anderson_dbq＠yahoo.com -
mcguire＠neurotica.com -
mloewen＠cpumagic.scol.pa.us -
snhirsch＠gmail.com