yeah, this mostly fits my experience. usable hardware has become virtually free. the result being that people throw them at me and i have so many computers that i can use a dedicated one for every little project.
the only reason for me to ever consider newer gear (like rpi or modern thinkpads) is power efficiency. but i am able to hold out for the time being. i certainly think that running plan9 on classic hardware has been very enjoyable, esp. since the 9front bootloader fixed booting from all the IDE ports. you could say 9front is most classical plan9 bec. it boots. On 12/31/21, vic.thac...@fastmail.fm <vic.thac...@fastmail.fm> wrote: > On Fri, Dec 31, 2021, at 20:55, hiro wrote: >> what makes it enjoyable hardware? when is it classic? anything that's >> older than 10y or what? > > I suppose classic could be any x86 based computer system that came out > about the same time as Plan 9 fourth edition. Someone once referred to Plan > 9 fourth edition as being classic, so I borrowed the notion. > >> it's surely fun to install plan9 on a hundred random computers and get >> lucky and have everything work. but that's just not been my >> experience. >> >> so instead i learned to be a little bit picky about the hardware >> avoiding having to write drivers for everything that doesn't work. > > Having a used computer hardware store five minutes away which sells and buys > old hardware makes the pain of trial and error less painful. If something > does not work, just sell it back to the store. Intel desktop motherboards > circa 2003 work very well. I recently purchased an Intel motherboard with > CPU & CPU fan (1,000 yen), video card (1000 yen), a 400 Watt PSU (300 > yen), a CD-ROM (300 yen), and 1.5 GB of RAM (300 yen). A 1,000 yen is > approximately $8.69 USD for those reading this. Also, I purchased a > complete, working Dell workstation (2003) for 1,000 yen that works well as a > terminal. With hardware this inexpensive, my primary concern has been to > ensure that I can back up and restore data. > >> just curious what kind of "classic" you're going for, i wasn't trying >> to chastise you. IDE isn't *that* old either. we have other people >> playing with pdp emulators. > > Yes, Dennis was kind enough to give me and another fellow working on the > Simh emulator a copy of 8th Edition UNIX labeled TAPE. Good times. > >> in my experience with those expensive energy prices where i live the >> only thing expensive would be if you keep a lot of PCs running at the >> same time 24/7. > > In Kanagawa prefecture (Japan) where I live, energy prices are expensive > during the day and slightly less expensive during the late evening hours. > With three machines, firewall, and switch, running 24/7, the cost of > electricity has been about 5,000 yen extra a month to run a Plan 9 system. > > There are many reasons why I find Plan 9 enjoyable. Every time someone asks, > I seem to give yet another reason as to why. The cost of getting started, > the return on investment, the challenge, the sense of accomplishment of > writing a book with acme, helping others get their Plan 9 system up and > running to name a few reasons. Also, I enjoy writing other Plan 9 users and > asking for advice and coming away with the feeling of camaraderie between > long-time Plan 9 users. I've met a lot of great people along the way. Many > of my friends (Plan 9 users) have since passed away, but the memories of > them remain. I suppose using Plan 9 reminds me of happier times when I use > it. > > 明けましておめでとうございます。 > Happy New Year, > > Vester "Vic" Thacker ------------------------------------------ 9fans: 9fans Permalink: https://9fans.topicbox.com/groups/9fans/T5888591114a7cf34-M59f7cfa81771a4924f4db915 Delivery options: https://9fans.topicbox.com/groups/9fans/subscription
