Actually, the VAX, SPARC and (some) mainframe gear is quite PC compatible. Does it use ASCII for serial communications? Does it use 8 bits per byte? SCSI interface? Does it run on 120V AC power?
I bet some of that older hardware could be coaxed into running Linux quite well. Michael Sokolov wrote: > Hello again, > > Thanks for all the recommendations. > > It was reassuring to hear that older hardware will work fine, but I need > to clarify something: due to my general dislike of the pee sea (PC) > architecture, I have absolutely no, zero, zip, nada PC hardware already > on hand, all our existing hardware is VAX, Sun SPARC or mainframe gear, > nothing even remotely PC-compatible. Therefore, whether I go with new > or used, either way I have to buy that PC or the complete set of parts > for it somewhere. (The only exception is that we do already have a > good Viewsonic monitor with PeeCee video input and PS/2 kbd & mouse > which we intend to use for this workstation.) > > Which brings me to the following: if anyone on this list has any old PC > hardware which meets the specs that have been discussed and which they > would be willing to sell to us for a price less than what we would have > to pay at a store for a new low-end system, let's talk. > > Chris Penn <[email protected]> wrote: > > >> A different strategy could be to build a box for speed. The functions >> you mention are pretty basic and can be done on a windows machine, so >> I say make a box that can do them waaaaay faster. >> [...] >> Maybe a decent video card for compiz if >> she wishes she had a Mac. >> > > Comparison with Weenzone/Mac is completely irrelevant in this case > because the intended user of the workstation in question is my > girlfriend who has already been required to give all that stuff up as a > condition for our relationship. > > I have a policy that anyone who receives financial and/or emotional > support from me (spouse, child, whoever) is required to use only those > computing technologies which I approve on ethical grounds. Weendoze and > MacOS are on the black list of prohibited stuff and so are GNOME, KDE > and most definitely compiz or whatever the hell that is. If the > spouse/child/whoever wishes to use Weendoze, MacOS, GNOME, KDE or compiz > or whatever, they are more than welcome to do so, but in that case they > must find some other place to live and some other means of support. > > >> and a gigbit NIC. >> > > Completely useless given that our office network is strictly 10 Mbps > (true coaxial Ethernet in the data centre, 10BaseT going out to the > cubicles). The outside Internet connection is SDSL @ 384 kbps serving > as an ARPANET replacement. > > >> You gonna go 64bit? >> > > I would really prefer not to, just to make my sysadmin job easier. I > hate admining modern Linux on pee seas as it is, I don't need the extra > complication of however-in-hell does that Intel 64-bit stuff work... > > >> [recommendations regarding software RAID] >> > > Completely unnecessary because the PC in question will never have > anything of any value stored on it. If the HDD goes up in smoke, we > throw it out, stick a new one in there and reinstall Slackware. All > valuable information is stored only on the mainframe. > > >> [OpenOffice stuff] >> > > We won't be using OO either, the company policy requires that all TPS > reports be written in vi on the UNIX mainframe. > > As I've said, we need to put this PeeCee together to do web (Firefox), > MP3s and video, stuff which absolutely positively cannot be done on the > mainframe. Anything that can be done on the mainframe, regardless of > how un-modern and user-unfriendly it is, is done on the mainframe. > > MS > _______________________________________________ > LinuxUsers mailing list > [email protected] > http://socallinux.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/linuxusers >
