old dogs...new tricks?

[Rick Thomas]

Don't discount old machines.  I've had for several years a Dell 
486SX (32-bit architecture on a 16-bit memory/IO bus) at 25MHz with 
8MB RAM and a 40 MB HD.  I run a stripped down version of Slakware 
(but any of the more recent mini-Linux distributions would do as 
well) on it and it makes a dandy NTP (Network Time Protocol) 
server.  It sits in the corner of the room and serves time to the 
entire campus.  It's one of a set of 5 obsolete machines (ranging 
from  i386 to P133) so employed.

Does that qualify as "interesting or useful"?

Rick

PS -- I don't think there is a mini-Linux version for PPC, but it 
shouldn't be impossible to do (start with YDL and throw out 
anything you don't need).   Set up a web server (another thing to 
do with an "obsolete" machine) and make it available to the world.  
Looks good on a resume!

PPS -- There are distributions of BSD that run on the old Motorola 
Macs.  It doesn't have to be Linux to be "useful or interesting".  
Remember, BSD originally ran on a 1MHz PDP-11 with 128K of RAM.  
Your Mac classic is bigger than that!

On Saturday, March 15, 2003, at 03:26 PM, Andrew Stout wrote:

>
> I have or could easily acquire the following machines, and I'm 
> wondering if I could do anything useful or interesting [1] with 
> any of them:
>