[geeks] Hello, my name is Ken, and I am a...

[Brian Hechinger]

> This morning, on my way in to work, the town my office is in is having a "big
> pick-up" (this is when the trash man will take away anything *reasonable* left
> on the curb, i.e. no water heaters). On my short jaunt through town I counted

i think i live in the oddest area in the world.  every sunday (not every other
sunday, not one sunday a month, EVERY SUNDAY) they trash people will take 
ANYTHING that you put out on the curb.  washing machine, refrigerator, water
heater, you name it, they will take it.  it's the craziest thing i've ever seen.

> no less than 5 IBM XT/AT clones stacked next to various trash piles, and I was
> tempted to stop and take a look. There was also a Mac IIx (yes, I got close
> enough to see the model number)...

blech, old x86 is just as bad as new x86.  used to have a Mac IIx running 
NetBSD, nice little box.  you shoulda snagged it.

> I have a problem.

we all do.

> I need a 12 step program.

no, you need a bigger truck.

> but a 486 still would give pause. About a year ago I got a UPS (500 VA) and a
> Compaq 486 w/3Com nic and CD-ROM/sound card that work great (but with minimal
> RAM, I think 16 or 24 Meg). Looks like a nice, no-cost Linux Router Project
> "kit" to me ;^).

486 boxes are nice kit, not the same as an old vax or sun box, but still not
bad.

> At TCF last weekend, I turned up my nose at a $15 Sun Classic with RAM/HD, 
> so I have defined a lower-limit to the machines I will "rescue" (486 or 
> greater, better than Classic/LX) -what are other peoples minimums?

what's my minimum?  do i need heavy machinery to move it?  no, wait, that's
not a limit either.  hmmm, i don't think i have a minimum lower limit.

> If I spotted an SS/5, SS/10 or better, I'd pick it up w/o reservation - but I
> don't think anything slower would make me pause...

sun1, sun2, sun3, sun4* i'll take it.

> Ken

> After a bout with excess, nothing "smaller" than sun4u, unless its a really
> loaded ss10 or 20, or a ss5 w/24bit.... Also, no more vme.
> Bill

all your vme are belong to ME.  send all your VME this way, i LOVE VME.  jeez,
pretty soon you'll be ditching all your QBus stuff. :)

cheers,

-brian