[rescue] Wanted: more that just a 24-bit framebuffer in .uk

[Paul Sladen]

[several posts/follow-ups in one.  if you're GB, please read that last one]

On Sun, 16 Sep 2001, Bill Bradford wrote:
> On Sat, Sep 15, 2001 at 09:12:02PM -0400, Joshua D Boyd wrote:
> > Isn't there a fujitsu sbus board (2-3 slots in size) that is supposed to
> > decently?  I remeber seeing some fairly hefty (and reasonably
> > modern) chips on it in the photos listed on eBay.
> 
> The ZX?  Its even slower than the S24 and not supported past 2.6.

I forgot to mention that I was running a nice operating called  Debian
on it, complete with a modern Xserver called  XFree 4.0  ;-)
I'm intrigued, is your `Fujitsu card' not just a dual-slot ZX?

On Sat, 15 Sep 2001, Joshua D Boyd wrote:
> GL doesn't seem to exist before the Ultras.  Bleh.  Always one of the
> things that peaved me about Suns.

Yes, Sun make rocking hardware but ship backarsed software to run on them,
and seem to stop supporting it very (too?) soon; XFree 4.0 had the Mesa GL
implementation intergrated along with all the other loads of other grovvy
features that occured in the rewrite for 4.0;

On Sat, 15 Sep 2001, Ken Hansen wrote:
> You *really* don't want an S24 - the last fellow I advised on this
> matter insisted he needed 24 bit color, he wrote me back, asking if I
> had a TGX I could sell him, the performance *was* that bad.....

I am still getting vibes that the various `suitable' cards are electronic
versions of watching paint dry!  Hey, since so many people hate the things
and seem to want to be rid of them, are there any going spare?

> My advice is to look for a box that supports > 8 Bits
> easily, say an Ultra 1 *anything* Creator, Ultra 2 or
> other... Here in the states, a used Ultra 1 170 can be
> gotten quite reasonably...

3 Months ago (while employed), I would have brought a U30/C3D at anything up
to about $1000 without even thinking about it;  now, several months later of
running down my reserves;  I'm not sure if I even have that much money to my
name....  A synopsis of my life at the moment might be:

  "I have my hands in many pockets, none of which actually pay me anything"

These are all reasonable, worthy causes;  various charities, small
companies, and (the main one) a small ISP that was going under.  For some
reason I do these on the belief that they will pay me back in the long run.

Either through networking, or in the case of the ISP, I am the `Chief Unix
Enginneer'.... More to the point, I replaced a *team*, switched 90% of the
operation to Linux boxes that can be managed remotely, and am now trying to
run this operation despite having made a whole 115ukp bucks out of it.
(cash, when I was strapped).

30ukp/month;  I used to make that an hour!  Yes, I know it's my fault, and
that I should put my foot down and charge people what they deserve to
pay..... If I can save, it can pay me a consultancy, if it goes under (what
I am /trying/ to prevent) then it does, and I've loose my colo facility.

-*- -*- -*-

Just now I'm going through the motions of setting up /another/ ISP, *mine*,
no-one elses, no cruft, no rediculious schemes, and no legacy history of
being a shit, with a backup regime, and enough paperwork to keep track of
who owes money!

I have troubles like;  The leased line from the local telco is a rip off,
they know, I know it, I can't switch because of not having the upfront
installation budget for anyone else, and I am *seriously* looking at
aggreating different providers ADSL lines to provide upstream bandwidth...!

It is also embrassing.  Secretly knowing that your operation has outstanding
debts to your friends for some year-old (and admitedly overpriced)
consultancy, and having to meet them and dispondently slag of the same
operation you are spending your free time to keep afloat whilst pretending
to know nothing about their unpaid bills, and knowing full-well that why
they haven't been paid is because *you* don't have the money.

-*- -*- -*-

Trouble is, everything I do at the moment basically has to have a
no-cost-startup option, and lowish risk.  The American system of cascading
credit cards and endless debt is /not/ the answer for me.

So for /my/ attempt, my plans are based on what I can setup for free.
I can allocate myself a /29 and an invoice with the words `descretionary
discount: zero' for the colo;  the next problem is how to build a pair
machines, and find six disks for a pair of RAID setups?

If anyone wants to give me the impedious, and wants hosting, domains or
something that an ordinary telco doesn't want to know about;  I want to be
able to give that on a cheep (nee cost), or free basis for individuals
and `worthy causes'; and if I make any profit from Businesses....
....well, then.... it can help feed me.

So my particular graphics want is more a means to an end;  if I can get
myself enough of a machine (for my personal use) to be able to do some
graphics (drawing) work, and can find a couple of people with a despire for
a over-priced website, then maybe I can keep myself out of the shit for a
little bit longer before I have to resort to manual work.

I feel better now, thanks,
Paul

Now if you have a job; consider that nothing is stable, you can stop having a
job very quickly, terrorists might even decide to blow up your office block.