[rescue] Perverse Question

[Jeffrey Nonken]

On Mon, 9 Jun 2003 11:07:19 -0500, "Jonathan C. Patschke"
<jp at celestrion.net> wrote:

> Well, S/Linux finally supports (in some rudimentary fashion, from what
> I've read) the DBRI chip in there, so you'll get audio and possibly ISDN
> support.  Aside from Solaris, it's probably the only OS with workable
> DBRI support.  NetBSD and OpenBSD both run very well on it.  OpenBSD is
> the fastest of the bunch.  NetBSD has better PCMCIA support, and Linux
> has better Linux application support.  All three support SunOS binary
> emulation to a fairly workable degree.
>
> I'm using a SPARCclassic (also know as a SPARCstation LC) at home as a
> router.  It does a terrific job of that, but the load hovers at about
> 0.9 if I run squid+AdZap on it while I'm hitting the web from another
> system.

Yeah, I've been told that the BSDs are a possibility. I'd probably go with
NetBSD since I'm already somewhat familiar with it. Though I'm trying to
get my feet wet in Linux right now as well. I don't see a PCMCIA slot. ISDN
support doesn't rock my socks, seeing as how I don't have ISDN and it's
expensive 'round here. My DSL line is adequate. It's nice to have sound,
but I have several working PCs that already support sound and have a lot
more performance.

>
> If you ever wanted to play with a RISC machine at a really low level,

Microchip sells several lines of RISC chips that I've done development on,
and I'm trying to get a job based partly on that experience. Or maybe those
aren't considered "real" RISC machines? I dunno, I've been out of the loop
for a while.

> the sun4c and sun4m (the LX is sun4m) are probably the best-documented
> platforms on the planet, and SPARC assembly language is -really- easy.

I've also got a pair of SS20s. Glad to know SPARC assembly is easy, but I'm
not really that interested in learning it for the sake of learning it. If I
find a need to do SPARC assembly, I can learn it then.

I was actually more curious about how I could make this a useful part of my
home network? Without necessarily displacing another machine already doing
the same job.

I didn't know what the machine was before I accepted it, or I wouldn't have
bothered. But now that I have it, I'd like to find a use for it.

Other than ripping the guts out and installing a mini-ITX board, that is.
;)

---
Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers. -Alfred, Lord Tennyson