[rescue] Sun Sparcstation 20 hard disks

[Carl R. Friend]

    On Thu, 25 Aug 2011, Simon Fryer wrote:

> Hmmm. Troll bait!

    Indeed.  Please don't feed.

> Anyway... There are some electronics, working happily since the
> 1970's, speeding their way out of the solar system. I guess there are
> no moving parts.

     Generally speaking, the overall quality of computers manufatured
before the invasion of the consumer-grade PC was quite good.  Yes,
there are problems with aging components, but the older systems were
dedigned to be repaired, not thrown out and new ones purchased.  One
cannot properly compare professional-grade systems, and elder systems
to modern stuff.

> And besides, I think the systems in question need replacement HDD
> that are quiet and cooler than the original disks. Plus it helps when
> the amount of HDD connected to a machine is greater than a cheap USB
> memory stick.

    Spending some coin on a modern disk for the SS20 will not of
necessity be a waste -- even if the SS20 blows an unobtanium chip
the disk can be used in something else quite handily and the dead
SS20 used as a donor system for another SS20.

    As far as the capacity of the disk in question is concerned, part
of the "experience" of working with vintage systems is that one had
limited resources to work with, and that was part of the challenge of
computing in years past.  One of my very favourite machines has 48
kilo-words (16 bit) memory and a pair of 2.5 MB disks -- and it's more
than capable of real work.

+------------------------------------------------+---------------------+
| Carl Richard Friend (UNIX Sysadmin)            | West Boylston       |
| Minicomputer Collector / Enthusiast            | Massachusetts, USA  |
| mailto:crfriend at rcn.com                        +---------------------+
| http://users.rcn.com/crfriend/museum           | ICBM: 42:22N 71:47W |
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