[rescue] Linux wet paint, was Re: Spark10 CPU question (must fix - SPARC damnit :-) )

[Dave McGuire]

  I thought the thread had to do with appropriate/useful replacements
for Solaris, now that it's possibly getting discontinued.  As the
operating systems being discussed run on the hardware that is the stated
purpose of this list, this is, in my opinion, squarely within the scope
of the list.

  Now, about this 11/750 of yours...I didn't know you had one!  I love
11/750s; I managed one at work for years, and I have one in the museum.
It needs a lot of help; it has some power supply problems.  Where are
you with yours?

              -Dave

On 12/18/2016 07:55 PM, Ian Finder wrote:
> First CCtalk and now Rescue.
> 
> Can this entire genre of devolving discussions into "modern OS rant thread"
> please go die in a fire? Permanently?
> 
> A few of us actually subscribe to this list for the nominal purpose of
> classic computing, and couldn't give two shits about these never-ending
> battles of "wit."
> 
> When 9/10ths of the volume of the list traffic are for shitposts like this,
> it makes me eye the unsubscribe button.
> 
> This is not a criticism of Dave in particular. If you are engaging on this
> thread you are all part of the problem- now I am part of it too.
> 
> Now back to working on my VAX 11/750 project.
> 
> Happy holidays, and may you all get lots of downtime to work on your
> vintage gear!
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> - Ian
> 
> On Sun, Dec 18, 2016 at 15:26 Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com> wrote:
> 
>> On 12/18/2016 06:14 PM, Mouse wrote:
>>
>>>> I can't disagree on any of those points.  However, the real-world
>>
>>>> situation with Linux isn't quite so bleak.  This is evident by the
>>
>>>> simple fact that, in a great many applications, including the sending
>>
>>>> of this email, it works.
>>
>>>
>>
>>> If all you're interested in is a black-box tool, then, sure, go ahead
>>
>>> and use Linux.  Or WinCE.  Or VxWorks.  Or whatever else you find does
>>
>>> what you want it to do without doing too much you don't want.
>>
>>
>>
>>   As far as my desktop system, a black-box tool is exactly what I want.
>>
>> Whether I'm designing hardware, writing firmware, testing either,
>>
>> gathering data, controlling instrumentation, or typing an email, I want
>>
>> (and demand) a tool that works 100% of the time, the way I want it to,
>>
>> and doesn't get in my way.  That's what I have, right now, with a
>>
>> high-end PeeCee running Linux.
>>
>>
>>
>>   A Linux fanboy I am not, and you know full well how much I dislike
>>
>> PeeCees.  But that doesn't change the statement above.
>>
>>
>>
>>> Assumng, of course, you can _tell_ what it's doing, which I suspect you
>>
>>> mostly can't, except for the most superficial user-interaction things.
>>
>>
>>
>>   I'm reasonably adept at figuring out what a UNIX system is up to, as
>>
>> you well know.
>>
>>
>>
>>>>>> And Android is just fantastic and generally just WORKS, 'nuff said.
>>
>>>>> [...] I disagree.  [...]  It's a huge crawling horror pitched over
>>
>>>>> the fence with no real documentation.
>>
>>>> Mine just works.  All day, every day.  My phone and several tablets.
>>
>>>> I reboot a couple of times per year to install OS updates, but that's
>>
>>>> it.
>>
>>>
>>
>>> Sounds like poor QA to me.  Unless you've been meddling with the OS.
>>
>>
>>
>>   I think we have a disconnect.  Please re-read what I said above your
>>
>> response.
>>
>>
>>
>>>> How do yours fail?
>>
>>>
>>
>>> I don't have any, because Android fails to do what I want in one of the
>>
>>> very first, and most important to me, ways: it is not open source.
>>
>>> Every Android device I have found such information out about has
>>
>>> required binary blob drivers for at least some of the hardware.  (That
>>
>>> it's hard to find such information at all for most Android devices is
>>
>>> another, and perhaps worse, failing.  For my purposes, of course.)
>>
>>
>>
>>   Ahh ok.  I, on the other hand, want to make phone calls and send text
>>
>> messages.  That's why I have a phone.
>>
>>
>>
>>>> Not liking the way something is designed is very different from
>>
>>>> thinking it doesn't or cannot do its job.
>>
>>>
>>
>>> But what is "its job"?  The first job of an operating system for one of
>>
>>> my computers is to be fully open source.  Computers are _not_ black-box
>>
>>> tools to me, and a system - hardware or software - that assumes they
>>
>>> are has, for my purposes, already failed.
>>
>>
>>
>>   Understood.  To each his own.  I don't like some of the design
>>
>> decisions either, but there exists nothing better in the current era,
>>
>> that I've been able to find.  If I'm wrong (and I'd love to be, since I
>>
>> hate running friggin' PeeCees) please point me in the right direction.
>>
>>
>>
>>            -Dave
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
>>
>> New Kensington, PA
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>> rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue
> _______________________________________________
> rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue
> 


-- 
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA