[rescue] compiling old software re: emacs on SunOS 4.1.4

[Richard]

Hi John

In stead of vnc I compiled X11R6 (long gnu journey from tar up...)  for my SS20 rining 4.1.3U1 and then use Cigwyn X11 so my Windows 10 machine can be a X terminal. I can then setenv DISPLAY on the SS20 (or any other machine with X11 on it) to the Win10 machine and I have xterm, netscape, sunpc  etc from the remote machines.... 

As others have pointed out also helps to go back and find age appropriate versions of the software. i.e. from the gnu archive. The current versions of sed/gcc/make etc really are a challenge on these old systems.

hope that helps.

Cheers

Richard

On Tue, 29 May 2018, at 11:06 PM, john wrote:
> You can probably divine that I don't know what I'm doing from these 
> notes, but...
> 
> I, too, use vi almost exclusively, not only on the Sparc10, but also the 
> half dozen RasberryPi's soldiering away at various tasks around the 
> house, and of course the Linux machines and spouse's damned AppleAir.
> 
> I still have a SPARCprinter1 - and it works too. I needed Ghostprint to 
> enable it to print stuff which NewsPrint couldn't handle. This meant 
> brining up GCC using the old resident 4.1.4 cc. This went pretty well 
> especially because notes I found on the web alerted me to potential 
> problems.B  Eventually I got gcc 2.9.5 running and then ghostprint.B  And 
> yes, the sparc10 is a print server which will print anything we send it 
> from linux or the apple.B  I haven't been able to get windows 10 to deal 
> with it because I haven't figured out how to get the PPD info into some 
> form that the Windows printer routine can understand.
> 
> I then thought it would be nice if I could get VNC running on the 
> SPARC10.B  I could display Xclock from the Sun on other machines, but 
> nothing more complex.B  VNC would be nice, but I ran into a host of 
> dependency problems trying to compile it.
> 
> So my question is: Is it possible that when I try to compile what 
> purports to be 1995 vintage code, someone has doctored up the 
> configuration files to expect a more modern environment?B  For example, I 
> was able to get GMAKE compiled, but then it didn't like my SED, and so I 
> tried updating SED and ran into other things it didn't like. It looked 
> like an endless treasure hunt. I gave up.
> 
> There is also the problem of patches and how far up one should bring a 
> system.B  I decided to patch up to 2000, among other things so DATE would 
> work right. I would think I could run into trouble trying to compile 
> 1995 code on a machine patched to 2000.
> 
> The original motivation for keeping the SS10 running was so I could run 
> a 1992 version of a solid modeling package i had a license for.B  After 
> doing all sorts of upgrades and going to microSd drive and two ross 
> hypersparc processors and a whole lot of RAM, I decided it would be 
> better to work on a modern solid-modeler.B  I subscribed to CREO, which 
> is quite good but runs on Windows 10.B  Now, except for the printing, the 
> SS10 has nothing to do.B  I would like to bring up VNC, but it looks like 
> a month's work and I don't have THAT much time.
> 
> as to crackerjack, there's a prize in there somewhere if only I can find it.
> 
> john
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