Re: [MLUG] 486SX lease on life?

[Michael <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

The one real reason I'd say this old of hardware would be useful (outside
of being desperate for any hardware) is to practice writing software for
slower systems that you might want to port to embedded devices and
such. As a programmer forcing yourself to work within these limits can be
good for you. If you're not a programmer then umm sell it to your computer
dumb neighbors and buy something new. :)

;):):-):):-):):-)8')
Michael McGlothlin <EMAIL:PROTECTED>
http://mlug.missouri.edu/~mogmios/projects/

On Mon, 1 Apr 2002, Kmicic wrote:

> Dave McBride wrote:
> > 
> > My wife & I (well, me mostly) have become proud owners of our parents'
> > old 486SX'es (2). I've heard you can make a workable Linux box with a
> > 486DX >= 8 MB. How 'bout the SX?  Would I be wasting my time?
> 
> I'd like ot take an opposite stance from everyone else on this. They
> definitely are a waste of time and electric energy. Yes, you can set
> them up to be a nat box. You may even be lucky and take half a day to
> compile a kernel. However, that's probably the only thing you're bound
> to get working (and yes, you'll be learning a lot about the old hardware
> if you're lucky and the kernel doesn't compile on the first few tries...
> but who really cares?). 
> 
> Problems you're gonna run into:
> 1. Outdated software. New soft is likely to be slow or not run at all. I
> don't think anyone out there still programs with a 33mhz processor w/o
> math coprocessor and 8mb ram in mind anymore. On top of that, this
> outdated software is buggy. Linux and all other unixes have gone a loong
> way in those past 5 or 6 years since 486's were cool.
> 
> 2. Hardware is either gonna be impossible to get, or expensive. Or both.
> We're talking about motherboards that do not even support PCI video
> cards, and I just about busted my nut looking for a PCI vid card a year
> ago (thanks to the nameless soul in this group for donating one)! 
> 
> 3. Documentation like howto's and even other people's troubleshooting
> experiences are not written with 486's in mind! Let's say it again: back
> when 486's were cool, there was no documentation (ok, I'm exagerrating,
> but you get the idea).
> 
> 4. They're slooow. So will your learning be, because it's trial...
> looong wait... and error. It's that loong wait much slower and more
> frustrating than on a newer machine.
> 
> 5. Don't get me wrong. I do have several Pentiums, most of them
> ocklocked to near 200Mhz speeds. And they run fine (except when they
> die). But I've just spent a coupla days on a nutbuster P200 that wasn't
> gonna work (proprietary hardware - yes, thay had this stuff back in the
> day), and while it was a satisfying experience to have finally beaten it
> into shape, it's nowhere near the amount of time you're gonna spend when
> one of your 486's decides to run for the border. 
> 
> In short, I'd draw the line of what's worthwile at high end Pentium I's,
> and only if they have some respectable amount of RAM already in them.
> 
> Paul
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