Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 20:13:27 +1100 From: Sue Blake <sue@welearn.com.au> To: Heiko Recktenwald <uzs106@ibm.rhrz.uni-bonn.de> Cc: shoe latif <slatif@petrosys.com>, Sven Bentlage <S.Bentlage@gmx.de>, freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: slow is beautiful [was: FreeBSD on Macintosh] Message-ID: <20001121201325.A377@welearn.com.au> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.21.0011210048070.342-100000@moritz.alleswirdgelber>; from Heiko Recktenwald on Tue, Nov 21, 2000 at 12:49:11AM %2B0100 References: <3A19458F.97BEACB0@petrosys.com> <Pine.BSF.4.21.0011210048070.342-100000@moritz.alleswirdgelber>
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On Tue, Nov 21, 2000 at 12:49:11AM +0100, Heiko Recktenwald wrote:
> > > run a FreeBSD system on a 486 PC?
>
> Yes, easily. I think Sue Blake is an expert in running it on 386 ;-)
Within limits, yes. I don't recommend it, though, unless you are
willing and able to spend hours giving it TLC and already have the
skills to do so without outside help.
It runs better with very old versions of FreeBSD, which requires a lot
of hand-updating to keep up with security, and means you can't install
recent versions of software packages, only what came on the CD, and
that too has security implications. So "don't try this at home kids"
unless you just want to learn a bit of unix on a system that will never
be networked (no modem or ethernet connection etc).
Running a recent FreeBSD version on a 486 is probably something like
running earlier versions on a 386. With some care in the setting up
it'll make a fine router/nameserver machine, and with ongoing
maintenance it can also be a great little mail and web server for a
home or small business network. If it's in your bedroom it's a
versatile alarm clock as well. Make cron your friend and add the PC
speaker to the kernel some time when you're going out so that it gets a
chance to do the compiling without you there watching the clock.
If you're running on small ancient hardware, ditch all thoughts of GUI,
have as much memory as you can and a ridiculously large amount of swap,
I guess 50 megs more than RAM (I've got 100 and that's more than I need).
Avoid running majordomo or anything that causes perl to flog the disk,
don't bother trying to compile stuff, put the radio on to entertain
you during the wait for man pages to format for display, and clear
out of there just before 2am or you'll be deaf by morning.
Once you get in the swing of it, running a slow machine is like
meditating. You might even start to enjoy the change of pace. Think of
it as your country house where there is time to relax and enjoy the
essence of unadorned unix. Remember that the machine is not there to
amuse you; you are there to support the machine and to delight in each
new puppy-dog achievement. Once you've been a contented 386 or 486 user
for a while, your friends will start to notice.
When you upgrade to a very low end pentium you'll be able to do
just about anything your heart desires, GUI and all. Just don't
neglect RAM and never never skimp on swap space.
If you're using FreeBSD to learn unix and you have a very old machine,
it will be good for your education. It's interesting to see how much
more time some things take than others, without having to run a
separate program to measure the small differences that you could not
perceive on a faster computer. This makes a slow machine a good place
to learn shell scripting, for example. I've been running a 386 at home
since when they were fashionable, but at work I look after huge alpha
servers. I'm sure I run these powerful monsters well because of having
spent years forced to listen to what the heart of each machine is
saying just to make the bloody thing run. It's a whole different
approach, and you can apply it anywhere, even to people.
--
Regards,
-*Sue*-
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