I love retrocomputing but I never really understood running a modern OS on old hardware. I have System 7.5 on my LC575 and NeXTSTEP 3.3 on my turbo color slab; I could run NetBSD on both, but I could also do that on modern hardware with much better software support (and build times that wouldn't take an epoch).
It's cool, and I'll still support it, but I won't understand it :)
As someone who mostly gets my retrocomputing kick from running modern software on old RISC hardware, I'll try to explain why that's my thing.
Typically, these venerable beasts come from a more "civilized" era of computing, at least that's how I feel. I wasn't around to actually experience it, coming up when real UNIX™ was already pushed to the fringes.
I'm completely aware that I'm romanticizing, but for me, there is something about these machines that a PC just still can't exactly match. Trying to move a mouse and typing with broken keyboard layouts through a buggy-as-hell IPMI interface that was somehow bolted to a machine that, from it's inception, never was meant to be operated remotely, just feels like a hack. It might get the job done, and it's cheap, but it most certainly isn't elegant. The PC as a whole just isn't elegant.
But these old SUN and IBM machines, they're something different. Tools from professionals, for professionals. With remote management built into the machine from the inception! No stupid GUI with whacky translations in sight!
Of course I'm also fascinated by Solaris, AIX and HP-UX and whatnot. But running modern software on these machines has it's own appeal to me.
My retrocomputing itch is to show off these machines, experience them. And what better way to do that than to actually use them to host modern software, impress people by showing how capable they still are, maybe as a glimpse into a future that never was.
But it makes a kind of sense, right? There's long been straightforward upgrade paths for 486 users, making the 486 effectively totally obsolete and killing most of the demand for continued support. Whereas 68k machines have effectively become trapped in time, and their users are still going to work to keep support going.
I love retrocomputing but I never really understood running a modern OS on old hardware. I have System 7.5 on my LC575 and NeXTSTEP 3.3 on my turbo color slab; I could run NetBSD on both, but I could also do that on modern hardware with much better software support (and build times that wouldn't take an epoch).
It's cool, and I'll still support it, but I won't understand it :)
As someone who mostly gets my retrocomputing kick from running modern software on old RISC hardware, I'll try to explain why that's my thing.
Typically, these venerable beasts come from a more "civilized" era of computing, at least that's how I feel. I wasn't around to actually experience it, coming up when real UNIX™ was already pushed to the fringes. I'm completely aware that I'm romanticizing, but for me, there is something about these machines that a PC just still can't exactly match. Trying to move a mouse and typing with broken keyboard layouts through a buggy-as-hell IPMI interface that was somehow bolted to a machine that, from it's inception, never was meant to be operated remotely, just feels like a hack. It might get the job done, and it's cheap, but it most certainly isn't elegant. The PC as a whole just isn't elegant.
But these old SUN and IBM machines, they're something different. Tools from professionals, for professionals. With remote management built into the machine from the inception! No stupid GUI with whacky translations in sight!
Of course I'm also fascinated by Solaris, AIX and HP-UX and whatnot. But running modern software on these machines has it's own appeal to me. My retrocomputing itch is to show off these machines, experience them. And what better way to do that than to actually use them to host modern software, impress people by showing how capable they still are, maybe as a glimpse into a future that never was.
68k outliving 486 support in the kernel will be hilarious
Is it still supported? The “News” page on the linked site reads:
Current Linux/m68k Releases
As of today, the following versions of the Linux/m68k kernel are "current":
Linux/m68k 2.0.36, released 5 February 1999, is a stable 2.0 series release. Users of earlier versions should probably upgrade; it's well worth it.
Linux/m68k 2.2.10, released 19 July 1999, is a developmental release (despite the 2.2 version number).
Linux/m68k 2.4.5, released 5 June 2001, is an experimental release. (More recent patches may be available in the linux-m68k mailing list archives.)
There are files for it in mainline:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/lin...
Well, this page/project certainly isn't, but Wikipedia says it's still in the kernel:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux-supported_comput...
But it makes a kind of sense, right? There's long been straightforward upgrade paths for 486 users, making the 486 effectively totally obsolete and killing most of the demand for continued support. Whereas 68k machines have effectively become trapped in time, and their users are still going to work to keep support going.
I would imagine there are actually more 68k devices out there than 486 and, I am told, the 68k architecture is much more enjoyable to work with.