[retrochallenge] Re: What about....
- From: "Byron Q. Desnoyers Winmill" <byron@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: retrochallenge@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 08:22:00 -0500
On Sun, Mar 27, 2005 at 11:33:33PM -0700, Cory Wiegersma wrote:
> 1) The Manufacture of my particular computer started in SEPTEMBER
> 1993.... Yet I'd still call it retro.
I'm considering a change to the rules which may or may not allow
you to use your computer. That is, the model of the processor must
have been available prior to March 1993. This is to avoid really
wonky things like a Quadra 950 being a qualifying machine, yet a
less powerful LC 474 being a non-qualifying machine. It may also
help to avoid some confusion with machines like the Amiga, where
there are tonnes of poorly documented accelerator cards from small
third-party vendors.
Finally, even if your machine doesn't qualify, keep in mind that
an SGI workstation of that era will be considerably more powerful
than the personal computers which most people will be using.
Any thoughts?
> 2) I admit... it runs IRIX 6.5, an OS from 1998. Even worse, the
> release, 6.5.22, is from 2002 I think.
Someone else is asking for that rule to be dropped, suggesting that
it would limit the capabilities of the hardware -- and that we
should be proving how good our legacy hardware is, not how good we
are at being software masochists. In a sense I agree. The original
point was to exclude anything like Windows 95, unfortunately you
can still use Windows NT and even OS/2 Warp 3. It also makes it
more difficult for users of some platforms (eg. the Amiga) to snag
a network stack. Also, there will still be limits on what you can
use in most cases: Windows 2k won't run on a 486 after all.
Still, a 486 or an SE/30 or whatever running the latest version of
NetBSD or Debian Linux doesn't feel very retro to me. (For those
who don't know, this pretty much means that you can run all of the
latest software. Even something like PearPC on a Quadra to emulate
Mac OS X. Thank-you for that one Dana. :) )
Any thoughts?
> 3) I'm MLAgazine staff, so if this is anything like a radio contest, I
> don't qualify anyway. :P
Don't worry about that Cory, you can fully participate. The only
reason why I'm not an official contender for the "prize" is because
I'm taking responsibility for the rules. I will still be participating
in the endurance part because I think it is a fun idea and I am
out to prove something to myself (ie. that I can still do it), but
I want to avoid a conflict of interest when the point system is
being designed.
Byron.
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