[kwlug-disc] UNIX in 1982

[Ronald Barnes]

Chris Frey wrote on 2024-10-15 18:00:

>> It all ran on a 486 33MHz system that probably had an 80 MB hard disk
>> and a couple MB of RAM.
 >
> When I look at where we were back then, and where we are now,
> I wonder where we went so wrong.  I have to work at fitting my
> workloads into 4G of RAM today!

Where we went so "wrong" was Moore's Law.

No longer do we have to spend enormous amounts of time shaving off a few 
kilobytes.  This is a good thing.



> At Conestoga College, they ran multiple HP graphical X workstation
> terminals off a shared 486 server.  My memory says there were at
> least 4 giant X terminals in the lab... maybe even 6 or more.

Can they run even a single modern web site?

Before someone says, "NO, and that's the point - everything's so 
bloated!", do we really want to go back to the tech of the 1980s?

Personally, no!





> Almost makes me want to spin up a classic kernel like 1.0.9 or 1.2.13
> in a VM.

Admittedly, I don't do nostalgia, but why?

The kernel won't run (well) on bare metal due to lack of drivers.

Probably most modern software won't run on it.


Why not instead rejoice in the fact that the latest kernel is available 
for *free*, in mere minutes, even can be downloaded onto a phone 
(installation issues aside) - modern internet speeds and storage 
availability being what they are.




I'm not here to start arguments, just to express an existential crises 
I'm going through.

So many LUGs I participate in have such a heavy undercurrent of "things 
were better back in nineteen dippity-doo" that it makes me wonder,

a) why do people who resent tech progress join tech enthusiast groups?

b) maybe LUGs are shrinking and membership is aging because of the "tech 
Amish" attitudes, and I'm the odd man out?

c) maybe it's me, and I'm just a contrarian arse?

d) maybe most "progress" since 1990s is all bloat and I'll eventually 
come 'round to this point of view?



Probably a combo of b & lots of c, if I'm honest with myself.

And I have to admit, there is quite a bit of tech dystopia these days. 
But, I still feel things are better than they were in most aspects.