[sf-lug] Volunteer InstallFest (Dec 15th)

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Tom Haddon (tom at greenleaftech.net):

> Yeah, it's intended that the hardware specs get filled out by either us
> or the hardware guys who have agreed to be there to check the relevant
> pieces of hardware are operating correctly. I agree that a minimum
> rather than just <256MB RAM might be a good idea.

Just as an illustrative anecdote:  A guy brought his pride'n'joy PC into
The CoffeeNet, one evening in 1999-2000, to have Linux installed onto
it.  He plugged it in, attached a funky looking colour monitor, and
fired it up.  The startup sequence seemed... odd, yet faintly familiar,
and I didn't see the expected BIOS Setup output.

Gradually, I realised what this unit was -- at which point, the case
style and front-panel markings rang a bell:  It was a true-blue IBM
Personal Computer XT, with 4.77 MHz 8088 CPU, 640kB RAM, and a 20 MB
hard drive.

I was impressed that a 15-year-old computer was still working well.  IBM
really built those things to last (as did Compaq through the 486 era),
whereas pretty much all XT, AT, and 386 clones were already landfill.

And the guy seriously expected to run Linux on it.

We recommended he be content with Telix, 1-2-3, and WordPerfect 4.2.