freebsd stable - Jul 2015 - FreeBSD Quarterly Status Report - Second Quarter 2015

On 27/07/2015 16:25, Glen Barber wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 27, 2015 at 04:14:54PM +0200, Willem Jan Withagen wrote:
>> On 27/07/2015 04:39, Benjamin Kaduk wrote:
>>>   * Separated email services (and single-point-of-failure cases)
from
>>>     the machine that has been handling this task for over 18 years,
to
>>>     new, single-purpose service installations
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> This sort of sounds like the system that a former company (IAE) donated
>> to Jordan when he was here in Arnhem at a FreeBSD meeting organized by
>> Wilco Bulte. I think it was called freefall??
>> There used to be pictures of the meeting online, but I can't seem
to
>> find them.
>>
>> Would be nice to know if that is the case, because then I'm really
>> impressed with the life time of that system...
>> Does anybody know if this is actually the case?
>>
> 
> Based on what I've recently learned of the machine's history, it
was
> originally freefall, then became known as 'hub'.
You have any idea what is/was actual the hardware that was in the box?

If I remember correctly we gave Jordan a check for like 5000 guilders.
Which I guess would be 2500 us$ at that time. Which was not an enormous
amount of money, so even more impressive that the system lasted 18 years :)

--WjW

On Mon, Jul 27, 2015 at 04:32:34PM +0200, Willem Jan Withagen
wrote:
> On 27/07/2015 16:25, Glen Barber wrote:
> > On Mon, Jul 27, 2015 at 04:14:54PM +0200, Willem Jan Withagen wrote:
> >> On 27/07/2015 04:39, Benjamin Kaduk wrote:
> >>>   * Separated email services (and single-point-of-failure
cases) from
> >>>     the machine that has been handling this task for over 18
years, to
> >>>     new, single-purpose service installations
> >>
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >> This sort of sounds like the system that a former company (IAE)
donated
> >> to Jordan when he was here in Arnhem at a FreeBSD meeting
organized by
> >> Wilco Bulte. I think it was called freefall??
> >> There used to be pictures of the meeting online, but I can't
seem to
> >> find them.
> >>
> >> Would be nice to know if that is the case, because then I'm
really
> >> impressed with the life time of that system...
> >> Does anybody know if this is actually the case?
> >>
> > 
> > Based on what I've recently learned of the machine's history,
it was
> > originally freefall, then became known as 'hub'.
> 
> You have any idea what is/was actual the hardware that was in the box?
> 
> If I remember correctly we gave Jordan a check for like 5000 guilders.
> Which I guess would be 2500 us$ at that time. Which was not an enormous
> amount of money, so even more impressive that the system lasted 18 years :)
> 
The physical hardware did not last this long, and I do not recall the
physical specs of the recently deprecated hardware, but as far as
"handling this task for 18 years", that could have been clarified a
bit
more (my fault).  The system moved chassis several times, but was never
reinstalled (as far as we can tell) - it was originally a FreeBSD
2-STABLE install, and was upgraded constantly throughout its lifetime,
and finally ran 11-CURRENT before being decommissioned.

Glen

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On 7/27/15 10:32 PM, Willem Jan Withagen wrote:
> On 27/07/2015 16:25, Glen Barber wrote:
>> On Mon, Jul 27, 2015 at 04:14:54PM +0200, Willem Jan Withagen wrote:
>>> On 27/07/2015 04:39, Benjamin Kaduk wrote:
>>>>    * Separated email services (and single-point-of-failure
cases) from
>>>>      the machine that has been handling this task for over 18
years, to
>>>>      new, single-purpose service installations
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> This sort of sounds like the system that a former company (IAE)
donated
>>> to Jordan when he was here in Arnhem at a FreeBSD meeting organized
by
>>> Wilco Bulte. I think it was called freefall??
>>> There used to be pictures of the meeting online, but I can't
seem to
>>> find them.
>>>
>>> Would be nice to know if that is the case, because then I'm
really
>>> impressed with the life time of that system...
>>> Does anybody know if this is actually the case?
>>>
>> Based on what I've recently learned of the machine's history,
it was
>> originally freefall, then became known as 'hub'.
> You have any idea what is/was actual the hardware that was in the box?
>
> If I remember correctly we gave Jordan a check for like 5000 guilders.
> Which I guess would be 2500 us$ at that time. Which was not an enormous
> amount of money, so even more impressive that the system lasted 18 years :)
I think it was a bit like my grandfather's axe..

A really great axe.  we replaced the handle 3 times, the head four times
and put in a couple of new wedges, but it's a great axe that
one!
>
> --WjW
>
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> On Jul 27, 2015, at 7:32 AM, Willem Jan Withagen <wjw at digiware.nl>
wrote:
> 
> You have any idea what is/was actual the hardware that was in the box?
> 
> If I remember correctly we gave Jordan a check for like 5000 guilders.
> Which I guess would be 2500 us$ at that time. Which was not an enormous
> amount of money, so even more impressive that the system lasted 18 years :)
And thank you again for that donation!   We should have another conference at
that place - I remember it was unusual to have a conference at a location that
also supplied tools for hacking our Librettos. :)

I believe those original funds purchased a Pentium Pro system of fairly
reasonable configuration.  As Julian says, however, the individual parts were
replaced over the years, including the motherboard, and the freefall of today
likely bore little resemblance to the one we purchased at the local PC shop in
Walnut Creek, California!

- Jordan