On Tue, 17 Jun 1997, David Jones wrote:

> Part of the appeal of NetBSD is that it runs on a great number of older
> workstation equipment that large companies are getting rid of, but which
> still has enough power to be a "nice box".  e.g. Sparc 2, HP 425, Sun 3/280,
> etc.
> Is there a more accurate term for the practice of running 5-year old
> workstations?

I think frugality is a good term for it.  In my mind retrocomputing refers
to software and hardware that is far enough out of date that the primary
value of using it is the experience, rather than achieving a practical
goal like serving users.  Running a 386-40 is frugal, running a
Microvax II is, at least if recieved in the condition I received the one I
played with, very much retro.   Even a Mac+, an ancient sun 2 ('tho I
haven't even seen one to judge) or an 8086 is simply frugality.  Running a
Lisa/Mac XL (which is very similar to the Mac+ ) is retro.  Most anything
not ~100% PC compatible before 1985-6 is retro.  Even the NeXTs have a
certain retro appeal to me.