Re: Workpad Z50 unable to detect/use Microdrive ?

[Larry Stotler <larrystotler%gmail.com@localhost>]

On Mon, Apr 27, 2015 at 10:07 AM, Andy Ruhl <acruhl%gmail.com@localhost> wrote:
> NetBSD is slowly becoming a developer only OS.
> I've been using it for about 16 years now and I started out with similar
> skill than you have now, and by now I'm somewhat more skilled (hopefully).

As am I.  Having used Trash80s, CP/M, DOS, OS/2, MacOS, Windows,
Linux, etc, there's very little I can't dive right into and do
something on.  It''s much easier now than then.  Google is a huge
help.  I tell people I've forgotten more about computers than most
people ever learn.  Why?  because we don't use a lot of stuff anymore.
Like setting the interleave on an MFM hard drive.......

> vi is pretty much a mandatory skill for someone who wants to get to a higher
> level of use in NetBSD or OpenBSD. You really should learn it if you're
> committed to using unix/Linux in the future.

I've never really understood the need for stuff like that.  I'd rather
work with plain text.  I have written and filed legal documents in
Pen/Pencil & using KWord or Wordpad.  I prefer content over
formatting.  I gravitate toward plain text websites that are clean and
uncluttered.  Mcedit does all the editing of text files that I need
for Linux.  Of course, I've been using openSUSE and before that
S.u.S.E. linux for so long that I do get lost sometimes without YaST.
For configuring a system, it makes things very quick & easy.  And now
that Linux is moving towards systemd(yuck) I'm starting to look at
alternatives.  As a non-programmer, I see the constant fight trying to
get developers to understand that users don't necessarily NEED certain
things the they feel we do.  I still have no idea what a semantic
desktop does or why they think I need it(KDE4......).  As someone who
was in sales for a long time, I know that it's more about "how does it
benefit me & MY workflow" than whatever the next new shiny thing is.

> I'm guessing most NetBSD developers are at an age where they remember
> struggling to get ANYTHING working (NetBSD and Linux) and the benefits this
> struggle provides. It did me well, people keep paying me for stuff I learned
> over the years messing with the BSDs. I'm not really sure how relevant these
> types of struggles are in the context of now.

I enjoy resurrecting older machines when I have time.  I have a
collection of Macs I don't use......  :-)   I really wanted the
Workpad for on the go writing that's distraction free.  I have an X21,
and was looking at a newer Thinkpad X series, but the Workpad is
lighter with better battery life and less distractions.  I ended up
picking up a second Z50.  Now I have one to actually USE & one to play
with.  Pocket Word will have to do for now until I can get the other
setup the way I want.  And it does save in plain text.

> Anyway, you might get it working if you keep at it. It's fun to mess with.

Indeed.  They have their quirks.  A thinkpad was my first laptop, and
I prefer the trackpoint over a touchpad or mouse.  Don't have to move
my hands to move the pointer.

A lot of people still use old versions of MacOS on their Macs, so
using an old OS isn't that unusual.  I do enjoy showing off the 48MB
RAM & 141Mhz chip to people with 8GB and multicore machines.  The fact
that it can still run a modern OS(and UNIX at that) makes it a great
conversation piece to say the least.