Subject: Re: NetBSD vs OpenBSD sparc disklabels?????
To: NetBSD Bob <nbsdbob@weedcon1.cropsci.ncsu.edu>
From: Brian Hechinger <wonko@entropy.tmok.com>
List: port-vax
Date: 02/15/2001 12:09:52
NetBSD Bob drunkenly mumbled...
> 
> Darn, I am in the wrong job, it seems.....(:+{{...  mebbie when I retire
> later this year, I can get a real sysadmin job....(:+}}...

they are fun.  keeps ya on your toes.  i've found that this hobby of ours is
very advantagous.  since i am forced to deal with all sorts of insanity when
dealing with this hardware.  one must be very creative sometimes to make things
work, and then when i go to my job and all these other "corporate" only admins;
who, while being good at their jobs, might not have a PC at home.  if they do, 
it might be running linux.  maybe.  things aren't going as they should at work
and none of them know what to do, whereas i'm used to making things work with
paperclips and chewing gum, so it's cake to roll in, slap on a band-aid and 
stroll out.  it's also fun to see their faces. :)

> Ahh, well, all my sunstuff is everyone else's castoff junk, so
> I calls it by what it is....(:+{{.....junque.....  Still, as long
> as it runs, I run with it all the ways to da bank.  As a hip pocket

right on.  does it catch on fire when you turn it on? no? then it needs NetBSD
installed. :)

> teaching webserver, the ol' SS1 crate still does admirable service.
> And, the price was right!  But, since OpenBSD crashed on it when

i collect sun3 stuffs.  and it doesn't have to be fast to be usefull is the one
thing i've learned from all my sun3 and vax bits.

> the NVRAM went south, I lost all my usrlocal ports and webstuff.
> So, the executive decision still has to be made as to whether or
> not to run Net-vs-Open on it.  Because of that silly disklabel

now what was the problem again that a new NVRAM wouldn't fix?

> incompabibility with OpenBSD, that probably will say I need to go
> with NetBSD on it, like on my VAXentoyz.

to play with, sure install openbsd, but for everyday use? probably should use
what you use everywhere else.  just makes all-around day to day crap easier to
deal with, although, it also takes all the fun out of it.  i gotta make Solaris,
VMS, and MVS work.  (is MVS an OS? beats me, it's one of them mainframe thingers
that i don't know a whole lot about)

> Well, if anyone does know, do holler.  I was hoping that the Net/Open VAX
> ports were close enuf in structure/fs/labels/etc., that I could use one
> to run up the other.  Yeah, I know, I am a heretic for wanting to try the
> other side's port, but, still, it would be nice for someone to bring them
> up together on identical hardwares and see what kinds o' monkey wrenches
> they can tit for tat at each other.

and it's always fun to see what the other guy is doing.

> > -brian (Sun Bigot)
> 
> I be favoring VAXen, more than Sunstuff, since that NVRAM biz is sun's
> achilles heel.

i do Solaris for a living, and while i am a Sun Bigot, i am also quite not so
picky.  old, runs UNIX, those are my basic requirements.