[mdlug] Completely replacing Windows 98se with Linux!

[Ingles, Raymond]

> From: Aaron Kulkis

> Unless you have some weird piece of hardware with unique capabilities for which there is no acceptable
> substitute with the capabilities of modern hardware, I think running these old machines is kinda pointless.

>From a practical perspective, sure. But there are a few good points. They offer an interesting contrast for perspective on how far we've come... and where we're going. For example, there isn't any undocumented firmware between you and the hardware. You can access anything you like.

On the other hand, today's autoconfiguring hardware is nice. Setting jumpers and mediating IRQ conflicts is best left in the past. SCSI had some good ideas - 'classes' of hardware with standard interfaces being a key one - that made it into today's interfaces, like USB. Most earlier PC hardware needed specific drivers, though there were a few bright points like the VGA & VESA standards for video cards, which helped a bit.

On the bright side, we won't force you to use old hardware. :-)

> It's too bad that we're stuck with the 80x86 instruction set.

 Hearty agreement there. There's some chance ARM will eventually displace it, which is at least not so terrible.

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