On 2026-06-15, Piper McCorkle <contact@piperswe.me> wrote:

I've always been quite curious about commercial Unices, but when I was born Linux had already put the writing on the wall for them. I think it would be quite fun to set up a UNIX server in my homelab and have it host some services
(WWW, Gopher, Gemini, etc), but I've heard plenty of horror stories about actually operating these things. Are there any commercial UNIX variants from the '90s-early '00s that aren't a complete and utter pain in the ass to administer? (especially coming from a Linux background)

I'm thinking of going with Solaris, if only because I have some hardware (a Sun Fire system in unknown condition) that I could try to restore. But I know the installation process will definitely be a pain in the ass. The system doesn't have an optical drive, so I'll need to install Solaris over the network. No clue how to set up the server necessary for that - hopefully I can
do it on OpenIndiana!

I have more fun with the reverse. Hyperbola GNU/Linux with the whole
GNUStep stack + WindowMaker + the GAP suite + GNUMail + ViewPDF...
as a modern but libre NeXTStep replacement.

I even have a GNUStep (Cocoa) build of Emacs running too which
I use for osm.el and some nice tools (gopher and gemini client).

The GTK theme it's set to "TWoStepsBack" (GNUStep theme) and
the GNUStep icons. Seriously, it works like a dream, it's fast
and pretty compatible with tons of libre tools from that era.

On Mon, 22 Jun 2026 19:14:13 -0000 (UTC), Anthk GM wrote:

I have more fun with the reverse. Hyperbola GNU/Linux with the whole
GNUStep stack + WindowMaker + the GAP suite + GNUMail + ViewPDF...
as a modern but libre NeXTStep replacement.

I went looking for something with the NeXTStep feel recently, and
found 3 candidates in the standard Debian repo: AfterStep, Window
Maker and wlmaker aka WaylandMaker. The first two are X11-specific,
which I can tolerate for now.

AfterStep didn’t work very well -- prone to random freezes and update glitches. I did briefly try wlmaker, and that seemed to start up OK,
but its submenu that lists available applications was empty, showing
only an error message (“exit status 1” -- looks like some process it spawned to populate that menu terminated abnormally).

So currently I am trying Window Maker. This is only my old, backup
Core i7 machine. Still getting to grips with some UI quirks -- like
every time I pop up menus on the desktop, I can’t seem to get rid of
them without clicking to turn them into windows (with a close box)
first. And why some of those icons on the desktop represent
running/runnable applications, but others don’t? But unlike original NeXTStep, it supports multiple workspaces!

To: scott

scott wrote to alt.folklore.computers <=-

I have an old steel tanker desk

I have one (steelcase) as well. Came from the electrodata/burroughs pasadena plant, still has the asset tag. Currently supporting
a very light-weight mac mini and a Burroughs T27 terminal.

I love mine - found it at a recycled home goods store called Urban Ore
in Berkeley, CA - the finish is heavily patina, but hey - it was $75!

Mine's got an ultrawide LCD on it, barely registering on the thing.



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* realitycheckBBS - Aptos, CA - telnet://realitycheckbbs.org

Peter Flass <Peter@Iron-Spring.com> writes:

On 6/16/26 05:59, Dan Cross wrote:

In article <gb%XR.132106$I0Ta.47907@fx05.iad>,
Scott Lurndal <slp53@pacbell.net> wrote:

cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) writes:

In article <nnd$6ea886ba$1c547b7f@9c94dd43bc13ac30>,
Piper McCorkle <contact@piperswe.me> wrote:

I've always been quite curious about commercial Unices, but when I was born
Linux had already put the writing on the wall for them. I think it would be
quite fun to set up a UNIX server in my homelab and have it host some services
(WWW, Gopher, Gemini, etc), but I've heard plenty of horror stories about >>>>> actually operating these things. Are there any commercial UNIX variants from
the '90s-early '00s that aren't a complete and utter pain in the ass to >>>>> administer? (especially coming from a Linux background)

I'm thinking of going with Solaris, if only because I have some hardware (a
Sun Fire system in unknown condition) that I could try to restore. But I know
the installation process will definitely be a pain in the ass. The system >>>>> doesn't have an optical drive, so I'll need to install Solaris over the >>>>> network. No clue how to set up the server necessary for that - hopefully I can
do it on OpenIndiana!

I hate to be the one saying it, but ... it wasn't that cool. :-)

As a long-time SVR3/4/4.2MP user, I found SunOs foreign, but
Solaris was much more comfortable to work with.

It's more commercial Unix as a whole that I didn't find all that
cool.

I have a T1 in storage, with an external SCSI CDROM. Have no
idea if it still works.

I have some old Sun hardware down the basement that I need to
figure out how to jetison. Kind of a shame in some sense, but
it's big, it's heavy, it's power hungry, it's slow, and I don't
have a need for it anymore. :-/

Every once in a while I get the idea that it might be fun to play with
the actual old hardware, but then I shake myself and move on, for the
reasons you mention.

I get nostalgic in the same way, but then I go down to the basement and
look at my old Suns on the shelf and the feeling passes. :-) I have more
modern hardware than I have time to use, so digging out the old gear and playing with it probably isn't going to happen.

In fact, browsing and posting on Usenet is the closest I get to legacy computing a lot of the time now.

"Kurt Weiske" <kurt.weiske@realitycheckbbs.org.remove-83z-this> writes:

To: Peter Flass

Peter Flass wrote to alt.folklore.computers <=-

Every once in a while I get the idea that it might be fun to play with the actual old hardware, but then I shake myself and move on, for the reasons you mention.

I have an old steel tanker desk - finally a desk capable of supporting
one of those SUN 21" CRT monitors! One of those beasts would have
broken the cheap, particleboard IKEA desk I had when they were in circulation...

kurt weiske | kweiske at realitycheckbbs dot org
| http://realitycheckbbs.org
| 1:218/700@fidonet

A number of workplaces ago, I got a 21" HP monitor with a Trinitron for
my HP 9000. It sat in the middle of my desk until I noticed the desk top
was sagging in the center due to the weight of the monitor. I moved the
monitor to the side, but it was too late for that desk and it always
looked like an old horse ready for the glue factory afterwards.