On 9/6/2012 3:03 AM, C wrote:
On Thu, Sep 6, 2012 at 8:09 AM, Brian K. White <brian@aljex.com> wrote:
Equinox port servers (old hardware, no longer updated by manufacturer, you can buy me new portservers that will have new systemd compatible software if you don't want to hack the stuff for the old port servers.)
Digiboard port servers (old hardware, no longer updated by manufacturer, you can buy me new portservers that will have new systemd compatible software if you don't want to hack the stuff for the old port servers.)
Cyclades port servers (Manufacturer no longer exists, no option to buy a new updated replacement, since it has features other don't)
<snip etc etc>
Serious question... If you're trying to life-support ancient hardware (lots of companies are in this situation), why are you installing the very latest Linux release? Why aren't these systems running on something like Solaris instead (just as an example)? Solaris has a much longer update support cycle than the leading release of openSUSE (openSUSE update support is measured in just a few months instead of years like Solaris).
Update security patch support is the only reason I can think of why you'd be trying to install openSUSE12.2 on old hardware like you listed.
I've had to life-support old hardware, and never tried to run the latest and greatest Linux on the systems (we went with Solaris... which is why I listed it here as an example)... With hardware so old that the companies that made the equipment no longer exist and there is zero upgrade/replacement path leaves you in a bit of a risky position. This hardware will not last forever... just like software does not last forever (remember Harvard Graphics? Lotus 123 etc). I'd think that trying to shoehorn openSUSE 12.2 onto these systems is the least of your worries. :-P
With old hardware, sometimes the latest OS (regardless of who produces it) is the proverbial square peg in a round hole...
C.
Lot's of hardware gets zero update support the day after you buy it. Some maybe just for a year or so. But aside from that serial and telephony and power hardware doesn't go obsolete just because it gets old. The T1 line and pots lines from the phone company, and the fax machines on the other ends of those phone lines are all speaking the same signals and protocols as before, so there is no justification for buying a new $13,000 T1 card, or 4 of them, just because 3 years have passed. The serial ports on a scale or a printer or a barcode scanner or a pdu etc have not changed. The power going through a pdu has not changed. The network still supports 10/100bT and tcp and udp. So what is the justification for replacing $1k to $6k port servers and terminal servers and pdu's etc just because some years have passed? The only thing that changed in those years that's creating any problem at all, is software. The kernel changes and some binary drivers can no longer be used, and now systemd breaks the init scripts. It doesn't necessarily break them all, or break them unfixably, but whatever harm it does, it does for no justifiable reason. The scsi cards are a teeny bit more justifiable but not really. If a server cost enough, and isn't broken, and the customers workload hasn't changed, then there is no valid justification for saying they must get a new, probably less reliable and certainly less tested one just because a few, like as few as 3, years have passed. Especially when there is an identical backup server doubling the cost. Some of the stuff I said was purely software not software needed to run hardware. They are all doable other than the lxc containers. But I have to reinvent stuff that already worked, instead of systemd supporting stuff that is already in the field. And, any 3rd party stuff that I have to hack, I now have to maintain that hack myself, it's not part of the download, it's not on the cd, it's not in the install script, it's not in the documentation. Not the end of the world, but I'd be a lot more motivated to meet systemd half way it if was. Since its not, I'm not. -- bkw -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-factory+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse-factory+owner@opensuse.org