01-04-2011
I tried to install Linux onto an old 486sx box. Needed as much memory as possible, so I upgraded it to 20M (the max) and had to purchase EXPENSIVE cache chips as well.
$800 later (yes.... $800!!!!).... I had a machine that was slow and practically worthless.
Remember that the REASON why Linux (and even Unix) became doable was when Windows 95 came on the scene and we started seeing machines with 8M of memory. So... not saying you can't use an old machine... just don't go REALLY old.
Also, as others pointed out you pretty much have to match the machine/architecture for the "vintage" Unix. Sometimes it has to be a VERY precise match. Old version of SCO Unixware for example only worked on VERY specific pieces of hardware.
In general... IMHO... it's not worth the effort. Now... if you want to take an old machine and experiment with writing your own OS from scratch... knock yourself out... it can be great fun.
Oh... and lastly... people are THROWING away good old equipment that is actually useful... so I wouldn't pay anything for old hardware. For example, you should be able to snag a Pentium III host for nothing. And some of the servers there had at 2G or more of memory even. I wouldn't pay more than $50 USD for a Pentium IV based system (and those are also getting thrown out for free everywhere).
If you're in the Dallas area... I'll give you a 2cpu Opteron 246 workstation with 4G. That's a VERY powerful host. I'll even throw in 2 10K rpm SCSI drives. You can pick up the same for $100-200 easily on ebay.
Also.. (back on topic)... remember that 80's Unix (real Unix, be it BSD or SysV) was tty focused and NOT network focused. So ethernet controllers, esp, before 1985, if present, were often times AUI or 10Base2 (token ring at 4mbit was probably more popular). A lot of the parts on equipment that old, e.g. the disks, are likely to be in very bad shape.
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LEARN ABOUT DEBIAN
cmdebug
CMDEBUG(1) AFS Command Reference CMDEBUG(1)
NAME
cmdebug - Reports the status of a host Cache Manager
SYNOPSIS
cmdebug -servers <machine> [-port <IP port>]
[-long] [-refcounts] [-callbacks] [-ctime] [-addrs]
[-cache] [-cellservdb] [-help]
cmdebug -s <machine> [-p <IP port>] [-l] [-r] [-cal]
[-ct] [-a] [-cac] -ce] [-h]
DESCRIPTION
The cmdebug command displays information about the Cache Manager and client cache status on a local or remote AFS client machine. By
default, it displays all locked cache entries, but other information can be requested via various options.
CAUTIONS
The -ctime option is only available with OpenAFS version 1.4.7 and later or version 1.5.28 or later. This option can be used to gather
information from any version of the Unix OpenAFS client, but can only query Windows clients running OpenAFS version 1.5.28 or later.
The -cellservdb option is only available with OpenAFS version 1.4.7 and later or version 1.5.31 or later. This option can be used to
gather information from any version of the Unix OpenAFS client, but can only query Windows clients running OpenAFS version 1.5.31 or later.
OPTIONS
-servers <machine>
Names the client machine for which to display Cache Manager status. Provide the machine's IP address in dotted decimal format, its
fully qualified host name (for example, fs1.example.com), or the shortest abbreviated form of its host name that distinguishes it from
other machines. Successful use of an abbreviated form depends on the availability of a name resolution service (such as the Domain Name
Service or a local host table) at the time the command is issued.
-port <IP port>
Identifies the port on which to contact the Cache Manager. By default, the standard port 7001 is used, so this option is very rarely
needed.
-long
Reports on all lock statuses and all cache entries, rather than only locked cache entries. Do not use this option with -refcounts,
-callbacks, -addrs, -cache, or -cellservdb.
-refcounts
Reports only those cache entries with non-zero reference counts. Do not use this option with -long, -callbacks, -addrs, or -cache.
-callbacks
Reports only those cache entries with callbacks. Do not use this option with -long, -refcounts, -addrs, or -cache.
-ctime
Causes entry expiration times to be shown in human-readable format. Do not use this option with -addrs or -cache.
-addrs
Rather than showing any cache entries, displays the interfaces the Cache Manager answers on, including their netmasks and MTUs. This
is useful for analyzing clients that are multihomed and identifying problems with netmasks or MTU settings. Do not use this option
with -long, -refcounts, -callbacks, or -cache.
-cache
Rather than showing any cache entries, displays the cache configuration for the client machine. The information displayed is
essentially the information that can be configured via parameters to afsd. Do not use this option with -long, -refcounts, -callbacks,
or -addrs.
-cellservdb
Lists all known volume location database records in a CellServDB-compatible format. This includes all records in memory, including
those from the CellServDB file, DNS SRV or AFSDB records, and the fs newcell command. This option could be used to see if a client has
the latest copy of the CellServDB file. Do not use this option with -long, -refcounts, -callbacks, or -cache.
-help
Prints the online help for this command. All other valid options are ignored.
EXAMPLES
Displays all of the locked cache entries on "client1":
% cmdebug client1
Displays the cache configuration for "client1.example.com":
% cmdebug client1.example.com -cache
Displays all cache entries for "client2.example.com":
% cmdebug client2.example.com -long
PRIVILEGE REQUIRED
None
SEE ALSO
afsd(8), CellServDB(5), fs_newcell(1)
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2005 Russ Allbery <rra@stanford.edu>
This documentation is covered by the IBM Public License Version 1.0. This man page was written by Russ Allbery for OpenAFS.
OpenAFS 2012-03-26 CMDEBUG(1)