https://okprom.pt/categories/history/ Recent content in History on okprompt Hugo en Thu, 21 May 2026 04:52:53 -0400 https://okprom.pt/posts/sparcstation-lx/ Thu, 21 May 2026 04:52:53 -0400 https://okprom.pt/posts/sparcstation-lx/ <h2 id="and-so-the-adventure-begins">And so the Adventure Begins<a href="#and-so-the-adventure-begins" class="heading-anchor" aria-label="Link to this section"><svg class="h-4 w-4" aria-hidden="true" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24"><g fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2"><path d="M10 13a5 5 0 0 0 7.54.54l3-3a5 5 0 0 0-7.07-7.07l-1.72 1.71"/><path d="M14 11a5 5 0 0 0-7.54-.54l-3 3a5 5 0 0 0 7.07 7.07l1.71-1.71"/></g></svg></a></h2><p>I was a weird kid. I installed Linux on my first real desktop. After hearing on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/Internet_Relay_Chat"target="_blank" class="inline-flex items-center gap-1" >IRC<svg class="h-3 w-3 flex-shrink-0" id="external-link" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24"><path fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" d="M15 3h6v6m-11 5L21 3m-3 10v6a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H5a2 2 0 0 1-2-2V8a2 2 0 0 1 2-2h6"/></svg> </a> about how useful Unix &ldquo;shell accounts&rdquo; are, I get my first taste of a &ldquo;real&rdquo; Unix system through the public shell service at <a href="https://sdf.org/"target="_blank" class="inline-flex items-center gap-1" >sdf.org<svg class="h-3 w-3 flex-shrink-0" id="external-link" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24"><path fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" d="M15 3h6v6m-11 5L21 3m-3 10v6a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H5a2 2 0 0 1-2-2V8a2 2 0 0 1 2-2h6"/></svg> </a>, which is still operating today. Thanks to them, I&rsquo;m able to log into a Sun Microsystems server running the Solaris operating system. There is a feeling of arcane power that I don&rsquo;t get from using Linux, then still a scrappy underdog. I proceed to search eBay for Sun workstations. A listing for like $100 appears for a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPARCstation_IPX"target="_blank" class="inline-flex items-center gap-1" >SPARCstation IPX<svg class="h-3 w-3 flex-shrink-0" id="external-link" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24"><path fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" d="M15 3h6v6m-11 5L21 3m-3 10v6a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H5a2 2 0 0 1-2-2V8a2 2 0 0 1 2-2h6"/></svg> </a>, a &ldquo;lunchbox&rdquo; system made by Sun in 1991. Incredibly, it even comes with an original monitor, keyboard, and that annoying early optical mouse with a metal mousepad.</p>