[NCSA-discuss] SCO nfs

[Steve Wolfe]

> yes. I don't know why they'd want to run as a VM. All they have now is a
> single non-networked machine. It's all they want and it works fine, except
> they're out of disk space now, their backup system probably doesn't work,
> and one day they'll need a new mobo/computer when this one dies.

Several on the list are afraid to power  that machine off much less
pick a new motherboard.
quick quick .. what motherboard can anyone find that will work with
that system TODAY much less 5 years from now.  Since it does go up and
down at the moment, might be good to image the machine to make a good
backup .. better to  be able  get it going on some other box.  And
they might be able to find another disk and/or another disk controller
that will keep them limping along.

Of course, their business might crater when this box dies and the
discussion has echos of "really really cheap" at the moment.

more on track:
VMs recently have been an interesting way to preserve Software
Investment to run on newer Hardware.
The idea is to image the old system .. plunk it it on the new system
several things happen:
.. modern hardware support.. if you fear the old stuff will stop working
.. everything just keeps working if the vm is good enough .. which often it is.
.. modern backup .. just copy the vm from time to time.
.. the whole thing usually runs faster on the newer gear.
.. often a discussion is about how to run some late 1990s early 2000s
windows or linux machine with networking
..  I am uncertain how serial terminals would run