I turned off my original server today. It was a Mac PowerPC 6150 operating at 66 megahertz. It ran on the 7.6.1 operating system and used Webstar 3.0 server software.
As is the case with other “characters” of legend, I really don’t know how old my server was. The oldest file I could find dated from 1996, but I am not certain the original page served from the machine still exists.
The expression “they don’t make ’em like they used to” really applies to this machine. Early on, I remember the fan went out and the machine shut down automatically because of the heat. With the exception of that one equipment problem and the time power to the campus was shut down during the flood of 1997, the machine ran for probably ten years without a problem. Imagine turning your desktop machine on, starting some program that continually accesses the harddrive, and then coming back 10 years later to see if everything is OK.
The machine was still willing to try, but new web content is simply too complex, built of too many components. Each component, no matter how small, takes a channel and the server software would only handle 10 channels. It takes time to open and close these channels and at 66 megahertz to send data through the channels there were simply too many delays for viewers. Not everyone respects “experience.”
I do not think I will be able to recycle this machine. Perhaps I will find a nice place in the corner of my lab and just let it rest. I once thought we might retire together. I would box up my stuff, turn off my server, and walk out the door. I guess not.
