"...and am curious...what is compelling for you and this ?"
The short answer - >nostalgia< and >spirit< .
A little bit longer answer (for those with patience);
You may take the following lines with a grain of salt, or . you can choose to give it a though, a moment of reflection, if you want. I'm talking about something, that I can only describe as a >human spirit< . that intangible something, which rubbed off the minds of highly motivated engineers, and transfered onto cold work of art in the process. I'm referring to people from computer industry, who considered themselves to be lucky, for being allowed (every now and then) to come up with a marvell of engineering, as they were not forced to cut corners like nowadays (design, materials, rigorous testing). Think IBM Model M keyboard for one, though there may be far better examples.
Rest assure though . I can hear you all, loud and clear. I am actually aware of the Sun's U40 M2 workstation age, but I can't help it . having a weakness for stuff that was build to last, and - on top of that - has been known to function reliably and pretty much flawlessly, for what seems like ages by today's >standards<. Sure, I could have picked something younger, as in - a newer board, to widen the pool of those who prefer >today & yesterday< hardware, and thus contribute more relevant test results to the project's efforts. The real question is - how do we qualify, with all the wisdom we can muster, what to include and what to exclude (and when), and how do we draw a sharp line, between the board being too old, and the one being still young enough ? These things don't have easy answers, and Sun Ultra 40 M2 is one of the best examples for this, IMHO.
It's so easy to jump the conclusions, by scanning fleetingly the second-hand market every once in a while (been there), when trying to determine just how many of certain >exotic< machines or boards are still out there - be it actively used, or collecting the dust in some IT surplus warehouses. Just take a look at eBay (US) offerings, which I've been following for years, if not a decade; you can still find a dozen of U40 M2 machines, pretty much at any given time. They don't sell, as more often than not the prices are ridiculous. It would be also prudent to consider all those people, who might have never felt the need to upgrade or change anything on their Sun machines. This doesn't mean they never will, but it sure means you probably never heard of them. Bear in mind that only a fraction of computer users are actually active, to one degree or another, on any given computer forum, or . on a project mailing list, for that matter.
Those crazy prices of U40 M2 machines, be it on eBayUS, or those being offered by several Sun resellers in US, will have to come down eventually (they crowd the warehouse space.). Likewise - a considearble number, of all those >Happy Camper< U40 M2 users, will eventually hit the wall . wishing to update their Sun's proprietary BIOS (to overcome limitations of old version, or to repair their machine), only to realize they can't . at least not for free, or not even against payment, if they are not customers with cotracts. Chances are that many of these - the >invisible users< - will eventually come out of the bushes and try the coreboot flavour, because .
a.) Their machines are still purring like healthy teenage cats, b.) They just discovered, in all their excitement, how their >oldies< just may work with Quad and Six-Core Opterons;
But all of that won't matter much, unless the coreboot port for U40 M2 is kept alive. If it ends up in a dust bin too soon (burried in the pile of older releases), those >regular Joes< like myself will have a hard time to find it, or even be aware that something like that ever existed (as the Google hits start to dwindle) . they will just dump the machine in the junkyard, and that would be a shame. I'll say it again - I could have cherry-picked one of the C32 boards I have at home (Tyan S8010, Supermicro H8DCL-i), and I most probably will in the future . but I picked the Sun's machine, to be my apprenticeship piece in the coreboot forge. Only time will tell, if I'm worthy to continue my involvement in coreboot, to aid the master blacksmiths with keeping the project alive. Like I already explained before, admittedly in a bit long and winding fashion - I'm not a programmer type of guy (well . I just ain't), but I'm also not a laid-back type of person, to just sit and wait till someone else makes all the work, then whine about it if they don't, or nod approvingly if they do, have a beer or two, then download their work and off we go. Nope, that's just not me; I did my share of nerve-wrecking computer diagnostics, for months on end and with
graveyard shits< and all, so I know what I'm made of and I know that I'm up
to the challenge.
Perhaps it's just me, but . I sensed that I was somewhat gently nudged, for being one of those in the coreboot flock who inevitably, albeit inadvertedly, fragment the available >brain resources<, for the sake of keeping our computer relics alive. It may as well be so, that we're nibbling off the bits of finite spare time, of all those able and hard working genius bees at the coreboot project, who contribute the bulk of ports and maintain them with admirable tenacity . for all of us, the >eager beavers< (keen to learn and advance ourselves), who would love to give back more if we knew how to. It's pretty much the same in all communities of this type . there's never enough time, and there's never enough brainy people, willing to work pro-bono and sacrifice their spare time, to maintain the healthy heartbeat of the good-cause projects.
I'm a strong believer in one's personal mind and determination . you do listen to others, but you don't have to ditch something >old< and embrace something >new & better<, just because you were told that >it's normal<, or
that's how it is<, or >you can't change it<. Perhaps I really am one of the
dying breed, for even considering a purchase of such a dated machine, but that's who I am . I decided to jump on the train, even if it might be THE last train for the Sun Ultra 40 M2 board. All that with a purpose to learn something new, to build the confidence by grabbing this bull by the horns, to give back to community as my skills improve, but also to use the knowledge acquired for my bread & butter job.
Looking forward .
Kind regards, Bostjan
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Bostjan Kravcar