YHK - yet another hacker news clone

Booted up in 1993, this server still runs – but not for much longer (2017)

34 points doener 1 day ago 7 comments

lloydatkinson 1 hour ago | parent

Why even write an article with such little detail?

nineteen999 50 minutes ago | parent

We use to run Stratus VOS on Continuum series hardware at a lottery/poker machine company I worked at in the mid 2000's. It handled the jackpot system which decided which of 13,500 poker machines in our state would jackpot at any given time.

A reliable beast - never failed once in the entire time I worked there. Based on PA-RISC if I recall correctly.

jll29 34 minutes ago | parent

Great story, thanks. I wish it said more about the architecture and also VOS.

Speaking of reliable beasts, I own(ed) a HP PA-RISC workstation that never crashed in six years, and it was even purchased refurbished (second hand, and educational rebate, and still the cost of a car in 1996 - but worth every penny).

I'd add "R.I.P. HP 9000 715/75" but of course she is STILL working now, twenty years later, and she is sitting right next to me (also got a second 715/100XC for spare parts in case on day they are needed).

voidUpdate 49 minutes ago | parent

> "This system runs an older version Stratus proprietary VOS operating system, which Hogan believes hasn’t been updated since the early 2000s. “It’s been extremely stable,’ he said."

That's not particularly surprising to be honest. If it's a server operating system, on hardware that doesn't change, there's not really a reason to update the OS unless there's a security problem found

mrweasel 33 minutes ago | parent

It's not really a security strategy, but running an obscure proprietary operating system on a system which probably isn't connected to the internet means that you're only susceptible to highly targeted attacks by a dedicated foe.

Apparently the latest VOS release was in 2025, which means that somewhere there's a team of developers maintaining it. That's really the thing I find the most interesting, that there exists teams developing operating systems like VOS, strange DOS clones or UnixWare (perhaps less so these days). Must be a strange anonymous life.

voidUpdate 25 minutes ago | parent

The article is very vague about what it actually does, so I don't know if it's connected to the internet or not :/

Neil44 38 minutes ago | parent

Well Great Lakes Works is still operating, and you can still buy Stratus ftServers, how nice is that after all this time?