My mind was blown wn when I started University in 1993. We had rooms filled with brand new Indys. We had SUN boxes. We had been Solaris boxes. We had Snakes (HP 9000) running HP UX.
All as one heterogeneous system. You logged in to any workstation running X. Everything was seamless connected. One Login and everything just worked.
That new fangled Mosaic was then also primarily used to view scantily clad women. Serious students found serious information on Gopher. The geeks of the geeks wandering the MUDs.
Mosaic ran best (only?) on the SUN boxes. But through the power of X you could use it anywhere.
I saw the future. I thought that was how things was supposed to work. I have never experienced such a smooth and well running system ever since. So nostalgia hits hard with any mention of the old boxes.
Only thing I do not remember seeing at the time was IBM RS/6000 running AIX. And with full access to everything for a first year student. Glory days.
This was at DAIMI in Aarhus. First year students in Copenhagen at DIKU was envious as they had to share 1 HP workstation with around 20 terminals.