Life-among-the-ruins of old technology. Accretion, aggregation, accrual. The lifecycle of systems. The author has their own pretty direct answer for you:
> if only because I thought it'd be interesting to watch such a legacy, time-worn piece of automation come back to life.
> ...and it was [ed: coming back to life]! I got to see the terminal boot from a quite sophisticated script and the sound of everything settling into place was enchanting, pitifully.
Being perceptive & interested in the world is what hackers do & are.
