diff --git a/eco b/eco
index 20868e9..859cf3d 100755
--- a/eco
+++ b/eco
@@ -1,9 +1,5 @@
-#/bin/bash
-#source bpy-default.sh
+#!/bin/bash
 source bpy-env
 
-#unset SESSION_MANAGER # for qt error message in ipython
-
-#ipython --pylab --profile=eco --no-banner -i -c "run /sf/bernina/config/src/python/eco/startup_inline_new.py -l -s bernina"
-ipython --profile=eco --no-banner -i -c "run /sf/bernina/code/gac-bernina/eco/startup_inline_new.py -l -s bernina"
+eco "$@"
 
diff --git a/pixi_local_sync.sh b/pixi_local_sync.sh
index 49bd587..2ad21d1 100755
--- a/pixi_local_sync.sh
+++ b/pixi_local_sync.sh
@@ -69,6 +69,28 @@ done
 command -v "$PIXI_BIN" >/dev/null 2>&1 || PIXI_BIN="pixi"
 command -v "$PIXI_BIN" >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo "error: pixi not found" >&2; exit 1; }
 
+# Only RHEL9+ consoles are supported: the shared pixi.lock's builds
+# aren't verified against RHEL8's older system libraries, and bernina
+# consoles are mid-migration from RHEL8 to RHEL9. On anything older,
+# clean up any local mirror a pre-this-check attempt may have left
+# behind and do nothing else -- no install, no loop.
+os_id="" os_major=""
+if [ -r /etc/os-release ]; then
+    os_id=$(. /etc/os-release 2>/dev/null; echo "$ID")
+    os_major=$(. /etc/os-release 2>/dev/null; echo "${VERSION_ID%%.*}")
+fi
+if [ "$os_id" != "rhel" ] || [ -z "$os_major" ] || [ "$os_major" -lt 9 ] 2>/dev/null; then
+    if [ -d "$LOCAL_DIR" ]; then
+        echo "$(date '+%F %T') $(hostname) is not RHEL9+ (detected: ${os_id:-unknown} ${os_major:-?}) -- removing local pixi env remnant at $LOCAL_DIR"
+        rm -rf "$LOCAL_DIR"
+        command -v notify-send >/dev/null 2>&1 && notify-send -u normal "Local python env (bpy)" \
+            "Removed $LOCAL_DIR: this host (${os_id:-unknown} ${os_major:-?}) isn't RHEL9+, so it isn't supported." 2>/dev/null
+    else
+        echo "$(date '+%F %T') $(hostname) is not RHEL9+ (detected: ${os_id:-unknown} ${os_major:-?}) -- nothing to do"
+    fi
+    exit 0
+fi
+
 # Singleton per host+user: startup_bernina_terminal launches this on every
 # terminal open, and it's also handy to run by hand -- only one loop
 # should ever actually be checking/installing at a time.