Re: Unbloating the kernel, was: :mem=16MB laptop testing

[jlnance@unity.ncsu.edu]

On Tue, Oct 14, 2003 at 09:24:17AM -0400, Rik van Riel wrote:
> On Tue, 14 Oct 2003, Marco Fioretti wrote:
> 
> > There are literally thousands of schools, all over the world, which
> > simply cannot afford any money on computers. The "HW is cheap" slogan is
> > very cruel when recited in places where 64 MB of RAM are one month's
> > salary. I am not kidding.

Let me concur with the sentiments on this thread.

When I started using Linux, it was on a 40 MHz 386 with 8Megs of ram and
a 200 Meg HD.  This was a reasonably typical machine for the time (1993).
I ran X on this machine, and it was fine running several Xterms and you
could play the X version of Tetris or gnuchess.  I used this machine to
write the program I was working on for my Masters degree.

Today, a machine with specs like I quoted above seems hopelessly slow.
However, I was able to do useful work on it in 1993, and the same sort
of work would still be useful today.  You of course are not going to be
able to run mozilla and KDE on it, but lynx, slrn, mutt, and fvwm will
work fine.  There are many people who will never be able to afford
to buy a computer but could find someone to give them one of these
"hopelessy outdated" machines for nothing.  If we can ensure that
Linux keeps working on these machines, it will be a good thing.

Thanks,

Jim