From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S262202AbTJNOat (ORCPT ); Tue, 14 Oct 2003 10:30:49 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S262297AbTJNOat (ORCPT ); Tue, 14 Oct 2003 10:30:49 -0400 Received: from uni02du.unity.ncsu.edu ([152.1.13.102]:40833 "EHLO uni02du.unity.ncsu.edu") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S262202AbTJNOas (ORCPT ); Tue, 14 Oct 2003 10:30:48 -0400 From: jlnance@unity.ncsu.edu Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 10:30:47 -0400 To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: Unbloating the kernel, was: :mem=16MB laptop testing Message-ID: <20031014143047.GA6332@ncsu.edu> References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.4i Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org 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people who will never be able to afford to buy a computer but could find someone to give them one of these "hopelessy outdated" machines for nothing.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