Re: ISA slot detection on PCI systems?

Horst von Brand
2002-01-03T16:43:09Z

Dave Jones <davej@suse.de> said:
> On Thu, 3 Jan 2002, Horst von Brand wrote:
> > I'd wagger Aunt Tillie doesn't run Linux on Ye Olde Coffepot, but on a new,
> > PCI-only machine. So this is doubly silly...
>
> *your* Aunt Tillie perhaps. I know several folks whose parents have
> now inherited their offsprings old computers, and are now using Linux
> on them to read their mail, write a book, whatever..
> And these cast offs are not fantastic machines, they're 486/586 class.

If I give the old coffepot to Aunt Tillie with Linux, I'll take some care
of the updates and such for her later. And for sanity's sake I'll stick to
distribution-build kernels if at all possible in any case.

> Fleeting judgements like yours above are just plain wrong.

Right. But for Aunt Tillie who has to do the managing of the machine by
herself, she'll either go to a distribution and won't fool around with
compiling 2.4.18preX for the sake of it, or is at least mildly interested
in kernel development and doesn't need handholding. Why an average
(non-hacker) Aunt Tillie won't be satisfied with e.g. Red Hat or Madrake or
whatever kernel or an update is just way beyond me. Source-build kernels
are strictly "check out this new feature" or "see if it breaks", or perhaps
"need a custom configuration for this piece of junk from the scrapheap" not
for day-to-day use by unwashed masses.
--
Dr. Horst H. von Brand User #22616 counter.li.org
Departamento de Informatica Fono: +56 32 654431
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