LWN: Comments on "Linux Taking Off, And Being Taken Off (IT-Director)"

Linux Taking Off, And Being Taken Off (IT-Director)

hazelsct — Thu, 02 Oct 2003 15:14:59 +0000

Indeed. I run GNOME 2 (in a Debian unstable chroot) on a 200 MHz StrongARM-based Netwinder with 128 MB RAM (that's the same CPU as in the iPaq, etc., though newer iPaqs have 400 MHz StrongARM compatible XScale...) It is definitely fast enough on such a machine, and even faster on a 160 MHz 603e PPC with 96 MB (both running Debian of course, what other modern desktop distro runs on ARM? :-).

Do you have something slower than these? You should be able to get something about twice its speed, like a 333 MHz PII, for free at a junkyard...

Linux Taking Off, And Being Taken Off (IT-Director)

TheTriggerZone — Fri, 26 Sep 2003 02:40:07 +0000

As far as I know such a pc does not have to cost $200. I depends on how
much machines and were you get your parts. You can get the same machine
below $100. The problem with these systems at walmart is that its no good
to buy them ... get a little knowledge about computer internals and you
can get your components at the lowest price and make your pc a lot mor
cheaper.

For instance ... I bought a AMD XP 2400+ with 512MB DDR motherboard and
all the shit for just $300 ... and thats about 6/7 months ago.

Greetings Mark

Linux Taking Off, And Being Taken Off (IT-Director)

gilb — Thu, 25 Sep 2003 22:00:34 +0000

Can you even buy a new 200 MHz machine anymore? Low end today can be defined by the Microtel PCs at walmart.com: Duron 1.2 GHz processor with 128 MB memory, 20 GB hard drive, CD-ROM drive, Integrated 10/100 Ethernet connection, Lycoris Desktop/LX operating system (Linux-based), for $199.98.

Linux Taking Off, And Being Taken Off (IT-Director)

mmarq — Thu, 25 Sep 2003 19:03:33 +0000

"And so Linux would become the new Darth Vader"

Hey,... but you dont have any choice!!

Now that a world wide patente war seem less likely, you still have the threat of NGSBC/Paladium and their DRM schemes that can lock everything under, including the all "WEB" network, if they continue to have a overwhelming Desktop installed base...

So if you dont want to fight this "war", just "be killed" or run for cover out of site.

Linux Taking Off, And Being Taken Off (IT-Director)

iabervon — Thu, 25 Sep 2003 18:50:49 +0000

Fortunately, there's a lot of difference you can get in Linux without leaving Linux entirely. You can make your environment contain machines with different features, different implementations of services, different processor architectures, etc., and be pretty diverse.

Linux Kernel Personality smoking gun? - probably not

Ross — Thu, 25 Sep 2003 17:15:32 +0000

I don't think there is enough information to say one way or the other.

Linux Kernel Personality smoking gun? - probably not

dwalters — Thu, 25 Sep 2003 16:35:01 +0000

Sorry to reply to my own post, but I just read some more of the commentary at Groklaw on this, and it looks like there's really nothing very new in this PowerPoint presentation after all.

According to some of the folks who've reviewed the slides, the conensus seems to be that there probably isn't (or there doesn't need to be) copied kernel code within the LKP.

Linux Kernel Personality smoking gun?

dwalters — Thu, 25 Sep 2003 16:25:26 +0000

If you go over to Groklaw and scroll down to "Looking Deeper at the LKP -- Did SCO Copy Linux Code to Open UNIX?", you'll see an interesting commentry on a PowerPoint presentation by a senior Caldera engineer, posted to a SCO regional website.

Looks pretty incriminating to me. Someone should file a complaint on them pretty quick and subpoena their CVS tree before they get a chance to destroy the evidence.

Linux Taking Off, And Being Taken Off (IT-Director)

aleXXX — Thu, 25 Sep 2003 15:41:05 +0000

Running OpenOffice on a low-end-box is no good idea, it takes ages to
load, even on a fast box. KDE and Gnome, well, run better, but the thing
should have at least 200 MHz und 128 MB RAM.

Bye
Alex

Linux Taking Off, And Being Taken Off (IT-Director)

Strike — Thu, 25 Sep 2003 14:47:34 +0000

Of course, deciding to run all government services on the same OS would be considered a Bad Thing(tm) according to report produced by the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), as reported on by CRN. An interesting and pertinent quote from Bruce Schneier in that article:

"The problem is that of monoculture," said Bruce Schneier, one of the paper's authors and a co-founder of security firm Counterpane. "As long as all computers are running the same OS, they're all vulnerable."

Linux Taking Off, And Being Taken Off (IT-Director)

lenov — Thu, 25 Sep 2003 13:39:18 +0000

"As we have already stated, we expect Linux not just to dominate, but to become "the operating system standard". We expect that other Operating Systems will eventually be obliged to run Linux in "virtual mode" if they are to survive."

And so Linux would become the new Darth Vader. In the free software world you don't need that. You take the code and compile it to run with your OS. Or you develop a similar program able to read and generate the same data, which is produced according to open standards.