[lug] M$ does it again...down under

[Bill Thoen]

Jenni wrote:
> 
> .> How much work is involved?
> .>
> .
> .Interesting.  How good are the prospects of running a
> .Linux/XFree86/StarOffice/Konqueror setup on, say, a P-133 32MB RAM?
> .Will it be starved for resources and hopelessly slow?  Or will it be
> .even more responsive and usable than Windows/Office/IE 95 on a similar
> .system?
> .
> .I think that Linux once had a reputation as being a good choice for
> .older/outdated systems.  Does that still hold true with the modern suite
> .of software that accompanies most distros?  Or has it made a shift to
> .higher-end systems?
> 
Three days ago I set up my old (circa 1995) P133 with 32MB RAM as
a RH 7.1 server, and the install did not go smoothly due to
cranky hardware and Linux fussiness. First, I had to replace my
4X CDROM so I could just load the software (many many crashes
with signal 11 errors), and then I found out my supposedly PnP
BOCALAN ethernet card wouldn't work either. Linux found it all
right, but couldn't transmit through it due to an IRQ mismatch it
couldn't seem to sort out. I replaced that with a 3Comm PCI card,
and it worked first try. Now everything works great, but it was a
bit of an epic getting there.

So maybe Linux could be used with old parts, but it's a bit of a
job figuring out all the tweaks and problems. You need to have a
set of skills beyond what most people have, and you will probably
have difficulties with upgrades.

Seems to me that since Microsoft made such a fuss about insisting
that all computers be sold with Windows, what right to they have
to insist that just because a new human is behind the same
keyboard that that human must buy the latest copy of Windows? And
good luck getting Win2000 to work on old computers! 

-- 
- Bill Thoen
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