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<michael <at> michaelshiloh.com> writes: |
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> > If there was a Gen_bunto CD for older p2 and p1 machines, all of the |
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> > kids in my hood would be using gentoo........ |
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> ROTFL - thanks for the laugh James. Gen-bunto - what a concept. My two |
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> favorite distros right now are Gentoo and Ubuntu, and I wonder about the |
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> philosopical implications of liking what seem to be polar opposites. Human |
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> nature, perhaps. |
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Hello Michael, |
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Actually, it's not as far fetched as one would |
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anticipate. There are quite a few wikis that |
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show how to build a cd for lower speed processors |
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from a faster machine. Someone with skills would |
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only have to define what's different, between |
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a 200MHz AMD vs a P2 and set up thoses |
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few different files once. As different older |
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machines are added these few files would be |
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customized for the various (common) arch's of the |
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various older machines. |
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Then lots of admins could each manage a few machines |
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for the kids in our neighborhoods. I'd do mine over |
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wireless ethernet and thru the local cable tv network. |
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I've collected up lots of old hardware for this |
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purpose....oneday. CFengine would be keen to |
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push/manage binaries down to these machines |
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over TCP/IP. Distributable CDs would be great for |
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recruiting new members to the Gentoo community. |
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Therefore we would not have to perform all of the compiling |
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on these machines, just distribute binaries at night |
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once a month or so, or print/distribute a CD to |
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the kids and others with lesser skills/resources. |
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The only trick is to put up a light-weight desktop, |
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that would be appealing to many. With an open-mosix |
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kernel, we could even cluster these machines for |
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aggregated power, once open-mosix stabilizes |
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on 2.6 kernels. That way, a group of gen_bunto |
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users could pool their individually meager resources |
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into something special, or as more old machine become |
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available, each kid could build their own cluster: |
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http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Install_Mythtv_With_ |
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Diskless_Workstations_in_an_OpenMosix_Cluster |
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That's the gentoo differential: if the gentoo |
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community was to embrace this effort, it could |
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easily put together something awesome and unmatched |
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by any other distro/operating system, anywhere. |
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Here in the US, there are lots of place that will give |
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you working machines, if you just show up to haul them |
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away. That number increase exponentially, when you |
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are willing to spend $5-25 dollars. |
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Eventually, the gentoo community will get around to this |
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need for a binary distribution for categories of |
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similar/common machines. Recruiting kids into gentoo, would be the |
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smartest move possible, for the future of Gentoo, in my opinion. |
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It's easy for me to motivate schools/clubs/groups of kids |
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to use linux, it's just difficult to organize and time |
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consuming, under the current gentoo semantics. After using |
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Gentoo for a few years, I'm getting rid of my openbsd |
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and debian boxes..... I like the concepts that drive |
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*buntu, I just strongly prefer gentoo. |
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James |
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-- |
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