from Steven <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
For an OS to "do the most", it must have a wide variety
of applications available. This restricts our choice to
a few mainstream OS. I think we can agree that win9x and
winNT are too resource-hungry for an old computer. Ditto
for Linux KDE and Gnome. However, Linux does have some
small-footprint window managers that run very nicely on
a 486. I particularly like icewm. It's fast, lean (300k),
customizable, looks good, and provides lots of functionality.
However, if you have only 8meg RAM (or less), your best
choice for a GUI may be win3x. Or perhaps OS/2 ?
Cheers,
Steven
(end of quote)
Open source can give non-mainstream as well as mainstream OSes access to a wide
variety of applications.
I wouldn't attempt to run KDE or Gnome on my present computer. Didn't you say
you could run Netscape under Linux with X Windows with no window manager? Maybe
then you could also run Emacs with no window manager?
OS/2 Warp 4 might run with 8 MB RAM, but graphic Web browsers would be pinched.
Even Netscape Navigator 2.02 might be pinched for memory. With Cx486DX2 at
66 MHz, Netscape Communicator 4.04 for OS/2 Warp is slow and clumsy, and
Warpzilla Milestone 16 and Milestone 17 previews would not run at all. I see
Linux Mozilla requires 233 MHz P-II with 32 MB RAM: more bloated than
Netscape Communicator 4.x? OS/2 Lynx would probably be OK with 8 MB RAM, and
popclient could download the mail. UKA_PPP mail and news programs can run in a
DOS session using COMTCP.EXE (IBM program, part of OS/2 Warp 4 package), when
connected to the Internet from OS/2. But Java is a hog that requires 32 MB RAM.
IBM Web Explorer for OS/2 is quite inept, so much that IBM has given up on Web
Explorer in favor of Netscape.
I suppose with 8 MB RAM, DOS might be the best bet for Internet access. Maybe
Win3.1 with an older Netscape or MSIE might serve where needed?
There might be a niche for Linux Arachne where RAM is not sufficient for
Netscape to run comfortably, though now it seems the main focus for Arachne will
be mobile devices such as cell phones.
