Steve wrote: > > you can still update and remain within the > constraints of a 486
Yes, I could update netstat to get the added features you are talking about. And, yes, I would be unlikely to notice any deterioration in performance on my 486. However, if I were to update everything, it would definitely hurt my performance. It's death by a thousand cuts. An extra feature here, an extra parameter there, some extra code to accommodate an obscure hardware quirk, a compatibility layer for KDE, built-in support for foreign languages, and on and on. Four years ago, CLI Linux was mature. We are not talking about buggy software. Since then we have had massive feature-creep in the kernel, libraries and software. It takes my 486 an hour to compile the old 2.0.34 kernel. I'd hate to think what the current feature-full kernel would take. Two hours? Three hours? Four-year-old Linux works just fine. If I want a feature, I download the necessary software and compile it for my system. For example, I use a recent version of icewm. However, what I won't do is a wholesale upgrade, where I get a truckload of useless features that do nothing for me but slow down my 486. Cheers, Steven
