On Fri, 8 Dec 2000, Ben Armstrong wrote:
> "Debian Jr. Ultra-light"
>
> CPU: 486dx/33
> RAM: 16M
> Disk: 200M
> Video: 512K unaccelerated, 640x480 VGA
> Sound: optional
> Comments:
> X just barely runs on this system. You might get away with
> it for a while if you get something like this, especially while
> the kids are still very young and are just playing with "desktop
> toys" on it. It makes a decent "second system" to run as an X
> terminal connected to a parents' box. Systems like this can be
> found for free or dirt cheap if you know where to look. I found
> just such a system for a friend for $30 Canadian. You won't
> be able to run memory-hungry apps like gimp on this.
Agreed.
> "Debian Jr. Light"
>
> CPU: Pentium 100
> RAM: 32M
> Disk: 1G
> Video: 4M 2D accelerated, 1024x768 SVGA
> Sound: 16-bit (e.g. SB16)
> Comments:
> This is a nice, solid box that runs X well. While not exactly
> free, it's going to be within the reach of most families as a
> system the whole family can use. It will run many more things
> than the "Ultra-light" but still won't run gimp or the 3D
> hardware-accelerated stuff. Also, with that little memory,
> Mozilla will be unusable. If Mozilla is a requirement, use the
> "Debian Jr." option instead, or run it on a better box and just
> use this as an X server to connect to it.
Agreed.
> "Debian Jr."
>
> CPU: K6-2/300
Hmm, X and Gimp run fine on my K6/200 ...
I wouldn't name my box modern, but both are fast enough (else I would by
a new box. However, Gnome is quite slow.
> RAM: 64M
> Disk: 2G
> Video: 16M 3D accelerated, 1024x768 SVGA
Another hmm, are there so many 3D accelerated things inside Debian???
In my opinion 8M (not accelerated) is enough (good old Millenium II?).
> Sound: 16-bit (e.g. SB16)
> Comments:
> This is probably the bottom rung of what is considered "modern".
> You can finally run gimp on this. If you're on a strict budget
> but still want to be able to try out some of the 3D stuff, it is a
> start. Although some of the more high-performance stuff is going
> to require some upgrades. This will run pretty well everything in
> Debian Jr., (but not everything at once :)
May be you should add a "Debian Jr. heavy" with 3D acceleration and a
faster CPU with more RAM.
> My judgements as to what constitutes "minimum" are rather arbitrary.
> I would like to see various different configurations field-tested and
> get reports back about what works and what doesn't.
As I said I would decrease the requirements for a "normal" system, because
I think I'm running a "normal" system at home quite fine.
> things that work on their system. There's nothing more frustrating than
> to download over a 56K modem a whole mess of stuff only to find that the
> coolest looking things won't run on your box at all.
Perhaps we should add a connection type. A "heavy" system should perhaps
include ADSL (at least in Germany this will become standard for power
users) so people could easily upgrade to the latest system.
Kind regards
Andreas.
